Low-energy houses

Environmental awareness and the need for a greater reduction of emissions of harmful gasses into the atmosphere has resulted in the greater construction of low-energy buildings.

Low-energy prefabricated houses are energy efficient houses. They are an example of sustainable construction, from the construction material which doesn’t harm the environment with its production to their energy efficiency and rational use of energy, which is more and more expensive every day.
 
In Croatia, a low-energy house is defined as a house that uses a maximum of 40 kWh/m² of energy for heating. Such energy use can be clearly expressed with the equivalent use of 2.7 liters of fuel oil per m², so a low-energy house is also called a “three-liter house”.
 
In Germany, a low-energy house (Niedrigenergiehaus) has a limit of energy use for heating spaces in the amount of 50 kWh/m² per year, while the limit in Switzerland is defined by the MINERGIE standard, and cannot exceed 42 kWh/m² annually.

The goal of constructing low-energy houses is optimizing energy use, and using the available energy to the maximum.

Energy efficiency of low-energy houses is based on a high-quality level of insulation, high-quality doors and windows that prevent heat loss, an air current system, which with ventilation additionally ensures energy preservation, and the use of solar energy.
Approximately 70% of total energy use is used on heating the spaces, and low-energy construction allows for great savings of energy, with negligible additional investments.