Initiative „Sonnenhaus Österreich“

Solar-home construction competence

Founded in June 2011 in Linz, Austria‘s new solar home initiative, “Initiative Sonnenhaus Österreich”, sees itself as an independent competence centre and representative of all interests regarding the seminal Sonnenhaus solar home construction and heating concept. The association intends to promote the Sonnenhaus concept in Austria and to pursue its establishment as standard construction. The heart of the matter is the technology of construction and heating upon which the Sonnenhaus concept is based. Major emphasis is being placed on information about solar homes, energy-efficient construction and renovation, best available technology and support schemes/subsidies, as well as employee training for building contractors. The intention is to make future home builders aware of this construction and heating concept and to broker contacts between interested clients and competent partners cooperating with the initiative.

The Sonnenhaus concept centres on the use of renewable energy sources for space heating and hot water, because solar energy is free, so solar homes cost very little to heat, as they consume much less primary energy than other homes.

The declared near-future objective is to get the Sonnenhaus concept established as the standard form of construction for new homes in Austria, hence sustainably protecting both the climate and the environment for generations to come.

At present, Austria‘s standards, regulations and residential construction promotion models still see the energy efficiency of buildings solely in terms of their space heat requirements, but that only accounts for energy lost via the building envelope. One of the main concerns of Initiative Sonnenhaus is to quickly achieve the conversion or supplementation of the energy efficiency target values of the country‘s building code and housing subsidy programmes away from the building‘s space heat requirement in favour either of its total energy requirement less any gains in the form of solar or geothermal energy, or of its residual primary energy requirement. 

Members and partners in competence

The initiative was founded by brick and tile producers Comelli, Danreiter, Eberschwang, Tondach Gleinstätten, Leitl, Neuhofen, Pichler Wels, Pichler Aschach, Senftenbach, Pexider, Brenner and Wienerberger. The initiative is open to all branches and companies with focus on energy-efficient solarized home construction.

In the coming months, the initiative‘s main activities will revolve around recruiting new members and holding high-quality training courses and seminars.

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