In Bautzen in the German state of Saxony, a business location has been built with a passive house design concept. On the ground floor and second floor, a sportsware retail business is located, and on the third floor are offices. Since there was little practical experience with passive house construction for business premises which could be used as a blueprint, the building performance was metrologically investigated and evaluated over a period of two years by Zittau/Görlitz College (Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz). Subsequently,
The heating of the building by means of geothermal sensor heat pumps, combined with direct cooling in summer, has been proven effective. The efficiency of heat pumps is described with the annual performance factor. This figure shows the relationship of the heat energy delivered through the year to electrical energy used: with standard heat pumps it is generally between 3 and 4.5. The heat pump of the “passive house business location” reached an annual performance factor of more than six; with direct cooling via the geothermal probe, the figure was 28.
However, due to the power consumption for lighting, a maximum primary energy consumption of 120 kWh/m2a was not achievable, although the most efficient lighting technology available was employed. Still, with a value of 160 kWh/m2a the property is positioned in an area of the scale which can be considered good for this type of building.
