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Above the Polar Circle, Zero-Heat Apartments

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Think you’d freeze living above the polar circle with no heat in your apartment? Think again.

This beautiful apartment building in Norway, has been designed by Steinsvik Arkitektkontor AS to capture and hold so much warmth that it does not need to burn any fossil energy heating source at all.

Super-tight insulation and cutting-edge heat recovery technology keep the – natural and untreated wood – insides toasty warm.

Like Finland and other chilly Scandinavian nations, Norway is among the pioneers of Passiv Haus design, which completely seals up houses so no air gets in at all, other than through a two-way ventilation system that uses the waste heat of the house itself to heat incoming fresh air.

In addition, it uses thermic collectors in the ground for pre-heating/cooling of the air intake, and a buffer tank for the heat collection systems combined with a backup air-to-water heat pump.

This system stores and delivers energy to the radiant heating system in the floors.

While the colder north-facing side of the home is almost completely covered to protect against heat loss, the south facing roof is covered in solar panels, that provide electricity and heat.

Of course, not every day is sub-arctic cold. Even though Norway has two months a year with no sun at all, the apartment building can be powered by solar energy for the other ten months.

Via Inhabitat