Aiming Zero Impact Buildings: Mondo Solar-2002, A case study in Belgium

This paper presents the Solar-2002 zero impact renovation project in Belgium. Its characteristics are based on fundamental principles taking advantage of natural resources by diverting the sun shine and rain in the building design. The building has been renovated aiming to achieve principals of occupant health and comfort, energy efficiency, renewable energy production, resource conservation and reduction of environmental impacts. The paper reviews the design concepts including the passive and active strategies and compare building actual performance to actual monitoring results. Innovations relating to architectural design, building system performance and simulation are presented. Results show that the house achieved energy and carbon neutral balance, closed water cycle and almost a cradle to cradle building material cycle. However, monitoring results shows the difficulty to maintain optimal thermal comfort during extreme summer and winter periods. Achieving the environmental zero impact objectives is not economically feasible without the subsidies from the federal and regional government.