Europe's first factory-made timber-framed "passive" house will open to the public this week in Galway.
The 2,500 sq ft low energy home with no central heating may also be the first of its type in the world, according to its designer, Lars Pettersson of Scandinavian Homes Ltd in Moycullen, Co Galway.
He will be exhibiting it to participants in a solar energy conference which opens in Galway city tomorrow. Work on the site among mature trees on the main Galway to Clifden road began in early March, and the shell was erected in just two days.
Passive houses require practically no conventional heating at all, relying on thick walls and air-tight windows to retain heat inside and using solar collectors to heat water. Pettersson's company has built more than 170 low-energy houses in Ireland working with building contractors Flaherty and Goaley of Annaghdown.
Such was the initial resistance to the concept that he could not get planning permission for a factory in Moycullen to produce the units, and the shells are constructed in Sweden.
The low-energy approach relies on heat recovery systems which use body heat and waste heat from electrical appliances such as fridges and washing machines.
"The insulation starts with the foundation, which is crucial," he says. Special rubber seal strips are fitted, windows rely on triple-glazed, low-emission argon-filled glass and recycled newspapers are used for insulation.
One of only two actual heaters in the passive house is a 900w one fuelled by a Temovex 750 heat-recovery ventilation unit. Floor heating relies on solar energy with solar collectors fitted by Solaris of Macroom, Co Cork.
"Our long-term aim is to build clusters of these houses - as was the traditional settlement pattern in Ireland," he says. "However, this model doesn't fit into county development plans."
Mr Pettersson is also critical of the fact that his customers do not qualify for rural renewal and Gaeltacht housing grant schemes.
The building is focus for a study tour planned for Sustainable Energy Ireland's annual conference, which opens in the Ardilaun Hotel, Galway, tomorrow and runs until Wednesday.
