Considering that buildings currently consume around forty percent of the world’s energy and emit approximately one-third of global greenhouse gases, sustainably-constructed buildings have enormous potential for reducing emissions. In response to this challenge, the Velux Group, a Danish skylight manufacturer, has initiated a number of projects aimed at catalyzing a more sustainable building design.
Velux is a founding partner of the Active House Alliance, an international coalition that supports buildings that create healthier and more comfortable lives for their residents while reducing impact on the environment. A broad cross-section of the construction sector supply chain is participating in the Alliance, including architects, engineers, manufacturers, builders and investors, as well as research institutes and universities.
The Alliance has developed tools for sustainable building design, including specifications, guidelines and calculation tools. It has also recently launched the Active House label, awarded to projects that meet the label’s criteria, which cover health, comfort, use of sustainable energy sources and CO2 reduction, as well as life cycle evaluation and sustainable sourcing. Currently, over 20 projects have been evaluated and awarded the Active House label.
Velux believes that the benefits of active houses should not be reserved for high-end housing or new buildings. This is why Velux was the force behind “RenovActive,” an affordable active house renovation in a social housing scheme in Brussels. This recently completed project provides a scalable blueprint for modernization of existing building stock to Active House criteria.