The Government of Korea is planning to construct the world’ s first fossil-fuel zero housing complex in the district where the most low income population in Seoul, Korea resides. The project is invested mutually by MOLIT and City of Seoul to realize energy welfare and welfare for the less fortunate. The name of such unorthodoxical method and an intrepid approach of the housing complex is defined directly by its energy consumption pattern, net zero-energy or fossil-fuel zero, hence, expressed as Zero Energy Housing Complex in Nowon.

The Zero Energy Housing Complex is composed of three seven story mid-rise apartments, one three story low-rise apartment, two duplexes, and two detached houses. These different types of housings units will go through intensive research and design development to provide a standard for zero-energy housing. The Zero Energy Housing Complex will be completed in 2016.

An exhibition hall to explain and for visitors to experience the energy saving house techniques and renewable energy source technology will be available within the plan of Zero Energy Housing Complex after the construction. South facing, spacious space in between apartment buildings, natural ventilation and lighting, exterior shading, extruded balconies, exterior insulation with thickness of 300mm, and triple glazing system window, minimizing the thermal bridging, airtightness, LED lighting are all part of energy saving method that will be reflected in the design and construction of Zero Energy Housing Complex. Furthermore, all of these energy saving methods, including the additional technology to apply heat recovery ventilation to minimize heat loss from buildings need to be considered from the beginning stages of the design.

A house designed and built in such manner will be able to reduce the heating energy demand by 90%. Moreover, heating, cooling, DHW energy demand can be reduced by 70% when compared with an average housings in Korea. Lastly, building energy demand for five major energy usage in a house: heating, cooling, DHW, ventilation, and lighting can be reduced by 50%.

Though energy saving methods can reduce significant amount of energy consumption, in order to achieve zero fossil-fuel energy housing complex, necessary electricity need to be supplied through external renewable energy source, such electricity through solar PV and heating energy through either geothermal heat pump or biomass. Any extra necessary energy is then supplied through combined heat and power generation. In addition, information technology and HEMS is applied for energy maintenance and spatial quality control. Involvement of information technology for energy, comfort, welfare is the vision of future housing and the realization of this process will take place in Seoul, Korea.

From 2017, Korea is planning to supply house that demands 60% less energy than current average housings, and by 2025, houses that do not demand any fossil-fuel energy is planned to be supplied. It is a roadmap set by the government. As a professor along with architects within this field, we will do our best in our hopes to achieve these goals step by step.