The article in the French HVAC journal CFP reveals that the l’Orée de Migné-Auxances eco district consists of a total of 32 rental apartments, ranging in size from two-room apartments to five-room and a kitchen apartments on two levels.
The l´Orée de Migné-Auxances eco district’s design and construction project begun in 2008. The original aim of the project was the BBC Effinergie rating of its low-energy houses. Indeed, the total energy consumption reached below the required 50 kWh/m2 per year: 37 kWh/m2 per year according to the Effinergie standards and 42.5 kWh/m2 per year regarding the RT-2005 Act for energy efficiency. Thus, the improvement was 78% in comparison with the reference level.
The eco district’s passive houses are using a heating system based on two-stage heating. The idea is that the ECO-heaters heat pre-heated supply air to 15 – 17 °C, room by room. In the first stage, the air is heated centrally and in the second stage the ECO-heaters heat the supply air for each room, so that every room has its desired temperature. The ECO air heaters are controlled by the ECOT control units and outside the heating period the ECO air heaters can be turned off by lodgers through the power board.