Energy efficiency in construction can be realized from an architectural concept, through the implementation of the facility and operation, until demolition, but the biggest costs are for space heating and domestic hot water. It is in these areas that solar energy is used.
Becoming aware of the necessary changes in a single-family home, which are carried by the systems that use solar radiation will cause, that the idea of u200b u200bthe house will be associated with the optimization of thermal energy gains from solar radiation from the very beginning, and not only with the adaptation of traditional forms of the house to new systems.
Requirements, which the architecture of single-family houses using solar energy must meet, they are not that drastic, so that they could not be built "according to heaven and Polish custom"
Therefore, the problem of meeting the socio-cultural values of a given community or individual by these houses will depend on the designer and investor.
In Poland, in various forms of single-family housing, there are approx. 16 million people. The total cubature of rooms in these houses is 1170 mln m3.
Covering the demand for heat and hot water requires 24 million tonnes of contractual fuel annually, and so 12,8% sum of all conventional energy carriers consumed in 1985 r. In the second half of the 1980s, they were put into use every year 55 thousand. apartments in single-family houses, and their number will increase year by year.
Considering, That 70% single-family homes are being built in the countryside it must be said, that this type of construction has great potential for saving fuel and energy, by using, inter alia, simple solar energy systems.
Active installations (active) using solar energy for domestic hot water and space heating, in cooperation with existing heating systems, can be used in already existing objects, without having to make major changes to their design and architecture. In contrast, passive systems (passive) use of solar energy, seemingly simpler, cannot be adapted to existing facilities anyway, to work properly without major construction work.