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