ᐅ Reliability of an energy calculation for KfW 55 – is it too high?

Created on: 20 Jun 2016 18:01
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WT1987
Hello everyone,

For our new build with 2 full floors and a basement, we have now received a calculation for the entire KfW application. However, it seems to me that the numbers are being calculated quite high or may even be incorrect.

Some data about the house:
  • Architect’s plan shows living area: ground floor 75m² (807 ft²) & upper floor 70m² (753 ft²) (difference due to open space)
  • Clear ceiling height: ground floor 2.7m (8 ft 10 in) & upper floor 2.5m (8 ft 2 in)
  • Basement is unheated, air-water heat pump located in the basement
  • Attic is not developed
  • Air-water heat pump with ventilation system including heat recovery
  • The expert assessor calculates a usable floor area of 277m² (2,982 ft²), which seems very high to me! He then uses this to estimate electricity consumption and arrives at a final energy demand of 4,860 kWh/year

Is that the electricity consumption I should expect, or am I misunderstanding something? That seems very high!

Thank you in advance.
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Sebastian79
21 Jun 2016 13:23
This clearly shows once again that the KFW rating doesn’t really mean much.

We have KFW70 and are calculated at 38 kWh/m² (3.5 kWh/ft²)...
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Legurit
21 Jun 2016 13:26
I already wrote that… many factors—especially when it comes to primary energy. Additionally: if I build a house made mostly of windows, the results will be significantly worse, but it might still be possible to achieve KfW40.
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toxicmolotof
21 Jun 2016 13:43
Sebastian79 schrieb:
This clearly shows once again that the KFW rating really doesn't say much.

We have KFW70 and our calculated consumption is 38 kWh/m² (4 kWh/ft²)...
Well, it’s not quite that simple.
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Sebastian79
21 Jun 2016 13:47
No, not that bad, but some people seem to think that by building a KFW55 house, they've achieved an exceptionally high standard 😀.

To put it better: it actually tells you very little about the energy consumption – even less today than it did in the past.
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toxicmolotof
21 Jun 2016 14:28
The KfW standard is not meant to compare money saved down to the last euro.

The absolute value already reveals a lot (under laboratory conditions).

A typical house of this building type would require even more energy. That’s what it shows.

If you want a nice, custom house design (or are forced to due to building permit / planning permission requirements), you have to pay the price for it.

Considering that every room in our house has four exterior walls, I find the value very good.
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Sebastian79
21 Jun 2016 14:32
How many rooms does your house have?

I know what the KfW value stands for, but apparently many others don’t, because they only look at the number and then say a house is good or bad... which is nonsense.