YOU can huff and you can puff, but you won’t blow Carol Atkinson’s house down, even though it is made of straw. It doesn’t have a thatched roof, but it does have walls made from straw: 90 bales and 33 half-bales. “You wouldn’t think it was made of straw, would you?” asks Carol, slapping the plastered walls with the flat of her hand. “It feels pretty solid.” And warm, too, as a result of the sheep fleeces used as underfloor insulation.
This is a home that is home-grown: being a farmer’s wife, Carol, pictured right, had lots of straw in her fields. And the insulating properties of straw are, she says, excellent. “In America, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark and Austria it’s very popular,” Carol says. “We’re just slow to catch on.”
There was another motivating factor. Carol, from Eastrington, near Howden, East Yorkshire, says that the foot-and-mouth and BSE crises took their toll on the family’s beef farm. “It’s a fact of life in farming today that you’ve got to diversify to bring money in. And we wanted to do something a bit different.”
Two years ago she began studying for an MSc in environmentally aware architecture and decided to create a mobile home from straw. The one-bed-room house, overlooking a lake on her farm, has a dual function: Carol rents it out to holidaymakers, while a study of its thermal properties will form part of her final architectural thesis: the straw walls make it 10C (50F) warmer than a conventional mobile home.
The straw house is an idea that just might find favour with Gordon Brown, who last month doubled the number of proposed eco-towns to ten. The developer of England’s first eco-town, at Hanham Hall, near Bristol, will shortly be revealed by English Partnerships. The second will be in Peterborough; the developer will be announced in the spring.
Initially Carol spent two weeks designing a model of the basic structure using Lego blocks. The property was to be constructed on a chassis (so it could be transported easily) and the external dimensions were set at 4m by 10m. “We could have made it bigger,” says Carol, “but then, by law, if we did ever want to move it down the road, we’d have to be escorted.” Work began in June 2006, when the straw was cut.
To help with the work, Carol found volunteers through Amazonails, a West Yorkshire consultancy that runs straw-bale building courses. It took 14 people five days to build the house inside a wooden framework (which was then removed), stacking the bales on spikes to form load-bearing walls. The walls were trimmed, and then plastered with lime render straight on to the straw. The exposed beams in the sitting room came from a barn door on her farm, and all the internal doors are reclaimed. There’s a solar hot-water panel, and a wind turbine powers the fridge and the lights (which are 12V). The cooker and immersion heater run off the mains.
The home’s internal walls are made of wood-fibre board rather than plasterboard; the former may be eco-friendly but it’s a pain to use. “After it’s in place, you have to rub clay into it and then put a coat of plaster on top,” says Carol. “Then you put a mesh on top of that to stop it cracking, add another coat of plaster and then a topcoat. As you’re doing all this, you begin to realise why builders prefer plasterboard.” There is an upside, though, besides the environmental benefit: because the clay absorbs moisture, the internal humidity of the house is regulated at all times.
The house took eight months to build and cost about £30,000. “But this was our first try,” says Carol. “I’m sure we could do it for less.” The only straw now visible is through the “truth window” that Carol’s son, Sam, made on the inside gable end “to remind us of the fabric of the building”.
Now Carol is gearing up to build a permanent straw cottage on her land. “The idea was to create a home that wouldn’t cost the Earth. I think we’ve achieved that.” The house is available for rent www.homegrownhome.co.uk
Tony Greenway
full article
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Monday, 22 October 2007
How green is your home?
ECO-CONSCIOUS GILL WILLIAMS decided that it was time get more environmentally friendly by finding out if her home matched her green credentials. She was in for a big surprise...
HAVING a home energy check is a bit like a game of snakes and ladders. The points you gain on recycling are snuffed out by what the inspector finds in your attic.
We have a water butt, nourish our veggie patch with kitchen compost and have more double glazing than an Anglian showroom.
Yet an energy check on our three-bed detached house by David Thorogood, environmental chief of East Herts District Council, reveals energy is seeping from every cranny.
Not only are we pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, but our energy bills are unnecessarily high. And we’d scored a D on a scale of A to G if we were to apply for an Energy Performance Certificate as part of a HIPS report.
