Inside and outside, a Space4 home has the look and feel of a traditional property with the added bonus that the build process is more efficient, where impact on the environment has been reduced. On the outside, properties, built using brick, stone and render feature the familiar elegant design of a Persimmon home while the hi-tech backbone creates new levels of environmental efficiency.
Space4 homes are setting new standards for a whole host of environmental benefits – its patented manufacturing process means properties boast superior fire resistance while the high-performance insulation built into the structural walls deliver superior standards of thermal efficiency. This, together with high quality windows and doors means lower energy consumption and an end to draughts and in the days of ever-escalating utilities costs, the benefits are considerable.
“Going green is more than just a ‘noughties buzzword’ and is something we are placing high on our agenda” comments Gill Dale, field sales manager for Persimmon Homes Mercia.
Gill continues: “As we are proving at The Beeches, going green can be both attractive and affordable. By incorporating eco-friendly Modern Methods of Construction with striking designs that are synonymous with traditional properties, it is possible to be environmentally aware without paying over the odds for a property that looks too cutting edge.”
There are so many benefits to off-site timber frame homes – properties are constructed at a much faster rate which not only reduces effects on the environment, but also means street scenes and developments are completed much quicker – a bonus for anyone who wants to move into what feels like a new community rather than a building site - and The Beeches is no exception.
“Overall Space4 homes help create a better place to live and work. Lower consumption of heating fuels and transport helps reduce CO2 emissions, whilst the use of sustainable, recyclable materials creates less impact on the wider environment. What’s more, getting green should also increase the selling potential should residents wish to relocate in the future – the benefits are endless.”
full article
Tuesday 31 July 2007
Can We Trust The Energy Suppliers?
With the value of 'green tariffs' from energy suppliers under question, British Gas has launched a new energy tariff that it insists is the greenest on the market and will make a difference to the environment.
Energy suppliers have been offering 'green tariffs' for a number of years that promise to match your electricity use by putting the same amount of energy from renewable sources – mostly wind farms – back into the national grid.
The problem is that suppliers are already obliged by Government to generate a proportion of the energy they supply from renewables. This amount is far more than the renewable energy required to satisfy the demand from green tariffs, so there is no more renewable energy being generated overall.
The problem was highlighted in a National Consumer Council study this year and the new British Gas tariff has been designed to answer these criticisms. The Zero Carbon tariff promises to generate 12% of users' energy from renewable sources, above what was already being produced under Government obligations.
full article
In addition, the tariff will offset 100% of the users' energy use through carbon-offsetting schemes. The Zero Carbon tariff will cost £84 a year more than the British Gas standard dual fuel tariff.
Alongside the Zero Carbon tariff, British Gas is also launching a Future Energy tariff which, for an extra £20 a year, will make a donation into a non-profit British Gas green fund.
£5 will go to UK schools to help reduce their CO2 emissions. The rest will be invested in development of new renewable technologies and resources.
Gearoid Lane, managing director of British Gas new energy, said: 'Green tariffs are moving from niche to mainstream products and we're leading the industry by offering a tariff that will do more for the environment than any other product currently available.'
Scott Byrom, utilities expert at price comparison website moneysupermarket.com, said: 'Undoubtedly, these products tick all the right boxes from a 'green' point of view, but they come at a cost. Unfortunately, that cost will be to the millions of customers looking to play their part in the fight against climate change and go green.'
'The British Gas Zero Carbon offering is over £150 more than the cheapest dual fuel product around, British Gas Click Energy 3. It is this gap that providers need to bridge in order to gain consumer interest.'
'All customers would be advised to look at online products, such as 'Click Energy 3', and, for those of us who are eco-friendly, donate some of the savings to a green project of our choice.'
Energy suppliers have been offering 'green tariffs' for a number of years that promise to match your electricity use by putting the same amount of energy from renewable sources – mostly wind farms – back into the national grid.
The problem is that suppliers are already obliged by Government to generate a proportion of the energy they supply from renewables. This amount is far more than the renewable energy required to satisfy the demand from green tariffs, so there is no more renewable energy being generated overall.
The problem was highlighted in a National Consumer Council study this year and the new British Gas tariff has been designed to answer these criticisms. The Zero Carbon tariff promises to generate 12% of users' energy from renewable sources, above what was already being produced under Government obligations.
full article
In addition, the tariff will offset 100% of the users' energy use through carbon-offsetting schemes. The Zero Carbon tariff will cost £84 a year more than the British Gas standard dual fuel tariff.
