Sustainable rehabilitation of an 18th century Palace.
In this post we will talk about the rehabilitation project of a palace house built during the 18th century located in the Salcedo Valley, about thirty kilometers west of Bilbao, which was in very bad condition, with the objective of allocating it to a residential building with six houses. This intervention is carried out based on action guidelines with criteria of maximum energy efficiency intervention and the actions in the field of passive bioclimatic design stand out above all, through the improvement of its thermal envelope and its ventilation conditions. like in the incorporation of renewable energies and the installation of efficient state-of-the-art heating systems in order to obtain the best qualification, which allows it to reach the letter A.
The action was projected from the beginning focused on obtaining maximum energy savings, applying passive design strategies that allowed to reduce the energy demand of the same to the maximum, with efficient facilities that allowed to reduce its energy consumption and its CO2 emissions to minimize the environmental impact . Highlighting the importance of it since it obtained the third prize of the I Edition of the International Sustainable Urban Buildings Competition 2013, organized by Construction21 Y Metropolitan Solutions.
Needs program.
A complete rehabilitation of the same was carried out to use it as a residential building, so that two houses were projected per floor, obtaining six houses on three floors and two houses under cover. In each house, its program of necessities included a living room, a kitchen, a hall, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Intervention in the envelope.
Intervention has been made in order to considerably improve its thermal insulation, so that 14 cm laminated wood has been used. thick so that a transmittance value U = 0.24 w / m2k has been reached. The thermal insulation of the facades has been reinforced and PVC exterior carpentry has been installed, with REHAU Euro-Design 70 window profiles and double insulating glass with an air chamber. Cross ventilation has also been provided to limit your energy demands.
Installation systems.
To supply the building's heating and sanitary hot water demands, the building has a high-power geothermal heat pump geoTHERM, so that a total of four vertical wells 130 m deep were drilled.
This installation also has underfloor heating and twelve Vaillant brand solar thermal collectors arranged in three batteries of four collectors, with a 500-liter accumulator. The underfloor heating allows the use of water at a temperature of 36ºC so that energy savings of the order of 15º are achieved in relation to other radiant systems.
The underfloor heating is configured as an efficient system that allows significant energy savings, due to the result of the use of low impulsion temperatures that manage to distribute the heat in a uniform and homogeneous way in the rooms where it is demanded. This floor allows a fairly effective, efficient and environmentally friendly air conditioning, so that the construction system used in the execution of said system has the following advantages:
- It does not have lugs with which the energy is transmitted around the entire perimeter of the duct.
- An aluminum sheet has been placed in the upper area that reflects the energy and allows the heat to be distributed evenly over its entire surface.
- The building also has intelligent energy management systems such as free heating that allows the temperature of the house to be tempered through underfloor heating by means of the solar energy obtained, through the use of three-way electronic valves placed as bypass in the energy meter.
Energy savings achieved:
Through the system of geothermal air conditioning used by means of the heat pump are achieved energy savings reaching 75% of energy, also by means of the solar energy obtained in a way that will allow the generation of both heating and sanitary hot water.
Note - The architects of the rehabilitation:
- Project manager: Maixi Maruri San Vicente.
- Developer: INSTALAK, S.A.
- Product manufacturer: ALB, S.A.
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Links of interest:
- Natural lighting.
- Wood in architecture.
- Plastic in architecture.
- Green Lighthouse Building.
- Energy saving and efficiency actions in Buildings.
- The insulation and its optimal thicknesses.
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Article prepared by Jose Luis Morote Salmeron (Technical Architect - Energy Manager - Google plus Profile) Access to their website HERE, in collaboration withOVACEN.
