Miniature passive house on its travels

BASF and p artners present the Mobile Energy-Saving House at trade fairs

In 2009, BASF will be sending the Mobile Energy-Saving House (MESH) out on its travels across Germany. It is designed to be a passive house and, over an area of 24 square meters, offers all of the relevant solutions required for the design of such a low-energy house: innovative insulation with the BASF products Neopor® and Styrodur® C, intelligent air-conditioning technology and energy-saving windows. The partners for the MESH are r-m-p architects (Mannheim), the window and door manufacturer Ludwig Häußler GmbH (Speyer), the building systems provider Nilan Deutschland GmbH (Rödental), the manufacturer of stay-in-place formwork and floor panels with Styrodur C Lohr Element (Gemünden), and Inholz GmbH (Mannheim), responsible for constructing the MESH. The MESH will be presented to the public for the first time at the Clean Energy Power (CEP) trade fair, which will be taking place from January 29 to 31 in Stuttgart (hall 9, H 10).



Energy-efficient solid wood building

The miniature passive house is designed as a solid wood building with full thermal insulation. Products and materials which meet the standards required in passive house construction were used in its construction. They include insulation materials from BASF, also in conjunction with external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) and formwork elements; triple glazed wooden windows from the Energate series, which was awarded the American Green Building Award; construction parts made of solid wood; a ventilation system with heat recovery, and a seamless airtight shell. All partners will also be showcasing further products, technical services and consultancy packages covering aspects of the planning of passive and low-energy houses, e.g. energy certificates, energetic renovation and design for passive houses. The insulating material Neopor, the advanced version of the classic insulating material Styropor® (EPS: expandable polystyrene), for insulating building facades is also presented; as well as the extruded polystyrene rigid-foam panels (XPS) Styrodur C, which are used as pressure-resistant and water-repellent thermal insulation, e.g. beneath the foundation slab and cellar floors, on flat roofs and in the perimeter.



Passive house concept: economic feasibility and climate protection

A passive house can make do without a conventional heating and air-conditioning system, yet it remains cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Typical aspects of this building style are a well-insulated building shell and a refined ventilation and heat-recovery system. The requisite energy resources are low: A passive house has a residual heat demand of 15 kWh per square meter per year for heating, which corresponds to a fuel value of 1.5 liters of heating oil. In certified buildings, all of the primary energy for any extra heat, for hot water and electricity has to remain under 120 kWh per square meter per year. Passive houses are not only energy-efficient but also have a palpably better living climate than conventional buildings. A current EU stipulation sets the passive house as the energy standard that will be required by law for all new buildings in the future.





The MESH will be presented at the following German trade fairs among others:



February 26 - March 1: Haus, Dresden

April 17 - 18: Passivhaustagung, Frankfurt

April 25 - May 5: Maimarkt, Mannheim

June 2 - 3: Denex, Wiesbaden

September 10 - 15: Nordbau, Münster

September 26 - October 4: Mainfranken-Messe, Würzburg

October 28 - 30: Bauen, Leipzig