Tina and Richard’s Eco-retrofit – the plan so far, January 2011.

We’ve lived in our 1950’s 3 bed detached house for one year now and much thought has gone into deciding what changes we’d like to make.

The “eco” wish-list includes:
• A generous porch on the front to minimise heat loss when entering/leaving the house.
• A utility room by the back door to create the same air-lock effect there.
• Super-insulate the loft conversion, the solid walls (externally) and the ground floor.
• Replace the single glazed windows with high quality timber framed windows (hopefully achieving a U value)
• Ensure air tightness of 3m3/m2 at 50 pa pressure, or less
• Install a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery (MVHR)
• Replace the ailing gas boiler with suitable means of space and water heating
• Installing low-flow devices to reduce water use.
• Possibly add PV panels on the south-facing roof

In other words, we will apply to our house some of principles which form the basis of the Passivhaus standard - the highest standard for building homes with a low energy requirement.

The Passivhaus standard is for new buildings, but there is another standard being developed which is specifically for existing buildings. This is the EnerPHit standard for Passivhaus retrofit. Houses build to this standard will use about 80-85% less heat and power than the average home.

This is the standard that we are aiming towards – although we don’t know yet just how close we might be able to get. To see a relatively recent description of this standard (a draft document), go to the EnerPhit document from the Passivhaus Institute