Open Homes May 2014 - open for bookings!

Here are the links to each home on the booking system (with further details on these and other homes across the East Midlands in the blog posts below).

For last minute bookings (on the day, or the evening before), text or call 07962 453037 with the house name, date and time for the visit you wish to book. We will get back to you with the details and confirm whether there is space still available.

* Book here for Wollaton Road Refurb in Beeston - in mid refurb! (17 May: 2pm)

* Book here for Charnock Avenue Refurb in Nottingham - also in mid-refurb! (18 May: 2pm)

* Book here for Elm Avenue in Beeston - the new addition to our booking system (17 & 18 May:  hourly tours from 2.30pm both days)

If you have any questions or any difficulty booking a visit, just email wbecohouses@gmail.com or phone 07962 453037 and we'll get back to you.

All these homes and others can be found on the Green Open Homes website - just put in your postcode to find a low energy home that is local to you.

Homes which have already opened are listed below. If you missed visiting one of these, there may be opportunities for "ad hoc" visits in the next month or so. Just email wbecohouses@gmail.com with your enquiry as we now have a waiting list for several homes.

* Worwood Drive (left hand branch)  on 10th May between 11am & 3pm and make your way to the house with the gazebo and the green balloons in the front garden.

* Greenstone - a zero carbon barn conversion in East Leake (10 May: 10am and 2pm)

*  Harrow House (towards EnerPHit) - a nearly Passive House refurb (10 & 11 May: 2pm both days)

* The Green Man House - an ultra-low energy new build near Market Bosworth (10 May: 10am and 2pm)

* Peveril House - solar power & ground source heat pump (11 May: 12 noon and 4pm)

Open Homes May 2014 - House number 4 of 7

On Peveril Drive, West Bridgford, just up the hill from house number 3 (see previous post) is another seriously low energy home - achieved in a very different way.

To book your free place for the 12 noon or 4pm tour on the 11th May 2014, click here.

This house was built with extra cavity wall insulation and has subsequently been fitted with solar hot water panels, solar PV panels, a ground source heat pump linked to 2 "sun-boxes" and more recently still a PVT system.

The owner is a technical expert on this system, using it for cutting edge research into the levels of efficiency that can be achieved with a ground source heat pump.

Peveril Solar on Ecohomes open day

There is a programme of visits to Ecohouses in the region, from 3rd-10th March.
Peveril Solar is one of the houses on the list and we are open on Sunday 3rd March at 2pm and 330pm. You need to book ahead by emailing info@wbecohouses.co.uk or DNC at dnicholsoncole@gmail.com .

This is the leaflet by Everybody's Talking, who have arranged the event. It includes a succinct explanation of the technology. Peveril Solar is the first house in the UK to be entirely solar heated all year round.	Although the official time is 3rd March, you might be reading this after that date, but please be assured, that visitors with a serious interest in Solar Earth Charging are welcome at any reasonable date, by first emailing the DNC address above.

Open Homes, March 2013

As part of regional and national open homes events in March, 3 houses in West Bridgford will open their doors to visitors. If you want to take part, click here to register your interest, see which homes are open and when, and to request a booking.

The oldest, built in the 1890's, was a G rated house before it was turned into the "Nottingham Eco Home". Full details can be seen here.

The next, a typical 1950's house of solid wall construction, has been extensively refurbished and now approaches the new Passivhaus Refurbishment (EnerPHit) standard. Further details can be seen here and here.

The youngest house on the list was built in 2006, and the owner was able to dictate above average levels of insulation as it was built. This house uses solar energy to match its entire annual heating and hot water requirements. For more details, click here.

If you live in or near to Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, a diverse range of events running in early March will be listed here:
http://www.everybodys-talking.org/ecohomes/events

And later in March, it is national Superhomes Week, when homes all over the UK will open their doors. Look for events running near you on http://www.superhomes.org.uk/.

Open house visits: more about the Peveril solar

Tina asked me to write a bit about one of the two houses that are on the visit of 16th September at 2pm or 3.30 pm. There is only a ten minute walk between the houses, so we have arranged is so that you can see one and then walk to the other.
http://wbecohouses.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/open-house-visits-in-september.html

The Peveril Solar house is Net-Zero due to an interesting combination of solar technologies - Photovoltaic, Surya Sunbox, Kingspan vacuum tubes, underfloor heating and a Ground source heat pump. During the visit, the way in which these interact will be explained. There are other energy saving things to see, such an an induction hob, light tube, voltage regulator, partial heat reclaim.
Net-zero means that its entire heating and hot water requirements are met by PV power generation, annually. Yes, is entirely solar heated the whole year round using electrical and thermal storage.

Another interesting thing is that a new house extension is being built, being a unique form of construction. The architect is adapting structural insulated timber panel construction but applying hand built methods that avoid thermal bridging, making it ultra insulated, but keeping the walls to half the thickness of a brick-block wall. The extension will include one of the first domestic installations in the UK of PV-Thermal combi panels, the PV providing off grid electricity and the thermal being used to charge the borehole 16 storeys deep under the house.

Open house visits in September

Several local homes which have been built or refurbished to use less energy will be opening their doors during September to interested visitors. Visit and ask any questions you like.

Keep an eye on the website as additional houses and other details may be added in the next few days:

1st September
• 1950's ultra-low energy refurbishment (passivhaus) in Derby.
There will be a tour from 10.30am to noon and a later one from 1pm if numbers require a second tour.
(Child-friendly arrangements are possible here - just ask for details).

