Wednesday 16 May 2012

In nuce: new readers start here

I've had a couple of school visits from our local secondary recently as they are studying sustainability in geography.  With children and teenagers you have to fit your patter into a restricted time, partly because they are not shy about exhibiting boredom and partly because they have to leave for the next lesson. With that in mind I've had a crib sheet so I don't forget the pertinent parts of this house and it occurred to me that it might be good to post it here as continuous narrative blogs like this don't always easily work backwards......et voilĂ , click on the links and it should take you to the most relevant post (sorry if the colours come out strangely with the links):

...... Oh and before I forget, we've had absolutely no heating on since 19th March despite the dismal weather and mostly we're swanning around the place in T-shirts, so I think we can give the design and build teams (plus everyone I don't have links for) a round of applause because the technology really is working and it occurs to me that the passivhaus is a bit of a no-brainer really.


reducing the energy load

through design
* Passivhaus: 90% less heating
* Insulation
* Triple glazing
* Airtight
* South facing
* External blinds
* Painted white

through technology
* Eco/A* products
* Solar photovoltaic & thermal
reusing waste materials

* Glass
* Concrete
* Paper
* Cardboard
* Books
* Wood

recycling
* Sun
* Rain
* Earth’s heat
* Interior heat
* 100% renewable electricity
* Carbon neutral
* Off-setting CO2