A high-tech low-energy house with solar thermal and sky radiation cooling

A unique energy-independent house (HARBEMAN HOUSE; HARmony BEtween Man And Nature) incorporating solar thermal, underground coolness, sky radiation cooling, photovoltaic electricity generation and rain water was built in Sendai, Japan on July, 1996. The average solar energy received on a horizontal surface in January is 7900 kJ/m{sup 2}/day. This paper reports the experimental results since September 1996 to date. The annual variations of water temperature in the underground main tank, heating/cooling/domestic hot water demands, collected and emitted heats by solar collector and sky radiator, were obtained by the measured data. The paper also clarifies the method of computer simulation results for the HARBEMAN HOUSE and its results compared with the annual experimental data. The proposed HARBEMAN house, which meets almost all its energy demands, including space heating and cooling, domestic hot water, electricity generated by photovoltaic cell and rainwater for standard Japanese homes. The proposed system has two operational modes: (i) a long-term thermal energy storage mode extending from September to next March and (ii) a long-term cool storage mode extending from April to August. The system is intended to utilize as little energy as possible to collect and emit the heat. This paper also clarifies the primary energy consumption,more » the external costs (externalities) and the effect for reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of the proposed house are only one-tenth of these of the conventional standard house. Finally, this paper validates the external costs of this house, which have been intensively discussed in recent years in European countries. The present energy-sufficient house will be promising in the 21st century to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which will be one of the key factors for mitigating global warming.« less