Passive House Construction Above the Arctic Circle

Abstract

In Tuolluvaara, just outside Kiruna in northern Sweden, NCC has worked with Kiruna Municipality and Tekniska Verken i Kiruna AB to build the passive house project “Sjunde Huset”, a full-scale demonstration of a low-energy semi-detached dwelling for a sub-arctic climate. Based on NCC’s Cube concept for energy-efficient houses, the semis are built to FEBY12’s passive house criteria. The building serves as a test bed for the design, material choices, technical solutions and construction processes associated with energy-efficient construction in a sub-arctic climate. Features include a system for mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR). The building project has been prompted by the major social changes taking place in Kiruna and Gallivare and the newly tightened EU directives on energy consumption. This article presents the building and its energy-efficient solutions, along with measurements of the buildings heat loss factor (HLF), the ventilation system’s efficiency, and the specific energy consumption. We can report that Sjunde Huset meets FEBY12’s passive house requirements and that it is perfectly possible to build low-energy homes in a sub-arctic climate, with the potential to reproduce it at a lower production cost.