Exhibition of local low energy homes

As part of the Eco Houses under Construction series, we have organised a FREE Exhibition on Saturday 21st January 2012 (10am-1pm) at St Paul's Church Hall on Boundary Road in West Bridgford. To see to poster, click here.

The exhibition will showcase all the houses that have already featured in the Eco Houses under Construction series, with a few additional examples as well. From a solid wall home insulated with minimal disruption to the occupants, to full scale ultra low energy refurbishments and new builds, this is a sneak preview of the homes of the future.

It is a great chance to see the displays and talk to the home owners, architects and those who provided the products and services to create these low energy homes. And it is a one-off opportunity to compare the different projects while they are all represented under one roof.

• If your New Year's resolutions include cutting your energy bills, come and have a chat with Rushcliffe Borough Council's Energy Officer. She will be offering independent advice about improvements that should save you money in the short to medium term. And we'll have the latest news on the Green Deal - a scheme designed to help people finance energy efficiency savings with no up front cost.

• If you live in a solid wall house and find it increasingly expensive to heat, come and talk to the home-owners who have already improved their homes, and the experts who helped them.

• If installing renewable energy generation technologies might be for you, independent renewables expert, Tim Saunders from the Energy Saving Trust will be able to answer your questions.

• If you have ambitious plans to live in an ultra low energy or zero carbon home, or to be completely self-sufficient by producing all your own energy, this exhibition is a must-see.

We hope to make the event enjoyable as well as informative, so Taste Cafe will be there selling their delicious cakes and light lunchtime snacks.

The Eco Houses Under Construction project is funded by Climate East Midlands, East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and Communities and Local Government with a Growing Climate Friendly Communities grant. It is overseen by the charity Groundwork East Midlands. 

High Court ruling on Feed in Tariff

24 Dec 2011: It seems that the High Court found that the government were wrongful in pressing ahead with major changes to the Feed in Tariff without considering that the consultation process was not completed, and that the deadlines given have caused untold chaos in the solar installation industry.... and we should not forget some of the inevitable job losses or company closures.

[See the Guardian Report for details. ]

Most people assume that Cameron and Osborne (who seems from his actions and saying to have little regard for the 'Green' revolution) will just carry on regardless of the Court ruling, or of the effects on the Solar industry and customers. 

Why link to Insulation?

When this was first mooted, it was proposed that the higher tariff should apply to houses which meet an Energy Performance Certificate of level "C". Although this sounds at first sight like a good incentive, it reveals, at closer inspection to be just another form of discouragement, and favouring the well off.

   Energy Generation is a different matter from Energy Conservation, and both are excellent, but there is No Reason for them to be so tightly linked, or for one to exclude the other. Should we also make a law that only houses with PV panels should be Insulated? Of course not. That demonstrates the absurdity of the proposal. There are other ways to incentivise insulation, and these are being done.

  Society needs Energy, so why should we not encourage panels to be fixed on garages, barns and old houses that are not easy to insulate? In the same way, there are many buildings than can and should be insulated, but because of chimneys, dormers, trees or hips, they cannot be adapted for photovoltaic. 

    It can cost more to insulate a house up to level C than to fix solar panels. This becomes a charter favouring the rich or the owner occupier, because it requires an expensive operation on the house first, and perhaps a season's delay. 

   What does it do for social housing (especially of older dwellings)? A quick one or two day installation of panels can reduce future fuel poverty for a whole street, but a programme of insulation of a whole street would mean a complex and expensive process of decanting tenants etc. with funds that the local authorities or housing associations do not have.

Green Deal Consultation - we want your views!

A few of us attended the "Greening the Green Deal" event in Radcliffe on Trent on Saturday 10th December. It was run by Terena Plowright, the founder of the Greening Campaign, and champion of putting communities in the driving seat.

After a very useful review of the Green Deal's key features, Terena invited us to read the consultation document and to respond to it.

Questions you may wish to consider:

• Do you think communities have a role in the present outline policy?
• Where do you think the blocks to the household uptake will be?
• Can you see an opportunity for communities to make money? How?
• Can you seen an opportunity for setting up community energy schemes? How?
• How can community energy develop within the framework of the Green Deal?
• What needs to be added or altered to the Green Deal framework to make this easier?
• What blocks stop community energy schemes taking place?

