Abstract :
A unique energy-independent house (ʹHARBEMAN houseʹ: HARmony BEtween Man And Nature) incorporating solar thermal, underground coolers, sky radiation Acooling, photovoltaic electricity generation and rain-water collection was Abuilt in Sendai (latitude: 38° 17ʹOO" north and longitude: 140" 5014" east), AJapan during July, 1996. The average solar energy received on a horizontal Asurface there in January is 7900 kJ/m^2/day. This paper reports the Aexperimental results since September 1996 to date. The annual variations of Awater temperature in the underground main tank, heating /cooling/domeslic hot Awater demands, collected and emitted heats by solar collector and sky radiator, Awere measured. The paper also clarifies the method of computer simulation Aresults for the HARBEMAN house and its results compared with the annual Aexperimental data. The proposed HARBEMAN house, which meets almost all its Aenergy demands, including space heating and cooling, domestic hot water, Aelectricity generated by photovoltaic cell and rainwater for standard Japanese Ahomes. The proposed system has two operational modes: (i) a long-term thermal Aenergy storage mode extending from September to March and (ii) a long-term cool Astorage mode extending from April to August. The system is intended to utilize Aas little energy as possible lo collect and emit the heat. This paper also Aclarifies the primary energy consumption, the external costs (externalities) Aand the means for the reduction of carbon-dioxide (CO.;) emissions. The pri-Amary-energy consumption and carbon-dioxide emissions of the proposed house are Aonly one-tenth of those of the conventional standard house. Moreover, the Athermal performance of this house will be compared with the results of the IEA solar low-energy house TASK A13. Finally, this paper validates the external costs of this house, which have Abeen intensively discussed in recent years in European countries. The present Aenergy-suflicient house will he attempting in 21st century to reduce carbon Adioxide emissions, which will be one of the key factors for mitigating global Awarming. 1999 Elsevier Science Etd. All rights reserved.
