Abstract

Today energy-efficient and energy-harvesting buildings experience an ever-increasing interest and demand. Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) may in this respect represent a powerful and versatile tool for reaching the goal of zero energy and zero emission buildings. The BIPV systems replace the outer building envelope skin, thus serving simultanously as both a climate screen and a power source generating electricity. However, snow and ice formation on the exterior solar cell surfaces reduce their performance and may also lead to faster deterioration. Hence, if one could find a way to develop solar cells which were able to avoid snow and ice formation on their surfaces, one would have moved a large step ahead. This work presents a review exploring miscellaneous pathways for avoiding snow and ice formation on solar cell surfaces including superhydrophobic and icephobic surfaces.

Denne rapporten begrenser seg til å presentere en metode for beregning av kuldebroverdier for tilslutningen mellom yttervegg og golv på grunn (ringmursløsninger). I både NS 3031 og NS‐EN ISO 10211 åpnes det for en forenklet beregning av kuldebroverdien etter en annen internasjonal standard; NS‐EN ISO 13370. Denne beskriver en forenklet prosedyre for beregning av U‐verdien til golv mot grunn basert på en korreksjon til U‐verdier beregnet etter NS‐EN ISO 6946.

We are currently witnessing in the Norwegian building sector (and elsewhere) the transition from isolated and heterogeneous sustainable building projects carried out in protected niches (e.g pilot projects) to more sustainable buildings becoming mainstream. According to scholars studying sustainable transitions this is the moment in which a dominant design catches on, replacing and displacing other more or less sustainable alternatives.

Within this process, in the Norwegian case, the principles behind the passive house play a salient role. In fact, only recently a government white paper has called for "passive house levels" to become part of the building code by 2015. This strong focus on passive house principles is not without its critics and alternatives. Since 2010, a controversy about health and other negative impacts of insulating Norwegian houses (that are traditionally light wooden structures) to passive house levels has been going on in the Norwegian public and among experts. And recently, the building industry has entered the field with an adaptation of the BREEAM certification scheme which gains ground rapidly.

In this paper we describe and analyse these three options – passive house, its critique and BREEAM - of defining green andsustainable building in Norway based on media analysis and interviews with their respective proponents. We describe potential compatibilities and incompatibilities and conclude with questions for further research.