The online consultation response document is rather heavy going so Terena invited us to email our comments to her for her to discuss with DECC directly. If you would like to take part in this process, please read the consultation document and email your thoughts to info@wbecohouses.co.uk and I will send on the combined "wbecohouses" response. 

The consultation ends on 18th January 2012, but Terena may need our responses before that. If I can get an exact date I will add it here. I hope to hear from you -  the sooner the better!

10 Dec 2011: If you are thinking of going to the Green Deal Seminar, in Radcliffe [Dec 10th 1-4pm], it is still possible to book, read the link below of the report of the London seminar held earlier in the week, and check a couple of stories below this for the details for booking the Radcliffe event.

http://blog.emap.com/footprint/2011/12/09/eco-refurbishment-and-the-green-deal/

List of events, and how to book, see:
http://www.greening-campaign.co.uk/green-deal-event-list.html 

1950's refurb - mini event 2

As part of the Eco Houses Under Construction series, a second mini event was held on site at the 1950's solid wall house. (...mini events because it would be impractical to have many people present at one time).

Gil Schalom (the architect) started by talking about how the ground floor is being insulated. Then attention turned to the roof. Due to the obvious shortcomings of the roof in its present state, and the plan to carry out a loft conversion with dormer and change from hip to gable at the back of the roof, major work will be needed.

The wind whistles through the loft due to the deterioration of the roofing felt, and the loft insulation was thin and full of dust. These two things alone conspire to make the house much colder than it should be.

Had the condition of the roof been better, most of the existing structure and the tiles would have been preserved, and insulation placed between and possibly beneath the rafters. However, in this case, we've decided to renew everything so that it will last long into the future, and at the same time aim for a very air tight construction and super-insulate at rafter level.

Another 1950's feature we won't be retaining is the state-of-the-ark Baxi fireplace! It's funny to think that this is where Baxi must have started when you consider the range of systems they now offer (from gas boilers to ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, one of the first domestic "combined heat and power" systems, solar hot water and so on!)

To see more about this house, click here

Green Deal Consultation Events

The Greening Campaign invites us to get involved in "Greening the Green Deal". Your chance to make your voice heard.

For events across the country, go to: http://www.greening-campaign.co.uk/green-deal-event-list.html. The Nottingham event will be in Radcliffe on Trent on the 10th December - follow the link above to book your place.

If you would like an easy to read summary of the consultation, email info@wbecohouses.co.uk and one will be emailed to you.

Here is more information from Terena, founder of the Greening Campaign:


The Green Deal Consultation document has been released and can be found at 
 
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/green_deal/green_deal.aspx
 
We are discussing this document and the issues surrounding it at events across the country and will be presenting a formal report to DECC early January.
Please see attached information.To book FREE seats at any of the events (and more information) please go to:
http://www.greening-campaign.co.uk/green-deal-event-list.html
 
This is our biggest chance to reduce CO2 effectively and it would also create jobs and could bring communities together.  Lets make sure we get this right.  If you attend any meeting this month please attend one of these.  We need your brains to think this through.  The Green Deal team are attending many of the conferences and want to hear your thoughts.
 
With the Green Deal we can get massive energy efficiency moderations made to peoples homes without them paying for the work up front (in some tests energy use has dropped by 80%).  The electric bill will go down and a little more is added to pay back for the work – Brilliant!!  However, as always the small print can make a difference so lets at least read it!!  And then lets comment constructively to make this happen.
 
Please pass this to your contacts!!!
See you there – it is all FREE
Terena

Eco Houses Under Construction - mini events

In addition to the main “Eco Houses Under Construction” events, a number of mini-events will be held on site at the 1950’s low energy refurbishment. This gives people who are particularly interested in this kind of project the chance to follow it more closely and gain a more in-depth understanding from the architect and home-owner. The house and surrounding plot are quite small, so it is easier to cater for smaller groups. Email info@wbecohouses.co.uk if you would like to join any of these mini-events.

19^th November 2011 – first mini-event

The first mini-event was held on a sunny November afternoon, attended by 3 members of the Eco House Group. With the lounge floor, the dining room floor and the floor of the new extension all at different stages of the insulation process, the event had a “Blue Peter” style “…and here’s one I prepared earlier…” feel to it!