Homes lose up to 50 per cent of their heat through the roof and walls so this is where we can make big savings, says David as he climbs the ladder into my loft. We have about two inches of
insulation and boarding, installed 15 years ago when standards were lower. Today you need about 10.5 inches to keep the warmth trapped in your living space. Loft insulation will cost us about £150 and pay for itself in about a year.
We can make our home even more efficient with a cheap loft hatch pillow (available from B&Q) so heat doesn’t escape into the attic.
David also recommends we install cavity wall insulation – just contact your local council for a list of affordable suppliers. In a Thirties house like ours, insulation costs about £180 and you’ll get your money back within the first year – and cut 1.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Our seven-year-old combi will just about do but should be replaced when we’ve had it 15 years with a more efficient condensing boiler. These work better as they’re not constantly heating up a whole tank of water. That upgrade would save us £94 (0.8 tonnes CO2) every year.
If you do have a water tank then make sure it’s well wrapped up. Replacing a thin jacket with a thicker wrap is cheap and will save you loads. The tank thermostat should be set at 16C, warm enough to kill any bugs but not wastefully hot.
We only heat our house to about 15C in winter. You save about 10 per cent on your bills for every degree you turn the thermostat down.
But we’re wasting money by not having individual thermostats controlling the heat in individual rooms. Thermostats cost £15 each but they will cut your heating bills by about 15 per cent.
We lose some heat through our fireplace but at least don’t have a fuel-guzzling gas-effect fire. If you do have one make sure it has a glass front, otherwise the heat goes straight up the chimney. And there are now 100 per cent energy-efficient gas fires if you do want that “real-fire effect”. With these you don’t even need a flue so you can block that chimney up and stop heat escaping.
David beams when he sees all our energy-saving light bulbs. If every household installed just three compact fluorescent bulbs we’d save enough power to light all the streets in Britain.
Turning off our TV also gets full marks and we save about £37 a year by not leaving it on standby. And if you fancy a flat screen, be aware an LCD one uses less electricity than a plasma set.
Our A-rated fridge also meets with David’s approval until he takes a peek into the freezing compartment. Uh-oh, frost and half-empty. Unless you pack tight and defrost regularly, you’ll be wasting energy.
Outside I score brownie points for having a water butt. Not only does it stop water from the roof going down the drain but the overflow travels through pipes into our wildlife pond. The pipes are easy to connect (it took my husband a day), the birds and frogs have fresh, chlorine-free water and we don’t need to top up the pond from the tap.
However, I was surprised to find that my pot plants were an ecological no-no. Those tubs of geraniums and mumms use up an unnecessary amount of water so next spring I’ll be planting them out in beds where the roots will be less thirsty.
full article
HAVING a home energy check is a bit like a game of snakes and ladders. The points you gain on recycling are snuffed out by what the inspector finds in your attic.
We have a water butt, nourish our veggie patch with kitchen compost and have more double glazing than an Anglian showroom.
Yet an energy check on our three-bed detached house by David Thorogood, environmental chief of East Herts District Council, reveals energy is seeping from every cranny.
Not only are we pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, but our energy bills are unnecessarily high. And we’d scored a D on a scale of A to G if we were to apply for an Energy Performance Certificate as part of a HIPS report.
Homes lose up to 50 per cent of their heat through the roof and walls so this is where we can make big savings, says David as he climbs the ladder into my loft. We have about two inches of
insulation and boarding, installed 15 years ago when standards were lower. Today you need about 10.5 inches to keep the warmth trapped in your living space. Loft insulation will cost us about £150 and pay for itself in about a year.
We can make our home even more efficient with a cheap loft hatch pillow (available from B&Q) so heat doesn’t escape into the attic.
David also recommends we install cavity wall insulation – just contact your local council for a list of affordable suppliers. In a Thirties house like ours, insulation costs about £180 and you’ll get your money back within the first year – and cut 1.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Our seven-year-old combi will just about do but should be replaced when we’ve had it 15 years with a more efficient condensing boiler. These work better as they’re not constantly heating up a whole tank of water. That upgrade would save us £94 (0.8 tonnes CO2) every year.
