In many countries the building sector contributes significantly to the global energy consumption of the country.
Low- and ultra low energy houses, e.g. according to the passive house standard, can massivly reduce the space heating requirement of the buildings
and thereby the energy consumption and CO
2-emissions. Therefore, new buildings according to low energy house standards can help
in reducing the energy consumption, and even bigger potentials are in the retrofitting of existing buildings to low energy houses.
Actually, low energy houses are a key strategy to reach Kyoto-targets in many countries.
However, to entirely deploy the potentials of low energy houses, an efficient building technology
adapted to the particular requirements of low energy houses is required, too.
In the recent years, adapted building heating systems for low energy houses have indeed been developed,
whose development, however, is not yet finished.
Heat pump are already integrated in many system solutions for low energy houses and have growing markets in many of the participating countries.
IEA HPP Annex 32 entitled "Economical heating and cooling systems for low energy houses",
has therefore the
objective to contribute to a further development of the systems in different countries,
improve the system integration and standardise energy efficient solutions for the application field of low energy houses.