Gil Schalom, the architect, started in the lounge. Floorboards and joists were gone, and bricks and rubble from elsewhere in the house had been used to raise the level (with addition of a little road stone). The plan is to use the old floorboards as the new floor in the loft conversion. Round the edge of the room, downstands of grey insulation can be seen. These will minimise heat loss through the walls into the ground.

Moving on to the dining room, the next step in the process was on display: 300mm thick sheets of silver EPS (expanded polystyrene) were in place, complete with wood chocks between them, and expaning foam protruding from all the joints.

Outside, the ground floor of the extension showed the next step: the expanding foam had been trimmed, a small upstand of insulation placed (and stuck down) around the edge of the walls, and the concrete floor slab poured on top.

For more on this project, go to http://eco-retrofit.blogspot.com/

December PV scramble!

21 Nov 2011: DNC writes: I had an email from Good Energy today to say that they will have staff in the office on Saturday 10th (10-4pm) and Sunday 11th (12-6pm) in December to super-streamline OfGem registrations in time for the midnight deadline of Dec 11th. If you get your installation registered by then, you are on the 43pence tariff for the next 25 years! Some utility companies are telling people that they need 3 or 4 weeks to register, so don't take that nonsense from them - switch!
    I don't normally want to promote one company only, but if they can do this for the customers, it's a benefit for all. Also. I hope they can lose George Monbiot his £100 bet - he bet someone that renewable energy companies can't maintain their prices till  2014... but GE have already maintained their prices without an increase for 4 years - due to the fact that their 'Wholesale Fuel' price is zero - the Wind for their windfarm and the Sun for their customers who are home generators!
     This underlines the fundamental benefit of renewable technology - it trumps all the arguments of people who say that Wind farms or Solar or Hydro is not 'economic'. The fossil/nuclear generators are helped by the many visible and invisible subsidies and economies of scale that the fossil/nuclear systems get - but every other one of these is trumped by the fact that the renewables come free, but the nuclear fossils have a Wholesale fuel purchase price, with competition from others to obtain those fuels, with risks of war or hostilities cutting off the supply.

Eco Houses Under Construction - Event 5

On 12^th November, a dozen people gathered to find out more about barn conversion in East Leake that will soon become zero carbon. David Hill (now Managing Director of Carbon Legacy Ltd.) turned the old dairy into a comfortable, highly insulated space. If you think that going low carbon is for the “hair shirt brigade”, think again – this is definitely luxury low carbon living!

Good air quality is provided by the MVHR system (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery), which draws stale air out of kitchens, bathrooms and the utility room, and sends warmed fresh air into the main living spaces. (This makes the utility room a great place to dry clothes simply because of the air flow.) The system was extremely quiet (well, I didn’t even notice it), although it could be heard in the utility room where the MVHR box was located.

 The house design ensures thermal comfort thanks to insulation, controlled ventilation rather than cold draughts, and plenty of “thermal mass”. Thermal mass is present in the form of stone floors and stone or brick walls – these absorb heat to keep the house cool on a hot day, and release the heat as the air cools in the evening.

Energy is provided in a variety of ways:

The forthcoming addition of more PV panels to create a 10kwp system, will equal the entire annual energy consumption of the house (10,000-10,500kWh per year). Furthermore, the imminent installation of an inverter with intelligent control system and batteries (called Power Router from Nedap in Holland. www.powerrouter.com) means that this house will continue to have an electricity supply even if the rest of the area suffers a power cut!

Solar hot water panels supply hot water during the summer months, and a ground source heat pump provides heat to the under-floor heating system. Recently, a pellet burning stove in the main living area has been installed in case of power failure or temperatures below -10 degrees C or when the main heating system has not been switched on.

Low energy refurb of 1950's house underway

Back in July, the first "Eco Houses Under Construction" event introduced the design for the ultra-low energy refurbishment of a 1950's solid wall house (my house).

The refurbishment work will combine essential maintenance, a loft conversion, and an extension with a radical low-energy refit. There will eventually be a super-insulated roof, ground floor and external walls, triple glazed windows, and a ventilation system with heat recovery.

Finally, work has started - with the floor of the extension. To follow the whole process, keep your eye on the blog: http://eco-retrofit.blogspot.com/

As work progresses, there will be the chance to visit this house and learn more about it from the architect, Gil Schalom. Email info@wbecohouses.co.uk if you would like to receive details as visits are organised.