If you do have a water tank then make sure it’s well wrapped up. Replacing a thin jacket with a thicker wrap is cheap and will save you loads. The tank thermostat should be set at 16C, warm enough to kill any bugs but not wastefully hot.
We only heat our house to about 15C in winter. You save about 10 per cent on your bills for every degree you turn the thermostat down.
But we’re wasting money by not having individual thermostats controlling the heat in individual rooms. Thermostats cost £15 each but they will cut your heating bills by about 15 per cent.
We lose some heat through our fireplace but at least don’t have a fuel-guzzling gas-effect fire. If you do have one make sure it has a glass front, otherwise the heat goes straight up the chimney. And there are now 100 per cent energy-efficient gas fires if you do want that “real-fire effect”. With these you don’t even need a flue so you can block that chimney up and stop heat escaping.
David beams when he sees all our energy-saving light bulbs. If every household installed just three compact fluorescent bulbs we’d save enough power to light all the streets in Britain.
Turning off our TV also gets full marks and we save about £37 a year by not leaving it on standby. And if you fancy a flat screen, be aware an LCD one uses less electricity than a plasma set.
Our A-rated fridge also meets with David’s approval until he takes a peek into the freezing compartment. Uh-oh, frost and half-empty. Unless you pack tight and defrost regularly, you’ll be wasting energy.
Outside I score brownie points for having a water butt. Not only does it stop water from the roof going down the drain but the overflow travels through pipes into our wildlife pond. The pipes are easy to connect (it took my husband a day), the birds and frogs have fresh, chlorine-free water and we don’t need to top up the pond from the tap.
However, I was surprised to find that my pot plants were an ecological no-no. Those tubs of geraniums and mumms use up an unnecessary amount of water so next spring I’ll be planting them out in beds where the roots will be less thirsty.
full article
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Green Living: Shout it from the rooftops: you're powering the country
Micro generation" is the new environmental buzz phrase. From the wind turbine perched atop Tory leader David Cameron's house to the solar panels starting to adorn the homes of the middle class – generating your own power from renewable sources is in vogue. And if people can "green the grid" by selling this energy into the national grid, then, it seems, all the better. But how do you go about it? And is it cost effective?
The first thing to note is that you will not be selling to National Grid, the company, but a utility such as British Gas, in the form of "renewable obligation certificates". One ROC represents one megawatt hour of energy and is worth around £40.
Before you can sell ROCs, you must register with industry regulator Ofgem (www.ofgem.gov.uk) as a renewable supplier. Power companies have given an undertaking to source 10 per cent of their energy from renewable sources.
There are, however, strong reservations about generating energy and then selling it on. "Installing solar panels will cost between £5,000 and £10,000; exporting energy will bring in about £30 per year. We do it as a gesture but in practice it's a red herring," says Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, a green energy provider. There are other costs too, such as a £1,500 export meter, and the average rooftop turbine only produces 1,500 units of energy – some 1,800 short of the average household's needs. "The whole thing is a nonsense, to be honest," adds Mr Vince.
But renewables firm Good Energy has come up with an alternative: it is offering to pay customers for the energy they produce, without them having to sell it to the grid. It also doubled the pay recently – from 4.5p per kw/h to 9p. The firm said this would translate into savings for an average household on their energy bills of £262.50 a year.
However, customers on this scheme will still need to buy the bulk of their energy in the standard way from the grid – and through Good Energy, whose tariffs it openly admits are around 14 per cent more than the average for the sector. Throwing such a cost into the equation, the return, in terms of discounted bills, is unlikely to justify a £5,000 to £10,000 initial investment on solar panels or turbines.
A spokesman at EnergyWatch, the gas and electricity watchdog, advises consumers: "Do all the energy- efficiency measures first, which have a far bigger impact than micro generation." These include changing your boiler and insulating your loft and cavity walls.
Those dead set on generating their own power and selling it on can get help with the initial investment: a government grant is available via the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (www. berr.gov.uk). To qualify, you must have already "installed the basic level of energy-efficiency measures".
After getting a quote from a certified micro generation installer, you can apply for a grant of up to £2,500.
Those with a green conscience may be heartened that green technology is improving. "The current crop of wind turbines are technically unable to do their job," says Mr Vince. "But the next 12 months will see the advent of the second generation –with fundamentally different designs."
