Danfoss and Bitten & Mads Clausen's Foundation are now constructing one of the world’s most sustainable residential buildings with traditional building materials and already existing energy-efficient technologies.
May 13th is Bitten and Mads Clausen’s wedding anniversary. They were married in 1939, and Bitten & Mads Clausen's Foundation is celebrating the day by announcing that the new building being constructed on the Als Strait in Sønderborg will be called Danfoss House.
DGNB platinum certification
Construction is evaluated in five criteria: environmental, economic, social, technical, & process quality In 2019, PFA Pension and Bitten & Mads Clausen's Foundation inaugurated the four-star hotel Alsik, where energy consumption has been reduced to less than a quarter of the normal consumption for this type of building, using Danfoss-installed energy-efficient solutions. A stone’s throw from there, the four-story Danfoss House is now under construction.
The ambition is for Danfoss House to achieve DGNB platinum certification, the highest sustainability certification under the globally recognized DGNB standard. In this regard, construction is evaluated according to five criteria: environmental quality, economic quality, social quality, technical quality, and process quality. Only 12 residential buildings in the world have achieved DGNB platinum certification.
Building Smart Homes
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), buildings account for more than a third of the world’s total energy consumption and 40% of all CO2 emissions. The ambition for Danfoss House is that it be as close to CO2-neutral as possible and a vibrant application development center (ADC), where Danfoss can continuously develop and test new technological solutions together with the residents.
Danfoss House will have both a central and decentralized heating system, to determine the optimal balance. The building also has underfloor heating and cooling from district heating and seawater cooling, respectively. In addition, the property will be a smart home, where all the elements will communicate with each other. There is also a plan to install Danfoss Leanheat, a solution that uses artificial intelligence to monitor and control the temperature in buildings. In addition, the Danfoss House is technologically future-proofed with large technical shafts, which make it possible to upgrade all installations and solutions.
With the building, Danfoss and Bitten & Mads Clausen's Foundation will show that it is possible to attain the highest sustainability certification with technology that already exists. Thus, it is being built in brick and concrete, the most used materials in our part of the world, but with sustainable choices, for example, by purchasing materials locally and factoring in recycling.
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Social Quality
A DGNB platinum certification also requires "social quality" and Danfoss House is being built according to an architectural plan that puts people at the center and promotes social interaction and equality.
This is achieved, for example, via the building's shared roof terrace which, with its view over the Als Strait in Sønderborg, will be the place where all residents can meet. The plan is for Danfoss employees from around the world posted here to reside in the building.
What is the climate-related potential?
Danfoss House is supporting ProjectZero, whose goal is to reduce the Sønderborg area’s CO2 emissions to zero by 2029. ProjectZero is already supported by a number of concrete initiatives from Danfoss and Bitten & Mads Clausen's Foundation.
Construction will start in October 2021