Visit to Green Street

29 October 2011: The WB Ecohouses group were invited to view the show house in the Green Street development in the Meadows - by architects Marsh Grochowski, and developers Blueprint. See more detail at:
http://www.ourgreenstreet.co.uk/downloads/Scheme%20Summary.pdf

John Long, for Blueprint was showing us around, and we had about a dozen members from WB Ecohouses. This was a brave venture to build in an area that has been 'postcoded', i.e. has lower house prices than south of the river, but the quality of the houses has been sufficient to generate a huge amount of interest. The architect, Julian, lives nearby in a self-built house, and Blueprint have a policy of sustainable development. There are 38 houses, and it's a reasonable risk that there are 38 families willing to move to energy efficient houses like these, so Blueprint went ahead with the scheme.

The houses are almost Passivhaus standard, with a high attention to thermal insulation, thermal break detailing, MVHR, on site power generation, high quality windows and other features. Added to which they have wonderful qualities of daylighting and space. They have a good urban density (being compact town houses to 3 stories) with roof gardens and on site car storage.

The houses of the second phase have an excellent view of the Victoria Gardens park on the Embankment. There was such high demand for these that they were sold by sealed bid, demonstrating that there are more than 38 families who recognise quality!

These houses of the first phase have high performance windows with external window blinds, operable from within. Each window has a small anemometer so that they blinds can retract in high wind conditions.  The houses all have PV panels on the roofs, although only a token amount per house. We were distressed to see that subsequent fitting of satellite dishes and TV aerials appear to have misunderstood the risks of shading to the PV panels (many of which seemed to be partially shaded.)
  It is nice that John seems to know all the buyers of the properties. He has also got some shared promotion with the Riverbank restaurant, to get help with leafletting and hospitality. 

Want PV? soon, you will need an EPC!

5 Nov 2011: After April 12th 2012, it's likely that householders will have to get an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for their house to be eligible for the 21pence tariff. The EPC should be grade 'C' or better. Without this, you may only be eligible for 9 pence/unit.
   This is going to need clarifying, because it seems to be bad news for people in historic buildings who are unable to bring the buildings up to grade C, or those who have to erect panels in the orchard, garage or uninsulated outbuildings because the house is historic, listed or is encrusted with chimneys and dormers. You need EPCs in order to sell a house, so there is now a small industry of EPC assessors. Google EPC and you will find loads, including some companies based in West Bridgford/ Rushcliffe. If your house does not yet meet grade C, then you will get advice from the assessor on how far it can be taken.

How do you get an EPC?
• EPCs are explained further on the DECC website,
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Energyperformancecertificates/index.htm
• It costs between £30 and £70 to get an EPC evaluation, there are many companies offering to do one. See this page:
https://www.epcregister.com/searchAssessor.html
• Here's an example of a EPC for a house in 'AnyTown'
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/319282.pdf

Get your PV quickly!

30 Oct 2011: There are changes to the PV Feed in Tariff coming up, and these will affect newcomers, not those who already have it. The likelihood is that the FIT will drop from 43pence a unit to about 21p a unit. This is still well above the buy-in price of electricity, but gives a slower return - more like 18 years, instead of 8 years.
   This is partially to deter the slap-happy buyer who is doing it for the money, and not considering the quality of the installation, or the better use of their money, for example by Thermal Insulation. The other reason is that the world price of panels has fallen so massively, that the cost of installation has halved in just 2 years - scaffolding labour and inverters are the same, but the Chinese production volume and quality have improved beyond all predictions. Relative to what they have invested, the return (from a micro-levy on all energy buyers) is too great.
  It is a big blow for the Solar industry which has geared up to meet the demand, and now has to diversify or see many new companies closing or merging.
    If you have PV up, but have not yet registered for FIT, do it now! If you are merely thinking about PV, then decide quickly as there may be only a month to get it fitted, and installers will have such full order books that you cannot be 'shopping around for a bargain' - just decide quickly.
See a few links.
http://rushcliffesolar.blogspot.com/2011/10/changes-to-fit.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2011/oct/28/feed-in-tariffs-solarpower
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2120568/feed-tariff-cuts-threaten-kill-solar-pv
http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/news/national-news/122739-consumers-and-industry-react-with-fury-to-leaked-feed-in-tariff-cut-plans.html

Radcliffe Superhome!

