Development:NewCoop:Environment

From AshWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Building an Environment Friendly Coop

It is possible to build and retrofit houses so that they have minimal or zero heating requirements, and hence a much lower impact on the environment and our future. This will also reduce living costs which is of course very important in social housing. Estimated energy savings range from 70% to 100%.

Retrofitting an existing building to meet these standards is expensive. However, for a newly constructed building, the additional cost seems to be in the region of 0-10%. It seems to make sense to consider building any new social housing in the most environmentally friendly manner possible.

Wikipedia on Passive Houses:

  • The Passivhaus standard for energy use in buildings results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating. A similar standard, MINERGIE-P®, is used in Switzerland.
  • The first Passivhaus buildings were built in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1990, and occupied the following year.
  • In September 1996 the Passivhaus-Institut was founded in Darmstadt to promote and control the standard
  • Since then more than 6,000 Passivhaus buildings have been constructed in Europe, most of them in Germany and Austria, with others in various contries world-wide.
  • By achieving the Passivhaus standards, Passivhaus buildings are able to dispense with conventional heating systems.
  • However this does not mean that no heating is required, and most Passivhaus buildings do include a system to provide low levels of supplemental space heating.
  • This is normally distributed through the low-volume heat recovery ventilation system that is required to maintain air quality, rather than by a conventional hydronic or high-volume forced-air heating system.
  • The cost savings from dispensing with the conventional heating system can be used to fund the upgrade of the building envelope and the heat recovery ventilation system.
  • With careful design and increasing competition, in Germany it is now possible to construct buildings for the same cost as those built to normal German building standards.
  • In addition to using passive solar gain, Passivhaus buildings make extensive use of their intrinsic heat from internal sources, such as waste heat from lighting, white goods (major appliances) and other electrical devices (but not dedicated heaters) as well as body heat from the people and animals inside the building.
  • Together with the comprehensive energy conservation measures taken this means that a conventional central heating system is not necessary, although they are sometimes installed due to client scepticism.
  • Instead, Passive houses sometimes have a dual purpose 800 to 1,500 Watt heating and/or cooling element integrated with the supply air duct of the ventilation system, for use during the coldest days.
  • In the United Kingdom, an average new house built to the Passive House standard would use 77% less energy for space heating compared to the (2002?) Building Regulations.

BedZED in the UK has achieved:

  • Space heating requirements are 88% less;
  • Hot water consumption was down by 57%;
  • The electricity used, at 3kWh, is 25% less than the UK average;
  • Mains water consumption has been reduced by 50%, or 67% compared to a power shower household.

There are UK-based consultants who could help to design the building according to passive house or zero-emission standards.

We can get free advice from the Energy Saving Trust.

German developments that employ green building techniques include:

  • The Solarsiedlung (Solar Village) in Freiburg, Germany, which features energy-plus houses.
  • The Vauban (Freiburg) development, also in Freiburg.
  • Houses designed by Baufritz, incorporating passive solar design, heavily insulated walls, triple-glaze doors and windows, non-toxic paints and finishes, summer shading, heat recovery ventilation, and greywater treatment systems.<ref>John Imes, Grün auf Deutsch, at HOME in the Capital Region, pp 35 -36]</ref>
  • The new Reichstag (building) building in Berlin, which produces its own energy.

In Germany a "Low Energy House" (Niedrigenergiehaus) has a limit equivalent to 7 litres of heating oil for each square meter of room for space heating annually (50 kWh/m²/year). In Switzerland the term is used in connection with the MINERGIE® standard (42 kWh/m²/year).

In comparison, the German Passivhaus ultra-low energy standard, currently undergoing adoption in some other European countries, has a maximum space heating requirement of 15 kWh/m²/year.

Funding

The building may not cost any more than a conventional building if done properly from the outset.

Studies show - and our experience corroborates - that "green" buildings generally do not cost much more than standard custom-built buildings, even when the building is particularly green.

Since the annual fuel costs will be almost zero, a loan could be sought to allow residents to pay off the additional cost of building over a long period, for example 20 years.

As an example, suppose the additional costs of passive house design and construction were £20,000 per apartment. A 20-year loan from the Halifax would cost £158 per month. This is higher than their energy bills would be, so it's probably not affordable. However, there may be government grants available.

In the December 2006 Pre-Budget Report the Government announced their 'ambition' that all new homes will be 'zero-carbon' by 2016 (i.e. built to zero energy building standards). To encourage this, an exemption from Stamp Duty Land Tax is planned, with details to be published at the time of the 2007 Budget.

Whilst some organisations have applauded the pre-budget statement from the UK Chancellor, Gordon Brown, others are concerned about the government's ability to deliver on the promise. [1]

If a RIBA member designs the building, and does a particularly good job, they might be eligible to win the Stirling Prize, worth £20,000.

The Ove Arup Foundation has at its heart a mission to stimulate new activities that will change the way people think and help them to acquire and apply the knowledge needed to improve our natural and built environment. Creating opportunities for greater interdisciplinary understanding is something we see as fundamental. Note: they have links with Cambridge University [2]

The Freiburg apartments were supported by a German governmental subsidy Eigenheimzulage and given favourable credit terms by the KfW (Kreditbank für Wiederaufbau KFW40/60 CO2-Reducing program).

Resources

See also Development:Resources.

Retrieved from "http://www.ash.coop/wiki/Development:NewCoop:Environment"
Personal tools