Open Homes weekend a success - and more to come!

The last weekend of April was a busy one, with 70 visits to nine lower energy homes.

High tech, low tech and home made ways to save energy were on display.

I particularly liked Jake's double-hatched loft hatch (see photo), a modification to the original hatch which was designed and made by Jake himself. The top hatch which lifts out is insulated and draught-proofed, while the lower hatch (below the ladder) is just draught-proofed.

   

And the event is not over yet - the tenth home, on Peverill Drive in West Bridgford, opens its doors on Sunday 3rd May at 11am. (Click here to book)

Note - full address and other details will be emailed to you after you make your booking.

On the same day there is a further chance to visit the homes on:

Patrick Road (12.30pm) - click here to book

Musters Road (2pm) - click here to book 

Harrow Road (3pm) - click here to book

So if you or someone you know would like to see these, just book your free visit.

There are further details of all these homes here 
(http://nottingham.greenopenhomes.net/transition-west-bridgford-open-homes-153)

However, if 3rd May is not convenient, there are other Open Homes events in the UK during May. The closest being this one (click here).

Achieving air tightness

After the first air tightness test at the 1950's refurb (see previous post), we were very honoured to have a visit from Bill Butcher, Director of the Green Building Store. Bill has many years of sustainable building experience and was one of the team working on the world's first Passive House with cavity wall construction (in Denby Dale).

Bill spoke about his experiences of low energy building projects to a gathering of sustainable builders (AECB members). The discussions focused on achieving air tightness, and the 1950's refurb provided many examples of areas that present challenges!

To name a few: round the windows and doors, round pipes and cables, up through the edge of the floor, through the walls where plaster is missing / cracked, round the joists, at the eaves, and almost anywhere in the loft conversion!

Over the next few weeks, we'll be working hard to banish all draughts - with progress updates from time to time at http://www.eco-retrofit.blogspot.co.uk/.

HOBBS project draws to a close

The final event of the 'Homes Behaving Badly' series took place on Saturday 24th March when 36 people visited the site of an ultra-low energy refurbishment to see progress to date. So far, the roof is weather-tight and the external insulation has begun, but there's a bit of work to do on the extension still.

This open day was also part of Superhomes week - when all over the UK, Superhomes which have cut energy use and carbon emissions by at least 60% open their doors to visitors.

Tina and Richard talked about the house from the home-owner perspective, and Gil Schalom (the architect) and Sean (from Westville) shared their technical knowledge and experience.

Earlier in the week, another local Superhome in Radcliffe on Trent (also a HOBBS project case study) opened its doors to visitors. It was a friendly and informative visit according to those who took part, showing  solid wall insulation and other low energy solutions.

While the HOBBS open days and the workshops held earlier in March are now complete, this project will also have a lasting legacy in the form of the HOBBS reports. Detailed energy information was collected from 8 local houses to form a set of case studies showing what each house was like when the current occupants moved in, what efficiency improvements have been made so far, and what further work is intended. The impact on the energy bills for each house is included.

These reports and a film of the 1950's ultra-low energy refurbishment in progress will be posted here in the next week.

The first two Homes Behaving Badly workshops on Saturday 3rd March 2012 attracted an audience of home owners looking to make energy efficiency improvements to their own homes.

Tina Holt, Penney Poyzer and Gil Schalom ran the workshops, which started with the free ways to save energy. The audience were already saving a packet between them, with a host of money-saving tips like "using the hot tap with the shortest pipe run" or "only using hot water when really necessary".

For those who were looking to make free or very low cost improvements, Julie "Queen of Mean" told her story - and entertained the group with her humorous promotion of the low-tech solutions.

Great low cost options were discussed - bubble-wrap over north facing windows that are obscured anyway, plastic film over window panes (fix it on with double-sided tape and a hair-dryer), or the power of the humble curtain - with thermal lining or an older curtain behind for extra insulation.

Gil Schalom, green architect, gave information of a more technical nature, as the audience asked specific questions about their own homes and the issues they want to tackle.