20 October 2011: DNC writes: Michael Bedford of Radcliffe has just had his house added to the Superhomes website, which is for retrofit to older homes, using energy saving methods or technology. See:
http://www.superhomes.org.uk/superhomes/nottingham-johns-road
Somehow, I guess that this is one house that will be warm this winter, however bad the weather gets!
This is about the most comprehensive retrofit that anybody could do. Here's a list of the main features:

• 60mm Phenolic foam external insulation 
• 20mm Spacetherm (Aerogel) + Fermaboard panels internal insulation 
• 120mm Celotex floor insulation and 250mm Celotex loft insulation 
• TITON MVHR system 
• Hi-performance ALPHA gas boiler 
• 2.4 SqM solar thermal panel 
• 10x245W Photovoltaic panels  2.45 KWp
  (in the photo, nine are visible, the tenth one cropped from the photo)
• Low energy lighting throughout 
• Low energy appliances

Thinking of a Heat Pump? Act soon....

19 Oct 2011: DNC writes: When we had our Heat Pump installed in 2007, we did get a small support grant to help with the cost. There are more funds available since August 2011. The Renewable Heat Premium is a new scheme, mainly for people whose primary living property (i.e. not a second home) is off the Gas grid or who elect not to use Gas. This is additional to the Renewable Heat Incentive.

In a nutshell, its:
• £300 for Solar Thermal HW
• £850 for Air Source Heat Pump
• £1250 for Earth or Water source Heat Pump
• £950 for Biomass boiler
The scheme runs until March 2012. Better get your skates on!

It's explained on the Energy Saving Trust website:
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Financial-incentives/Renewable-Heat-Premium-Payment

It's also explained on the Ice Energy website, for would-be buyers of Heat Pumps, for whom there is little alternative if they live off the Gas grid unless they want to lose a fortune on Oil, or have a large supply of wood for their wood burner:
http://www.iceenergyecodan.co.uk/cert-grant/

Eco Houses Under Construction - Event 5

The 5th event in the series will take place on Saturday 12th November, 2-5pm.

This is a rare opportunity to visit the UK's first Zero Carbon Barn Conversion, just down the road in East Leake. The developer (and owner) of this home is David Hill, who previously developed the UK's first Code 6 new build Zero Carbon homes in Upton, Northampton. He is now director of Carbon Legacy Ltd.

Although not still "under construction", this house has the advantage of 3 years' energy data post completion, showing that the approach taken has worked.

(For anyone who attended the series of Eco House Seminars which we ran this time last year, you may remember that David presented a talk on low energy refurbishment, and also contributed to the seminar on renewable energy for homes.)

For more information or to book your place on this free event, email Tina on info@wbecohouses.co.uk

Here is David's summary of the house:


·         Super insulated 9” solid brick walls
·         Factory made Insulated roof panels (SIPS)
·         Super insulated floor slab with wet under floor heating (ground and first floor)
·         Extensive use of thermal mass in floors, internal walls and ceiling
·         Whole house ventilation with heat recovery 90% efficiency
·         Triple glazed timber windows with aluminium outer skin (Rationel)
·         Draft lobby with highly insulated doors (Rationel)
·         Air tight construction with measured value of 2.3m3/m2@50Pa pressure
·         Thermal store fed by oversized Solar Hot water panels and heat pump for space heating and domestic hot water

·         10kwp Solar PV system installed in December which should make us carbon neutral in energy use. Half of the system also feeds a new type of inverter (Nedap Powerrouter). This will do 5 important tasks: Send power to the house as it is required, when the house does not need the power divert it to a large battery store, in the evening when the house is calling for electricity turn the battery power into AC and send it to the house, during the day if the house does not need power and the batteries are fully charged then export power to the grid, should the Mains Grid supply fail then the unit will continue to feed converted power from the batteries into the house independently.