8th September
• Penney and Gil's 1890's house (now very low energy indeed) in West Bridgford
There will be a tour from 11.30am and 1.30pm,

• Edwardian home in Carlton - book your visit on 8th or 9th September via the Superhomes website: (http://www.superhomes.org.uk/superhomes/nottingham-carlton-mayfield-road/)

15th September
• David Hill's zero carbon barn conversion in East Leake (superinsulated, renewable technologies and now an electric car)
There will be a tour from 2pm,

16th September (10 mins walk between these two)
• 1950's ultra-low energy refurbishment (passivhaus) in West Bridgford
• Website (http://www.eco-retrofit.blogspot.co.uk/)
There will be a tour from 2pm and a later one from 3.30pm,

• 2000's house with cutting edge renewable technologies in West Bridgford, and a ultra-insulated extension under construction
• Website  (http://chargingtheearth.blogspot.com)
There will be a tour from 2pm and a later one from 3.30pm.

Unless indicated otherwise, contact wbecohouses@gmail.com 

for more details or to book your place.

Summer Gathering May 2012

19th May 2012: DavidNC writes: West Bridgford had its Summer Gathering, and Transition West Bridgford had a stand. It's a kind of green festival, held annually in the Park, next to Central Avenue.
See: http://www.wbsummergathering.co.uk/ for a news report.
Although the weather was cold and overcast, it stayed dry and something like 2000 people visited during the day.

The Transition stand was mostly to do with house improvement and WB Ecohouses. We were telling people about the building case study visits on the 20th and 27th May, which included the Peveril Solar house (PV and Surya heat pump technology), the Harms house (external insulation of a 1920s house) and the Holt house on 27th (extensive low energy refurbishment of a 1950s house). There is still a chance to sign up for this one. 

More open house visits in May or June

For the last two years, members of Transition West Bridgford have organised an eco house open day linked to the West Bridgford Summer Gathering.

This year's Summer Gathering is on 19th May, and if you are interested in visiting a local home with eco features, you can sign up there or contact us directly on wbecohouses@gmail.com for more information or to book a place.

For anyone interested in renewable technologies, David's house is worth a visit. With solar PV panels on the roof generating electricity and a ground source heat pump system linked to "sunboxes", this well-insulated house is a great example of how these technologies can work really well.

Peveril Solar house: PV, Heat Pump, Solar thermal, Light tube

If solid wall insulation is something you are considering, there are two homes that might be of interest. One has been insulated externally with 100mm of Phenolic boards on the back and side walls.

Harms house: External Insulation, done very thoroughly

The other is undergoing a whole house refurbishment and should achieve the Passivhaus standard for retrofit when complete. This youtube video gives a flavour of the work involved, or check out the blog to follow progress.

Case Study on the Peveril Solar House

2 Sept: DNC writes: wow! I am really happy that Good Energy (renewables-based electricity supplier) have written a case study about the PV roof on my house and the research on the Sunbox project.
See the Greenenergyrepublic Page

PV Milestone reached!

28 Aug: DNicholsoncole writes: Today, in the Peveril Solar House, the PV roof galloped through another milestone, that of 3,000 kWh generation since it was installed last October - that is magnificent! about 200 more than expected in one year, and still a month to run before the anniversary! Three megawatts sounds like a lot to me, and we've done it in under 11 months.
   Once the Feed in Tariff has been running for a year, this sort of performance will be bringing in over £1,500 a year, and in our case somewhat more, as we use more of our own power than the average house - having a Heat Pump for heating.
  And for anybody who still doubts, we had a negative electricity bill this week. This doesn't mean that the house meter goes in reverse, it was negative because they owed for power generation prior to April 1st, and also their previous bill was based on an estimate of normal consumption, when our real daily import at this time of year is abnormally low, less then half that of a year ago.

Ecohouse Open day at Peveril Solar

15 Aug: We had a Photovoltaic open day at Peveril, hosted by EvoEnergy . Approximately 20 people called round, singly or in couples. Appropriately, it was a nice sunny day, with about 14 kWh harvested. Nicola, Jessica and Aidan joined us from Evo.
  We started the session out on the field looking at the house from the south east. Everybody arrived at 12, so it became a single long session with plenty of time for questions.

Here is my Powerpoint for the Open Day, although I didn't get a chance to deliver it, because we were all so busy communicating directly.

Most people were there for their interest in Photovoltaic, but there was also interest in the Surya sunboxes for those who were considering heatpumps, especially now that I am more aware of their performance, and contribution.
   There was one couple who already have a heat pump, but it is air source, and every year it is unable to cope in the colder parts of the winter, so they have a 'bivalent' system, meaning that it switches over to the oil central heating when the ASHP gives up. I wish they had a ground source heat pump like mine, so that it could bivalently switch over to Sunboxes like the one in Peveril Solar house!
----david nicholson-cole

Open day at the Peveril Solar house

We have an Open Day on Sunday AUGUST 15 at the Peveril Solar house. Visitors can call between 12 and 2.30 pm. The focus is on Photovoltaic systems - home generation - how it might fit, how the feed in tariff works, what it might cost, how the payback will work, what the maintenance and management involve.
There will be experts on hand to explain anything. Let's hope we have a sunnier day than the ones we have had in the second half of July.

As I don't want to put the address directly on the blog, please email dnicholsoncole@gmail.com to warn us that you would like to come and we will give the address details. We would prefer people to come at the start, 1200, if possible. So, if you arrive later, you will miss something, but will still be welcome.

It is organised by EvoEnergy, and is mainly directed to their customer or enquirer base. But anybody from anywhere (but especially West Bridgford, Rushcliffe area), is welcome to join us, especially if they are on the verge of the big decision and need some expert advice.

We shall of course talk about the other main systems in the house, the Ground Source Heat Pump and the Surya Sunboxes augmenting the heat pump.