Rushcliffe Borough Council's Energy Officer provided a stand and gave out information during the tea breaks, and Michael and Mo brought samples from their low energy refurbishment project and shared their experiences. At the same time, a short film of an ultra-insulated loft conversion (one of the case studies) ran in the background.

One person noted on the feedback form: "I thought I had a pretty good energy efficient house. Now I know there's a lot more I can do!"

The next 2 workshops on 10th March will focus on whole house retrofit (generally a higher cost option!) and on low and high cost ways to make attic rooms and loft conversions more energy efficient.

To book your place on a workshop or to visit the 3 Nottingham homes which will open their doors this March during SuperHomes Week, contact sarah.goodman.ehg@gmail.com.

To see details of these open SuperHomes, just search for Nottingham on the SuperHomes "Open Homes Events" list.

Exhibition presentations

During the recent exhibition of low energy homes, experts gave presentations on 5 very different homes.

A sixth presentation was given by Tim Saunders of the Energy Savings Trust, on grants and financial incentives (the FIT, the RHI and an introduction to the Green Deal).

If you missed the presentations or would like to see them again, here they are:

Architect Michael Siebert described a timber frame new build (to Level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes)

Dr Tina Holt talked about progress to date on her 1950's solid wall house (which is aiming for EnerPHit or somewhere close.)

(more to follow)

Low energy homes exhibition a success

On 21st January 2012, the exhibition of low energy homes attracted about 130 people interested in seeing the homes on show and listening to the talks. With stall-holders displaying a range of technologies from Rushcliffe Borough Council's light-bulb library to full scale home refurbishments and renewable technologies, there was a lot to see. To read about the stalls, talks and afternoon house tours in more detail, read the full write-up here.

A very big thank you must go to the exhibitors and a super team of Transition West Bridgford / Eco House Group volunteers who worked hard on the day to make it happen and to provide a warm welcome to the visitors.

This exhibition marks the final event in our "Eco Houses under Construction" series, but don't worry - there will be opportunities to see these homes and others in the future.

Thanks to our recent successful LEAF funding bid, there will be further house visits and a set of workshops due in March, so look out for our "Homes Behaving Badly" events. The idea is to make sure that these workshops are as relevant as possible to those who come along. Knowing that West Bridgford has more than its fair share of solid wall homes and large areas of cavity wall housing, different workshops will focus on different types of homes and the associated low, medium and high cost solutions to cut energy use.

As well as looking at all the feedback from the exhibition, we would like to know if you live in a cavity wall home or a solid wall home, and what issues and options you need to know about in more detail. A questionnaire is coming soon!

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

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/

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

Eco Houses Under Construction - event 2 summary

On Saturday 30th July, over 35 people attended a very different event – to see a house that 2 weeks ago did not exist! Fortunately the weather was glorious so we could sit in the back garden, looking at the timber structure of the ground floor and first floor levels.

Architect Mike Siebert started by talking about the method used to insulate beneath the house before pouring the slab, using load-bearing insulation to form a “trough” around the perimeter of the house, and beneath the entire footprint of the house (onto which the slab was poured).
The central block-work pillar and the ground floor slab will provide thermal mass to absorb excess heat from the house in hot weather and release the warmth into the house when the temperature falls.

Mike went on to explain his innovative wall construction, the practicalities of working with timber in this way and the u-value of the walls (which will be 0.15W/mK once insulated). There was discussion over methods of achieving air tightness and avoiding cold bridging, particularly around the junction of the outer wall and the first floor – tapes, expanding foam, and insulation between the floor and ceiling will all play their part.


Kris Taylor of EcoFrames Ltd went into more detail about how to get the best value for money with highly insulated timber frames, and also answered questions on another important topic – the source and quality of the timber and distance travelled.

For more about this and other Eco House Group projects, go to www.wbecohouses.co.uk. To see what other projects Transition West Bridgford has to offer, go to www.transitionwb.co.uk.

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.

