An energy neutral home

The architectural firm ‘denieuwegeneratie' (The New Generation) has built an energy neutral home at Huizen in the Netherlands using various products from Tata Steel designed into the project from the early stages.

"The entrance of this energy neutral home is made of Tata Steel's products," says architect Sanne Oomen of the architectural firm ‘denieuwegeneratie' (the new generation), while showing a scale model. "One side of the house is dug into a hill and needs robust support. Appearances also count. Laura Metaal provided us with hot-rolled material," she explains.

The house of Lucas Mol and Sanne Oomen is completely energy neutral. It is not connected to the gas mains, or sewers. Sanne: "We are connected to the electricity grid, in order to provide power - generated by solar panels on the roof - to the electricity grid so as to balance out energy consumption. But overall, we produce more energy than we consume. There will be two electric cars parked in front of the house. They will be able to be charged using the own energy supply of the house."

The house is heated by burning sawdust. At the bottom of the house is a computer-driven furnace, which converts wood pellets (compressed sawdust) into heat. Water from the shower is recycled. The toilets are flushed with this water, after the heat has first been recovered (www.denieuwegeneratie.nu).