'It's a nice feeling when you produce your own energy'
Alan and Margaret Pinder live in Thornbury, north of Bristol, in a 200-year-old country cottage, which they describe as "not particularly energy efficient".
The Pinders have, though, taken steps to cut their carbon footprint as they strive to become more self-sufficient. They have installed nine solar panels, about a square metre, each on their roof. "We are both worried about global warming and the environment and we don't have loads of money, so cutting energy bills is a bonus," says Alan.
"At the time, the Government was offering 50 per cent grants and we were lucky enough to get a windfall, which was just enough to take care of the expense. The whole thing cost £11,000.
"In the summer it covers about two-thirds of the electricity we use, but over the year the solar panels produce about one-fifth of our total electricity. As part of the deal we buy the remaining energy from Good Energy. You need to have the normal grid supply as well.
"It's a nice feeling to produce your own energy and people are always asking us about it."
Tom McTague
full article
The first thing to note is that you will not be selling to National Grid, the company, but a utility such as British Gas, in the form of "renewable obligation certificates". One ROC represents one megawatt hour of energy and is worth around £40.
Before you can sell ROCs, you must register with industry regulator Ofgem (www.ofgem.gov.uk) as a renewable supplier. Power companies have given an undertaking to source 10 per cent of their energy from renewable sources.
There are, however, strong reservations about generating energy and then selling it on. "Installing solar panels will cost between £5,000 and £10,000; exporting energy will bring in about £30 per year. We do it as a gesture but in practice it's a red herring," says Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, a green energy provider. There are other costs too, such as a £1,500 export meter, and the average rooftop turbine only produces 1,500 units of energy – some 1,800 short of the average household's needs. "The whole thing is a nonsense, to be honest," adds Mr Vince.
But renewables firm Good Energy has come up with an alternative: it is offering to pay customers for the energy they produce, without them having to sell it to the grid. It also doubled the pay recently – from 4.5p per kw/h to 9p. The firm said this would translate into savings for an average household on their energy bills of £262.50 a year.
However, customers on this scheme will still need to buy the bulk of their energy in the standard way from the grid – and through Good Energy, whose tariffs it openly admits are around 14 per cent more than the average for the sector. Throwing such a cost into the equation, the return, in terms of discounted bills, is unlikely to justify a £5,000 to £10,000 initial investment on solar panels or turbines.
A spokesman at EnergyWatch, the gas and electricity watchdog, advises consumers: "Do all the energy- efficiency measures first, which have a far bigger impact than micro generation." These include changing your boiler and insulating your loft and cavity walls.
Those dead set on generating their own power and selling it on can get help with the initial investment: a government grant is available via the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (www. berr.gov.uk). To qualify, you must have already "installed the basic level of energy-efficiency measures".
After getting a quote from a certified micro generation installer, you can apply for a grant of up to £2,500.
Those with a green conscience may be heartened that green technology is improving. "The current crop of wind turbines are technically unable to do their job," says Mr Vince. "But the next 12 months will see the advent of the second generation –with fundamentally different designs."
'It's a nice feeling when you produce your own energy'
Alan and Margaret Pinder live in Thornbury, north of Bristol, in a 200-year-old country cottage, which they describe as "not particularly energy efficient".
The Pinders have, though, taken steps to cut their carbon footprint as they strive to become more self-sufficient. They have installed nine solar panels, about a square metre, each on their roof. "We are both worried about global warming and the environment and we don't have loads of money, so cutting energy bills is a bonus," says Alan.
"At the time, the Government was offering 50 per cent grants and we were lucky enough to get a windfall, which was just enough to take care of the expense. The whole thing cost £11,000.
"In the summer it covers about two-thirds of the electricity we use, but over the year the solar panels produce about one-fifth of our total electricity. As part of the deal we buy the remaining energy from Good Energy. You need to have the normal grid supply as well.
"It's a nice feeling to produce your own energy and people are always asking us about it."
Tom McTague
full article
Friday, 19 October 2007
Free carbon calculator for builders
As house builders prepare for the 2016 target of zero carbon homes, The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management(ECCM) has developed a free and easy-to-use Building Materials Carbon Calculator, which will analyse the embodied CO2 in the materials used in a building. The tool is the first of its kind and will help decision makers select the best material to minimise a building’s carbon footprint.