Eco Houses Under Construction - event 1 summary

Transition West Bridgford’s Eco Houses Under Construction project is off to a flying start, with 2 free events in July attracting over 80 visitors between them. Subsequent events will follow the fortunes of these two building projects (a low-energy refurbishment and a timber frame new build to Code 5) as they progress. The next event is due in late August or early September - to receive details, email info@wbecohouses.co.uk.

On Saturday 16th July, over 45 people braved the rain to attend a talk about one way of turning an ordinary 1950’s brick house into a super-insulated eco house. The speakers were Gil Schalom, a local green architect with longstanding experience in designing ultra-low energy homes, and Alan Budden, architect and expert in the passive house energy model.
Taking a local house that is about to be refurbished as an example, Gil and Alan described the steps that will be needed to bring the heating bill almost to zero. In this example, it is all about super-insulation, air-tightness, and ventilation with heat recovery.
In other words, this refurbishment follows the many of the principles applied in designing state-of-the-art passive houses and the new breed of refurbishments to a standard called “EnerPHit”.

Eco House Open Day 2011

Our second Eco House Open Day took place on Sunday 15th May 2011. Six houses with eco-features were open to the public and about 70 visits took place during the day.

Some houses showed renewable technologies installed: solar PV, solar hot water, and a ground source heat pump (with charging using sun boxes).

Some houses demonstrated the benefits of insulation, either because of the original construction, or due to the addition of insulation by the home owners in roofs, walls and floors. The two solid wall houses with significant internal or external insulation attracted a lot of interest this year after the recent cold winter and rising fuel prices!

Other features included draught proofing, water saving options and changing habits with a smart meter. Home owners talked about what worked, and what didn't!

If you missed the open day there will be more events in the summer as part of the newest project "Eco Houses Under Construction". This project is funded by Groundwork with a Growing Climate Friendly Communities grant. During the summer, there will be talks and demonstrations led by experts in aspects of building and refurbishing to create low energy houses.

Just email info@wbecohouses.co.uk to get your name on the list if you want to be invited to these events.

Green DIY and eco-friendly materials

The 5th in a series of events held at South Notts College in Ruddington focused on green DIY in the home. Here is a short summary of the talks, and some useful facts are listed below. It’s a big topic so just a small selection included here.

Helen Hill introduced the complex topic of embodied energy, showing how hard it can be to compare the energy involved in the whole life cycle of one material against another. More details from her presentation will be included here soon.

Peter Padun talked about the advantages of eco-friendly paints for people and planet. These days it is easier to find “low VOC” paints than it used to be – but watch out for the other chemicals in the pot! Peter brought along examples and spoke about the paints that he’s found to be best from personal experience as a painter and decorator (see his website for more information: http://www.eco-decorator.co.uk).

Tina Holt gave a short introduction into eco-friendly windows, furniture and finding recycled building materials. Some of the details are already or will be on the Home page of this site.

Ways to Save Water

The 4th in a series of events held at South Notts College in Ruddington focused on saving water in the home. Here is a short summary of the talks, and some useful facts are listed below. It’s a big topic so just a small selection included here.

Tina Holt gave an overview. In summary, water-saving habits really make a huge difference in the amount of water consumed in the home. Hot water has a much higher carbon footprint than cold water (about 5 times higher), so cut your heating bills and save carbon by insulating taps and pipes and using hot water carefully.

David Roe explained his home-made rainwater harvesting system, which supplies water to toilets, washing machine and dishwasher. To buy such a system new would be very expensive and is not as eco-friendly as it seems. However, using reused tanks and some basic pipework, this home-made approach has a very low carbon footprint.

Ian Mumford showed how to avoid paying the surface drainage charge by re-directing all the water from his roof into water-butts, and from there via pipes across his garden. There would be a big environmental benefit if every house with a garden could do this, because after heavy rain, water falling on the house and driveway normally flows rapidly into the drains and rivers and can cause flooding. However, when this water is diverted into the garden, instead of adding to the flooding problem, it feeds the local soil and sub-soil. From here it can make its way gradually into rivers, lakes and groundwater – which are all sources of our mains water supply.