Alongside the Zero Carbon tariff, British Gas is also launching a Future Energy tariff which, for an extra £20 a year, will make a donation into a non-profit British Gas green fund.
£5 will go to UK schools to help reduce their CO2 emissions. The rest will be invested in development of new renewable technologies and resources.
Gearoid Lane, managing director of British Gas new energy, said: 'Green tariffs are moving from niche to mainstream products and we're leading the industry by offering a tariff that will do more for the environment than any other product currently available.'
Scott Byrom, utilities expert at price comparison website moneysupermarket.com, said: 'Undoubtedly, these products tick all the right boxes from a 'green' point of view, but they come at a cost. Unfortunately, that cost will be to the millions of customers looking to play their part in the fight against climate change and go green.'
'The British Gas Zero Carbon offering is over £150 more than the cheapest dual fuel product around, British Gas Click Energy 3. It is this gap that providers need to bridge in order to gain consumer interest.'
'All customers would be advised to look at online products, such as 'Click Energy 3', and, for those of us who are eco-friendly, donate some of the savings to a green project of our choice.'
the real problem - unsustainable lifestyles
Is it not time to recognise that climate change is yet another symptom of our unsustainable lifestyles, which must now become the focus our efforts?
Yet governments, and those organisations who have now assumed the role of combating climate change, subscribe to the notion that climate change is our central problem and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is the cause of this problem.
Undeniably, climate change is a serious problem but it is only one of a growing list of problems that arise from a fundamental global issue.
However, by focusing on the need to reduce CO2 emissions has reduced the problem to one of carbon dioxide rather than on the unsustainable ways we live our lives.
This oversight has led to the assumption that if we reduce emissions then our problems are solved, hence the focus on carbon sequestration, renewable energies and environmental technologies.
So, what can we do? Obviously, the first thing we need to do is act, and act fast.
Every day we wait, another 30,000 children needlessly die; between 100-150 plant and animal species become extinct; 70,000 hectares of rainforest is destroyed and another 150m tonnes of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, another $3.0bn (£1.5bn) is spent on arms and weapons of mass destruction.
We urgently need to think about the more fundamental concept of sustainability and how our lifestyles are threatening not only the environment, but developing countries and global peace and stability.
So, what can we do? Obviously, the first thing we need to do is act, and act fast.
Every day we wait, another 30,000 children needlessly die; between 100-150 plant and animal species become extinct; 70,000 hectares of rainforest is destroyed and another 150m tonnes of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, another $3.0bn (£1.5bn) is spent on arms and weapons of mass destruction.
We urgently need to think about the more fundamental concept of sustainability and how our lifestyles are threatening not only the environment, but developing countries and global peace and stability.
full article
Yet governments, and those organisations who have now assumed the role of combating climate change, subscribe to the notion that climate change is our central problem and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is the cause of this problem.
Undeniably, climate change is a serious problem but it is only one of a growing list of problems that arise from a fundamental global issue.
However, by focusing on the need to reduce CO2 emissions has reduced the problem to one of carbon dioxide rather than on the unsustainable ways we live our lives.
This oversight has led to the assumption that if we reduce emissions then our problems are solved, hence the focus on carbon sequestration, renewable energies and environmental technologies.
So, what can we do? Obviously, the first thing we need to do is act, and act fast.
Every day we wait, another 30,000 children needlessly die; between 100-150 plant and animal species become extinct; 70,000 hectares of rainforest is destroyed and another 150m tonnes of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, another $3.0bn (£1.5bn) is spent on arms and weapons of mass destruction.
We urgently need to think about the more fundamental concept of sustainability and how our lifestyles are threatening not only the environment, but developing countries and global peace and stability.
So, what can we do? Obviously, the first thing we need to do is act, and act fast.
Every day we wait, another 30,000 children needlessly die; between 100-150 plant and animal species become extinct; 70,000 hectares of rainforest is destroyed and another 150m tonnes of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, another $3.0bn (£1.5bn) is spent on arms and weapons of mass destruction.
We urgently need to think about the more fundamental concept of sustainability and how our lifestyles are threatening not only the environment, but developing countries and global peace and stability.
full article
Monday 30 July 2007
MIT students compete in eco-friendly house contest
Imagine never having to pay an electric or heating bill ever again.