Richard Tipper, Director at ECCM explained: “This simple to use and understand tool is designed to clear the haze surrounding calculating a building’s materials footprint. We receive lots of enquiries from the construction industry, all wanting to understand and analyse the CO2. The calculator allows users to type in the quantities for the materials used in each element of a building and then assess the associated CO2 using scientifically backed emissions data.”
The calculator will help clients, architects, builders and developers gain a clearer understanding of the environmental impact of their projects at the concept stage. It also encourages comparison with alternative materials to lower the total CO2 emissions of a building’s materials’ footprint.
Architects White Design used the tool recently when working on the recently unveiled Re-Thinking School at Offsite07, The project aimed to produce a low carbon, sustainable learning environment for pupils.
Craig White, Director at White Design said: “A low embodied CO2 footprint was one of the main drivers for the project. The carbon calculator indicated that the project was actually carbon negative – unheard of in most modern school building – thanks to careful materials selection and design. We’re very proud of the 40.9 tonnes of CO2 saved.”
The free tool can be downloaded from: http://www.eccm.uk.com/calculators.html
The building elements compared within the tool are: foundations, external walls, roof, cladding, floors, insulation, internal walls, windows and doors.
A two-bedroom semi-detached house might use concrete in its foundations, along with hardcore, concrete slab, screed and extruded polystyrene in its flooring and wooden joists in the roof. The Carbon Calculator will provide a reading of the embodied CO 2 in each of the building elements.
In this example, the foundations and floor would be responsible for releasing 2.9 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere during production, delivery and installation. On the other hand, the timber joists actually absorb and so remove 0.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Timber is recognised as being ‘carbon negative’ because it captures and stores more CO2 as it grows than is used in harvesting, processing and delivery.
Once quantities for all the project’s elements have been inputted, an overall indication of the building’s carbon footprint is provided. In this case which uses a combination of timber frame and block work, the materials used to build a two-bed semi-detached house would produce12.2 tonnes of CO 2.
Green Building Press
full article
Richard Tipper, Director at ECCM explained: “This simple to use and understand tool is designed to clear the haze surrounding calculating a building’s materials footprint. We receive lots of enquiries from the construction industry, all wanting to understand and analyse the CO2. The calculator allows users to type in the quantities for the materials used in each element of a building and then assess the associated CO2 using scientifically backed emissions data.”
The calculator will help clients, architects, builders and developers gain a clearer understanding of the environmental impact of their projects at the concept stage. It also encourages comparison with alternative materials to lower the total CO2 emissions of a building’s materials’ footprint.
Architects White Design used the tool recently when working on the recently unveiled Re-Thinking School at Offsite07, The project aimed to produce a low carbon, sustainable learning environment for pupils.
Craig White, Director at White Design said: “A low embodied CO2 footprint was one of the main drivers for the project. The carbon calculator indicated that the project was actually carbon negative – unheard of in most modern school building – thanks to careful materials selection and design. We’re very proud of the 40.9 tonnes of CO2 saved.”
The free tool can be downloaded from: http://www.eccm.uk.com/calculators.html
The building elements compared within the tool are: foundations, external walls, roof, cladding, floors, insulation, internal walls, windows and doors.
A two-bedroom semi-detached house might use concrete in its foundations, along with hardcore, concrete slab, screed and extruded polystyrene in its flooring and wooden joists in the roof. The Carbon Calculator will provide a reading of the embodied CO 2 in each of the building elements.
In this example, the foundations and floor would be responsible for releasing 2.9 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere during production, delivery and installation. On the other hand, the timber joists actually absorb and so remove 0.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Timber is recognised as being ‘carbon negative’ because it captures and stores more CO2 as it grows than is used in harvesting, processing and delivery.
Once quantities for all the project’s elements have been inputted, an overall indication of the building’s carbon footprint is provided. In this case which uses a combination of timber frame and block work, the materials used to build a two-bed semi-detached house would produce12.2 tonnes of CO 2.
Green Building Press
full article
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