What Exactly Is a "Passive House"

Passive home building is about installing features that regulate the building's interior temperature, without requiring active energy systems, such as heaters. Sealing the interior tight is key, features such as triple-thick walls, insulated, tightly-fitting double pane glass with reflective coating, and insulated floors. The orientation of the house itself helps as well, with windows that are shaded from the sun's natural arc during summer months, but more exposed to sunlight during winter months. The "heart," as The Times notes, is the heat exchanger, which sucks outside air into the house, and warms it using inside air. It's incredibly effective: Passive houses require no central heating. Though passive homes are estimated to cost perhaps 15% more to build than regular homes, their energy costs can easily be a whopping 85% lower.

All this sounds simple and irresistible, right? Yet there are only a few thousand passive homes in the world, and almost none of them are in the U.S. But the principles are quickly being disseminated in the building trades--Free Green offers free housing plans which utilize many passive principles.

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Four-seater electric car unveiled

The UK's first four-seater electric car which can travel up to 70 miles without recharging has been unveiled.

The 60mph vehicle, called the Citroen C1 ev'ie, will cost £16,850.

The main body of the car, based on the Citroen C1, is being made in the Czech Republic in a joint venture by Toyota, Citroen and Peugeot.

The Electric Car Corporation near Bedford aims to assemble 500 of them this year and hopes to make between 2,000 and 4,000 in 2010.

The Citroen C1 ev'ie can be fully charged in six to seven hours from a domestic 13 amp socket for about 90p, according to the makers, the Electric Car Corporation (ECC).

ECC chief executive David Martell said: "We believe this is the first serious alternative to a petrol or diesel car.

"It drives just like a petrol car and has excellent capacity for use in any town or city in the UK."

'Disappointed'

The cars are being assembled by a six-person team at Flitwick in Bedfordshire.

The government recently unveiled plans in the budget to boost the industry, with subsidies of up to £5,000 on electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles but it is thought that eligible cars will not be on the market until 2011.

Mr Martell said: "Obviously we are disappointed that it's not sooner."

The electric car market is currently reasonably limited, with models available at anything from £8,000 to more than £80,000 for some of the more high-performance models.

Sales have failed to take off in the past because of a number of reasons, like the length of time it takes to charge an electric car, the fact that only two-seaters have been available and that top speeds are considerably lower than their petrol and diesel counterparts.
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LOW-CARBON COSTS DEPEND ON LIFESTYLE CHANGE

Wide-ranging changes in the way we live our lives could dramatically reduce the costs of switching to a low-carbon world, researchers said today.

Measures such as phasing out petrol cars in city centres, lowering the temperatures to which we heat our houses and an increase in internet shopping and tele-conferencing could all help the UK meet its goal to cut emissions by 80% by 2050.

If people are prepared to make lifestyle changes which save energy, it could cut the costs to consumers and businesses by up to £50 billion a year - halving how much is currently spent across the country on heat and electricity.

Tougher energy efficiency measures could also give the UK greater energy security and more time to develop low-carbon energy technology, including trapping carbon emissions from power stations and renewables.

But blocking certain green technologies such as onshore wind farms because of ``nimbyism'' could add to the costs of a move to a low-carbon economy, a report from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) said.

Jim Skea, research director of UKERC, also warned that while renewable power would play a big role in hitting the 2050 goal, meeting EU targets to generate 15% of the UK's total energy from renewables by 2020 would be a ``very, very big struggle''.

He said the current barriers to the development of renewables, such as problems in planning and grid access for offshore wind, and the short timescale, meant the EU aims were more than challenging.
``Putting energy saving and the development of green sources of power at the heart of policy-making would make the UK a world leader in tackling climate change, increase energy security, end fuel poverty and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

``A green energy revolution is desperately needed to meet the challenges we all face.

``Time is running out - Gordon Brown must show that he has the political courage to develop a safer, cleaner future,'' he said.

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Millions of homes to gain cheap energy through efficiency

A total of seven million UK homes could have access to reduced prices from energy suppliers as the result of government retrofitting over the next ten years.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has sought feedback from the public regarding attitudes towards large-scale retrofitting and the subsequent survey from Ipsos Mori found that homeowners are willing to embrace efficiency.

Homeowners were asked for their views on a range of microgeneration measures, including solid-wall insulation, smart meters and heat pumps.

Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, said: "We spoke to citizens around the nation and found that there is a strong desire for government action. People are enthusiastic and positive about the need for better energy efficiency in our homes and communities."

While the target is to retrofit seven million homes by 2020, every UK home is scheduled to be upgraded by 2030 as the government strives to produce a carbon-neutral society within 40 years.

The chancellor, Alistair Darling, is expected to unveil a large investment package for the green sector in this week's Budget.
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