NCC nominated for the world’s largest design award

In September, the world’s largest design award will be presented in Copenhagen. NCC’s unique concept house has been nominated for the award, in competition with entrants from all parts of the globe.

In the future, people will hopefully live in energy-compatible houses, in which the electricity and heat we need is produced by sun and wind. The houses of the future could well have their own wind-power plants, fuel cells, integrated solar-cell panels, transparent insulation and a completely new building style and design, in order to best capitalize on the forces of nature. When excess energy is generated, this will be stored in the form of hydrogen gas in tanks and the fuel-cell cars of the future will be able to drive straight from the garage with a full tank. This energy-producing house was developed by NCC. It has now been nominated for the world’s largest design award – the INDEX: Award – which will be presented in Copenhagen on September 23. NCC Concept House is a study in technology and design, which shows in detail how state-of-the-art technology can be used to create a building that produces and stores its own energy – in contrast to the houses of today that only consume energy. A project group headed by NCC’s Kristina Gabrielii worked for a year to develop NCC Concept House. “By developing NCC Concept House, we have proved that it is already possible, using current technology, to build houses in harmony with nature. Those of us who have worked on the creation of this self-sufficient building consider the nomination for the world’s foremost design award as recognition of our efforts,” says Kristina Gabrielii, NCC’s project manager. NCC Concept House, the house without electricity bills, was initially presented in February 2005. “NCC has proved that if the entire construction adopted a more energy-friendly approach, this would be of tremendous importance to the world’s total energy consumption,” says Kigge Hviid, President of INDEX:. NCC Concept House and the other 117 nominated design projects will be exhibited at locations along Strøget in Copenhagen, well before the winning designs are decided in September. The aim for INDEX: is that Copenhagen will attain the same status in the design world that Cannes has for films. The other nominees include Apple’s iPod/iTunes, an artificial heart from Japan that beats in pace with the user’s current peace of mind and a portable PC that costs USD 100, which was developed by Nicholas Negroponte. From a purely technical viewpoint, NCC Concept House could already be in operation today. At present, however, it would cost three times more than building a conventional house, which is naturally dampening demand. “We will probably have to wait for quite some time before we build NCC Concept House. We will have to wait until the costs for the state-of-the-art equipment used have dropped. One of our objectives has been to inspire the construction industry, manufacturers of energy solutions and authorities to increase demand for this expensive and highly advance technology. Increased demand will reduce the price and enable the energy-producing house to become a reality,” says Kristina Gabrielii. For further information, please contact: Ulf Thorné, Press Relations Manager, NCC Group, +46 8 585 523 46, +46 70 214 77 27 Read more about INDEX at www.index2005.dk Images and technical facts about the NCC Concept House are attached to this press release.