ISOBO

ISOBO Aktiv – a house for the future?

The building evaluated several technical solutions in one design and identifies steps to design optimal indoor air quality. This house is based on passive measures and is a compact building with extra insulation. The issue of avoiding overheating resulted in a ventilated cooling design with several more skylights than normal, something that has other positive effects such as better daylight conditions with better spread of the daylight in the building.

The Norwegian environmental housing project ISOBO Aktiv was handpicked by The Active House Alliance along with its Italian competitor. The Norwegian contractor Jadarhus, who mainly focuses on environmental housing for both new and existing developments, developed the concept.

ISOBO Aktiv is a wooden timber house, which is typical for the cold Norwegian climate. Wooden houses are an old tradition in Norwegian architectural history, mainly intended to consume environmentally friendly building materials.

Inside ISOBO

The story of ISOBO

- ”How can we build a house that is actively running on sustainable energy, and developed using environmentally friendly and sustainable materials?” This was the key question presented by Rune Hatlestad, general manager in Jadarhus during an inspirational meeting in Denmark.

In collaboration with the Scandinavian research association Sintef, the Norwegian State housing bank (Husbanken), state-owned company Enova (Enova's role is to drive the industries in Norway towards a greener society) and the international research facility Sintef Byggforsk – Jadarhus developed the ISOBO Aktiv as the new low energy consuming house to be more environmental than the traditional house with emphasis on indoor climate and low heating costs.

The type of environmental house that is designed to withstand the rainy west coast of Norway has more surrounding insulation than normal. The floors, roof, walls and windows have an airtight solution to minimize heat loss in the best possible way. One of the goals with this design is to make the most use of new and improved technical solutions. Another goal is to optimize the indoor climate and avoid overheating.

The green shift in Norway

By the beginning of 2017, Norway is producing more renewable energy than its national demand. The main source is hydropower. Nevertheless, Norway is a large producer of fossil energy in the form of oil and gas from the North Sea, Norwegian and Barents Sea.

The climate challenges and implementation of international treaties as a response thereto are forcing also Norway to look towards a greener future. Albeit predominantly based on hydro power, Norwegians consume more energy per household than other countries in the Nordic region. Therefore energy conservation is in the spotlight these days, as are pollution reductions from transportation. More residential development projects are presented with sustainable energy solutions. Governmental demands are increased in line with this development, as architects and housing developers are responding with smart and energy saving solutions.

The Norwegian landscape has great wind opportunities, and will continue focusing on wind power both offshore and onshore. There are several wind producing projects that are currently under development, in addition to existing innovative offshore solutions. Statoil, the Norwegian energy company, is developing the world's first floating wind farm project outside the cost of Scotland.

Active house -vs- Passive house

With a variety of definitions energy-friendly houses, the terms Active house and Passive house are here defined:

Passive house: constructed for least possible energy use, with thick insulation, plastics and mechanical ventilation. These types of houses are very well insulated and ventilated, based on extensive use of natural building materials. The term for Passive houses came reportedly in to our vocabulary only a few years ago, although not many residences of such have been built.

Active house: As the idea of a Passive house to be as tightly insulated as possible, the fundamental idea of the Active house is to be breathing for a better indoor climate. With the use of biological materials and ancestral knowledge about energy efficiency and natural ventilation, the Active house will be a more ecological way of living than a Passive house or a regular home.

The Norwegian contractor company Jadarhus, has only built one such Active house. It was stuffed with all the technical wonders to make it as active, living and self-sufficient as possible. With future environmental requirements, Norway has now the competence and resources to take this development further, on a European scale.