Gil Shalom shared 10 years’ experience of saving water in a retrofit eco-home. Surprisingly, simple water saving habits and low flush toilets were his top tips, along with shorter showers.

Watch out – many types of low flush toilets leak from the cistern into the loo and waste huge amounts of water. If you are looking for a leak-free low flush loo, try the ES4 (a 4 litre single flush available from the Green Building Store).

If you are careful with water, being on a water meter may be cheaper than the rate-based water bill. (Try to estimate your water use accurately for a week and estimate your likely bill from the pricing information on the Severn Trent website). Or instead, try this simple water calculator: http://www.ccwater.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.388 All you need to do is download the excel document and go to the “Severn Trent” tab.

Eco House Group at the Melton Road Christmas Fair

Sunday 5th December, we shall be at the Melton Road Christmas Fair from noon until 4pm
We can be found in the Celebrations shop together with members of Rushcliffe Solar and the Skills Exchange. We shall have a raffle with 3 prizes: A Solar Security Light, A TV powerdown and a Solar trickle charger. All the proceeds will go to Transition West Bridgford to support current and future initiatives.

Post Event Report: Yes, we were there, but somewhat hidden at the back of the shop - and there were musical and filming events between us and the door! However, it was an extremely cold day, and we were glad to be indoors with a good supply of mulled wine only a couple of doors away at the Tall Frog.Our stand was a combination of Rushcliffe Solar, WB Ecohouses and WB Transition.

Renewables "mini event" at the Test Match Pub

3 Dec '10: Fourteen people in total braved the snow on Friday 3rd December to discuss Renewables over a pint or two.
We put our questions to Chris Wheelwright of Solar-Heat and Paul Baker of The Fireplace Centre, and to David Hill and Pete of Carbon Legacy. David Nicholson-Cole (Rushcliffe Solar and University of Nottingham) was also there to provide extra expertise on PV, insulation and heat pumps.

There was a long discussion on Insulation, particularly external insulation - it's one of the most effective energy saving things you can do if your house doesn't have too many projecting bays or flush eaves details. Many of those present have solid wall houses, and require insulation. There was discussion of the best materials with Phenolic foam being preferred for performance and easy fixing, and there was discussion of the chance of a bulk or group deal for WB house owners.

There was detailed information on PV for Electricity generation, consideration of mono- and polycrystalline panels, best makes of panels and inverters, and questions that you might ask to sort the reputable installers from the less good. Even without asking an installer you can intelligently guess if the geometry, trees and chimneys make your house suitable for PV installation. They are far more sensitive than solar thermal panels which can tolerate some shading.

Ventilation systems with heat recovery cropped up again too, because many are considering a whole house approach to reducing energy needs, of which renewable energy recycling is part of the picture. For those who cannot fit whole house heat reclaim (because of the shape of the house or lack of space in the loft) it is possible to fit room-by room heat reclaim units which can go in the place of present day ventilators.

Two Events in November

More than 30 people gathered for the third Eco House Group event held at South Nottingham College’s Ruddington site. David Hill of Carbon Legacy and Tim Saunders of the Energy Saving Trust gave a talk on Renewable Energy and the Financial Incentive Schemes available to home owners.

Afterwards the audience put their questions to David and Tim. Two SAP assessors and a number of other renewable energy companies also introduced themselves to the group.

Full details of the RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive scheme) have not been finalised by the current government. There will be an update on this site once the information is available.

The next day, 12 of the group met for a pint at the Test Match Pub to talk to Sean Stevenson of Westville. Westville is a local company that installs insulation of all kinds. Many in the group have the specific problem of living in solid wall houses, so Sean answered many questions on internal and external insulation as well as queries relating to cavity walls, cellars, floors and lofts.

If you would like further information or wish to contact one of the experts or suppliers present at one of these events, please email info@wbecohouses.co.uk with your request.