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In summer cool, in winter warm

Jun 20, 2012 / alpMedia
The European Union Directive on the energy performance of buildings takes effect from July. Low-energy buildings will be mandatory as from 2021. The community centre of Saint-Jean-d'Arvey already meets these criteria. The building, made of regional wood, will open at the end of June - a first.
Image caption:
The community centre at Saint-Jean-d'Arvey: the municipal council was inspired by the community building in Ludesch, Austria, which it visited as part of a CIPRA study tour. © Mairie de Saint-Jean-d'Arvey
Socrates is supposed to have said: "The ideal house is warm in the winter and cool in the summer". The fact that this is also possible today without conventional heating systems has now been proven by the municipality of Saint-Jean-d'Arvey. On 23 June it is opening its new community centre, complete with kindergarten, library and town hall - built as a low-energy building from regional wood. It is the first public building in the French Alps made from wood with the certificate of origin "Bois des Alpes". This renewable building material comes exclusively from the French Alps and the wood will be used to build another 40 dwellings to the low-energy standard in this municipality of 1,500 people in Savoy.
Energy-efficient building will become mandatory by 2021 at the latest. Newly constructed buildings must have practically zero or very low energy requirements, with the necessary electricity and heating coming substantially from renewable sources. Public buildings must meet these criteria as from 2019, specifies the European Union directive on the energy performance of buildings, which comes into effect in member states on 9 July.
Source and further information: http://batimentboislocal.blogspot.com (fr), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ, http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/internal, www.territoiresforestiers-rhonealpes.eu (fr)