·         Ground sourced heat Pump (GSHP) providing space heating and some of the domestic hot water
·         Experimental Sunbox providing Earth charging energy from solar and ambient air to improve the efficiency of the GSHP
·         Rain water recycling from underground tank to provide water for toilet flushing and garden irrigation
·         Presence and daylight sensor light control in common areas of the house
·         100% low energy lighting and low energy appliances
·         Planning permission and foundation pad for a 10-15kw VAWT wind turbine for when I find one that works!
·         Reserve wood pellet 5kw stove in case of power failure

Interesting facts/results:

·         It works!
·         It has met its target energy consumption with 3 years’ worth of all power consumption (electricity) 10,500kwh/year
·         If we had the 10kw wind turbine (long story) or when we install the 10kw or bigger Solar PV installation then the house will generate as much or more power than it consumes.
·         It may also provide free electricity to charge 2 electric cars the first of which is due to arrive in 2012
·         The family loves it because it is comfortable and pleasant to live in all year round

Eco House Visits coming up

In addition to the "Eco Houses Under Construction" events coming up in the next month or two, here are some additional visits being planned to low energy building projects that have been completed.

1. Green Street in the Meadows - a tour of the show home and a chance to find out more about the fabric and technologies in this Code 4 development. http://www.igloo.uk.net/projects/nottingham-green-street-meadows

There is already a lot of interest in this free visit, which will be held on the morning of either 22nd October or 29th October, TBC. If you would like to join this event, just email info@wbecohouses.co.uk indicating which date(s) you can make.

2. FarmEco straw bale building - a tour of the recently completed Ecocentre near Bingham, led by a member of the Eco House Group who assisted in its construction. Details of the centre's key features can be seen here: http://www.farmeco.co.uk/ecocentre/

This visit is free, and will take place at 11am on Sunday 30th October if there is sufficient interest. So if you want to see it, email info@wbecohouses.co.uk.

3. Hill Holt Wood - a tour of this inspiring site will be arranged in November/December if enough people register interest. To get an idea of the place and the eco buildings, click here: http://hillholtwood.com/the-community-village/

This visit will cost something (less than £10 probably), and we can arrange to share transport for those who wish to go. Email info@wbecohouses.co.uk if you are interested.

Eco Houses Under Construction - Event 4

The Coach House, a whole house refurbishment using passivhaus principles

On Sunday 2^nd October, a total of 17 visitors took part in a tour around a Victorian coach house which is now an advanced low energy home. Gil Schalom, who provided advice and architectural services on the project, gave a presentation explaining how this was achieved. He introduced the passivhaus modelling techniques used at the design stage, and included photos of the insulation and air tightness products as they were installed. 

For more details about this refurbishment project, click here

To receive an invitation to other events like this, contact Tina on info@wbecohouses.co.uk and ask to join the Eco House Group email list.

The Eco Houses Under Construction project is funded by Climate East Midlands, East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and Communities and Local Government with a Growing Climate Friendly Communities grant. It is delivered by the charity Groundwork East Midlands. 

Twitter Q&A with Greg Barker

Twitter Q&A with Greg Barker, Thursday 6 October 11.30am - 12.30pm

Climate Change and Energy Minister Greg Barker is taking part in TwitterUK's Question & Answer series,  answering your questions on rising energy prices and household energy bills.

We are taking questions in advance as well as during the session using the DECC (@deccgovuk) twitter account. The live session is on Thursday 6th October at 11.30am - 12.30pm.

Tweet us your questions using the hashtag #AskEnergy.

If you do not use Twitter but would like to ask a question then you can email decc.ecomms@decc.gsi.gov.uk by midnight on 5th October.

We will capture the answers and publish them on the DECC website following the session.

Here are questions that one member of the Eco House Group has emailed so far:

Given that the generation of small scale electricity by private homes is collectively a very inefficient method of generating energy, would more not be achieved by providing financial incentive to promote the significant use of insulation (eg. externally, particularly on the vast numbers of solid walled houses) to reduce the amount of energy needed in the first place and amending the planning system to enable this to be done, rather than blocking it?

Again, given the collective inefficiency of small scale generation and the relatively significant proportion of household energy consumption used on heating and hot water, would it not be more effective to provide highly efficient district heating systems, as have been pursued for many years in other major European countries?

Go for it - send in your questions to the Energy Minister!!