That’s precisely what a group of MIT students is trying to accomplish on the corner of Albany and Portland streets.
For weeks, alternating crews of students and Cambridge residents have been hard at work building a house capable of producing its own heat and electricity, all from the power of the sun.
In preparation for an upcoming eco-friendly housing competition in October in Washington, D.C., a team of approximately 40 people, dubbed the “Solar 7” team, have been feverishly assembling a “zero energy” house.
“What that means is it’s a house that’s powered and heated completely off the grid,” said Kurt Keville, one of the team’s volunteer leaders. Keville explained the house, which is to be completed and entered into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, uses a variety of solar energy-absorbing mechanisms to produce clean, free heat and electricity. On the roof, traditional solar panels keep the house lit, and keep household appliances running. On one side of the house, a specially designed wall retains heat and recycles it back into the home.
“It takes a lot of the peaks and valleys out of insulation,” Keville said. “We’re going to be getting a lot of energy production out of [the house’s] southern exposure.”
This year will mark the first time MIT has been invited to the Solar Decathlon, which, according to the competition’s Web site, was conceived by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2002. Over the course of seven days, teams from 20 colleges and universities from around the world will be judged on 10 separate aspects of their “zero energy” homes, including architecture, engineering, market viability, communication, comfort, appliances, hot water, lighting and energy balance. Teams are also required to equip their houses with a charging station for an electric car, which will be supplied by the Department of Energy.
During the next few weeks, Keville said the Solar 7 team will be hard at work installing the solar components of the house. Once it is completed and tested for energy efficiency, the team will split the house into two halves, strap it to a pair of flatbed trucks and haul it down to D.C. A daunting task, to be sure, however it’s not the most challenging aspect of the project, according to one of the team’s student leaders.
“Honestly, the most difficult thing about this whole project is that it’s volunteer based,” said Corey Fucetola, a PhD student who’s a member of the team. “We have so many people that are completely gung-ho about the idea of building a zero energy house, but who also have to make a living.”
To learn more about the MIT Solar 7 team, check out their Web site at http://web.mit.edu/solardecathlon/. For more information about the 2007 Solar Decathlon, visit http://www.solardecathlon.org.
full article
That’s precisely what a group of MIT students is trying to accomplish on the corner of Albany and Portland streets.
For weeks, alternating crews of students and Cambridge residents have been hard at work building a house capable of producing its own heat and electricity, all from the power of the sun.
In preparation for an upcoming eco-friendly housing competition in October in Washington, D.C., a team of approximately 40 people, dubbed the “Solar 7” team, have been feverishly assembling a “zero energy” house.
“What that means is it’s a house that’s powered and heated completely off the grid,” said Kurt Keville, one of the team’s volunteer leaders. Keville explained the house, which is to be completed and entered into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, uses a variety of solar energy-absorbing mechanisms to produce clean, free heat and electricity. On the roof, traditional solar panels keep the house lit, and keep household appliances running. On one side of the house, a specially designed wall retains heat and recycles it back into the home.
“It takes a lot of the peaks and valleys out of insulation,” Keville said. “We’re going to be getting a lot of energy production out of [the house’s] southern exposure.”
This year will mark the first time MIT has been invited to the Solar Decathlon, which, according to the competition’s Web site, was conceived by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2002. Over the course of seven days, teams from 20 colleges and universities from around the world will be judged on 10 separate aspects of their “zero energy” homes, including architecture, engineering, market viability, communication, comfort, appliances, hot water, lighting and energy balance. Teams are also required to equip their houses with a charging station for an electric car, which will be supplied by the Department of Energy.
During the next few weeks, Keville said the Solar 7 team will be hard at work installing the solar components of the house. Once it is completed and tested for energy efficiency, the team will split the house into two halves, strap it to a pair of flatbed trucks and haul it down to D.C. A daunting task, to be sure, however it’s not the most challenging aspect of the project, according to one of the team’s student leaders.
“Honestly, the most difficult thing about this whole project is that it’s volunteer based,” said Corey Fucetola, a PhD student who’s a member of the team. “We have so many people that are completely gung-ho about the idea of building a zero energy house, but who also have to make a living.”
To learn more about the MIT Solar 7 team, check out their Web site at http://web.mit.edu/solardecathlon/. For more information about the 2007 Solar Decathlon, visit http://www.solardecathlon.org.
full article
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