Powerhouse Kjørbo - Norway

The Powerhouse Kjørbo project is attempting to change the building industry. The Powerhouse collaboration is a consortium of companies, academia and a nongovernmental organization with the aim to develop and construct energy-positive buildings, which are buildings that produce more energy than they consume over the course of their lifetime.

Fast facts

Powerhouse Kjørbo is the first completed building. The two office buildings are originally from 1980 and situated just outside Oslo, Norway;
The project is seeing a more than 80% reduction of the buildings' total energy demand;
The project has also achieved the highest possible environmental certification from the Norwegian Green Building Council

The problem

Buildings account for around 40% of energy consumption and 40% of CO2 emissions on a global basis.

The solution

The EU has decided that all new buildings should produce nearly as much energy as they consume by 2020. In Norway, a cluster of companies has taken up the gauntlet and created the Powerhouse collaboration. Powerhouse Kjørbo is the first renovated energy-positive building in Norway. It is energy efficient and produces more energy than it consumes during its lifespan. The calculations of energy-positive includes energy used for production of building materials, construction, operation and disposal of the building.

Helping the planet

This project wants to improve the environment by developing energy positive buildings. It sets an example for how the building industry can collaborate for a more sustainable approach.

Helping people

The project is developed on commercial terms with the building owner as the client. The project benefits the building industry as a whole, raising the quality of research and expanding the knowledge-base on innovations in the industry.

Scaling Up

With ambition, approach, and cooperation, this project is both scalable and replicable.