September Heatwave

2 Oct 2011: DNC writes: The heat wave at the end of September 2011 produced 3 successive PV-Maximum days in a row. As it is after the Equinox, these averaged 13.5 kWh only per day on my east facing 4KW array, but it is still nice to have them. The lower daily harvest is due to lower sun angles and short hours of daylight. It's distressing how quickly it gets dark in the early evenings!
    It says something about the summer we have had (a lot of cloudy bright conditions) that that last day that PV was close to a maximum was 14th June, and previous to that it was May 1st and 2nd!
     For those who installed in early 2011, the good news is that 2011 has so far been sunnier than 2010, July and September being notably better.
dnicholsoncole@gmail.com 

AECB annual conference

The annual conference for the Sustainable Builders Association (AECB) took place on 16th and 17th September this year in Nottingham, and I went along to it for the first time. As a home-owner rather than a building professional, I thought I might be out of my depth, but I had a wonderful time and can highly recommend it!

A large part of this year's focus was on retrofit, but talks and workshops covered a wide range of topics, including:
- The launch of the AECB's "Less is More - Energy Security after Oil" discussion paper by David Olivier
- Renovating existing homes and creating new buildings to Passive House standard
- Embodied carbon and sustainability of buildings and materials

There was also a talk on "a community network promoting energy efficient buildings" - by me, about Transition West Bridgford's Eco House Group, the events organised over the last 18 months, and this blog!

If you are thinking about starting a major low-energy or sustainable refurbishment (or new build), it is worth joining the AECB as a supporter member (for about £40+), just for the useful documents that you can then download. But there is much more on the website - a forum, articles, courses, the chance to find out who's who and what some of the UK's leading sustainable builders and architects (etc.) are working on, and events for local groups.

http://www.aecb.net/

Green Street eco housing

Eco Houses are attracting a lot of interest, judging by the speed at which the new homes on Green Street in the Meadows sold. Here are a few paragraphs about this development:

The development, which is a mixture of three and four bed contemporary town houses, comprises 38 homes in total. Designed by Nottingham based award winning architects, Marsh Grochowski, it is positioned next to the picturesque Victoria Gardens on the Trent Embankment.

The scheme builds on Blueprint’s core values of design driven quality and sustainability. Features include solar photovoltaic supplemented electricity, whole-house heat recovery, super insulation and air tightness way above new building standards.

The homes were priced from around £175,000 to £235,000 and were sold nationally by Savills via their Nottingham office and locally by Royston & Lund in West Bridgford. 

The Lower Energy Terraced House

I'm just back from 2 wonderful and inspiring days at the Association of Sustainable Builders' (AECB) annual conference. Of which more anon....

There were many interesting people to meet there and so much to learn.

Here is just one example of an ongoing refurbishment being carried out in Manchester by Andrew Gill, one of many people I met at the conference:

https://sites.google.com/site/lowerenergyterracedhouse/home

It is well worth a read! There is a lot to digest!

Eco Houses Under Construction - Event 3

Event 3 – the second visit to the timber frame new build

We were again lucky to have fine weather, and 35 visitors gathered on site to learn more about the insulation strategy for the house, and the reasons for choosing lime render as part of the outer shell.

Architect Mike Siebert (of Ecologic Homes Ltd.) explained how and why a range of insulation materials were used. These included a wood fibre sarking board for the roof, load-bearing polystyrene beneath the entire building and outer walls and blown recycled newspaper in the timber frame walls, plus some extra additions to reduce cold bridging at key locations (see on photo with brickwork). 

Further roof insulation will be added between the rafters as well. Another interesting product used was foamglass in the form of a load-bearing plinth block, which is also highly insulating, to complete the thermal barrier.  

Tony Saunders (of Lime Technology Ltd) and Clinton Parker (the plasterer) talked about the benefits and uses of lime render and lime mortar, including its “self-healing” characteristics. There was also a discussion of various ways to use hempcrete (although not used on this project).

Clinton, who is an experienced plasterer (but using lime render for the first time) explained how he found it very easy to use and apply.

Michael Siebert, architect – Ecologic Homes Ltd 07508 161333

Tony Saunders – Lime Technology  Ltd. 0845 603 1143

Clinton Parker – 07904 084234 (the plasterer who did the lime render work)

The Eco Houses Under Construction project is funded by Climate East Midlands, East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and Communities and Local Government with a Growing Climate Friendly Communities grant. It is delivered by the charity Groundwork East Midlands.