Passivhaus in Savoie : a highly energy autonomous house in the Alps
Remember, it was last June: our certified partner Loxone Mickaël Pallares-Morel opened the doors to his passivhaus in the Savoie region in France. This house which accommodates a family of five, affectionately nicknamed the Turtle family, allows them to live in a beautifully designed house which is energy autononomous at 93%. The family opens its doors and share their secret on how to most efficiently use solar energy and a home automation system to obtain this performance.
A highly optimized passive solar heating system
A passivhaus, or passive house, is a highly enerfy efficient building. Solar energy is at the heart of its design and allows residents to collect and consume this clean source of energy. This solar energy is renewable, environmentally friendly and carbon-free. There are many advantages : reduction of the electricity bill, energy independence (within the limits of storage), respect for the environment,… The Turtle family did not hesitate to invest in the installation of 6 solar panels and a system of 4 GEL batteries (4 * 12V 240Ah) to drastically reduce their energy consumption. This installation, combined with Victron equipment and Loxone home automation, allows our partner and his family to live in a passivhaus which is at 93% self sufficient. The electric bill for the family of five is around € 31 / month of electricity. You can find the details of the before / after in our first article.
The Turtle family produces energy and manages its storage in an automated and optimal way thanks to the Loxone Miniserver.
Materials and installation
In order to monitor his energy consumption, Mickaël Pallares equipped his installation with equipment fitted with standard communication systems. For example, the control of Victron equipment is carried out natively in Modbus TCP by the Miniserver. Our Loxone partner uses the Victron Multiplus II converter to transform the collected solar energy into consumable energy. A Cerbo GX makes it possible to monitor the state of charge of the battery at any time as well as the production and consumption of energy from the solar panel installation. A BMV 702 is used to manage the batteries and calculate the consumption of the installation. The W.E.S. Server measurement tool 2 retrieves all the history of measurements and then analyzes them via the Loxone App.
The house of our certified Loxone Partner was created by Routes Bois, with whom he signed a cooperation agreement for the installation of Loxone home automation in all their new constructions (we will tell you more in the next article). The house was delivered in December 2018.
Energetic autonomy thanks to solar panels : costs & return on investment
To summarize, our partner has made an investment of around € 6,500 in equipment for its installation, which includes the products mentioned above (find the details of the expenses in our first article). Result? An ultra-optimized, intelligent and intuitive photovoltaic installation for maximum solar self-consumption.
Optimized since, thanks to the equipment, Loxone products and the configuration of our home automation system, the family of 5 enjoys 93% photovoltaic self-consumption. Nothing is lost, everything is transformed !
Intelligent since the photovoltaic system adapts to its weather environment. Depending on the GPS coordinates of the house and the weather at this location, the Miniserver automatically modifies the configuration of the energy system, which is not possible with a standard system whose values do not adapt according to external factors. In this case, thanks to Loxone, the parameters are adjusted in real time, the weather is combined with the configuration of the system. As Loxone does not use a cloud solution, the data is not collected but is managed locally and therefore belongs entirely to the family.
Intuitive finally since the Miniserver controls the system itself based on weather data and the habits of parents and children. The family can take control of the system at any time via the free app or touch switches like the Touch Pure or the elegant Touch Surface for example. But this is not mandatory, the system works as an autopilot and allows everyone to relax and know their installation in good hands.
Clear visualization of the energy consumption
The Victron Multiplus II, Cerbo GX, BMV 702 and Server W.E.S. 2 all have their own management interfaces. The strong point of a Loxone installation and programming lies in the fact that the user can control all of these elements from a single interface! The family never connects to the Victron interface to control the photovoltaic installation, for example. It also does not need to connect to the KNX interface of the VMC to drive it. The Loxone App is sufficient to manage all of this equipment.
« I only use one management and control interface. And even piloting should be placed in quotes since the system is actually piloted by itself. This allows me to easily see what is happening with my installation and equipment at all times. The Miniserver is really the conductor of this installation and allows my family to achieve automatic and optimal energy savings. And if ever, one day, the Miniserver does not work, there is no risk of the battery being damaged. It is the intelligence of the energy system that takes over. »
3 examples of additional functionalities
Example n°1 : dual Flow of the ventilation management
This management is carried out automatically according to the air quality and CO2 of the room thanks to the air quality sensor integrated into the Loxone Touch. Air flows are controlled according to actual needs in order to avoid energy loss.
Exemple n°2 : smart lightning
All the lighting in the house is 24V, however there is no 24V power supply to avoid loss of no-load operation. The 24V is indeed obtained directly by converting the 48V of the batteries. This allows energy savings also in terms of lighting thanks to our photovoltaic installation.
Exemple n°3 : the music
Music, with the new Audioserver requires more power on 24V, a power supply is therefore started automatically according to the needs of the family. Cutting off this power supply when the Audioserver is not in use allows additional savings to be made in consumption.
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