Peter and Christine Holdsworth are a highly unusual couple. Not that you would know from a cursory glance: Peter is a recently retired Revenue and Customs officer, and the pair have moved from the Midlands to a Somerset village, to enjoy their years of leisure amid green fields, medieval churches and leafy copses.
Peter and Christine however are rare in that they are living in a new home which is “zero carbon” in its emissions from heating, lighting and ventilation – they aim to produce no carbon dioxide when using the basic functions of their home. As a comparison, the average home in the UK produces between five and six tons of CO2 a year.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a RUBBER MATS .
The Holdsworths’ energy needs are provided by solar panels and a wood pellet burner. Their heating requirements are extremely low because their home has been built around a super-insulated shell made from timber frame, cellulose fibre and encased in a wood fibre “blanket”.
Their home, built to “Code Level Five” is what is known as “airtight” – it allows only minute amounts of heat out of its walls, windows and roof. In 18 months’ time all new homes must be built to nearly the same specifications and, in a further three years, to the same specifications as the Holdsworths’.then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence.
But, despite the advantages in terms of reduced bills, British home buyers still seem reluctant to live in them. A recent survey of attitudes by the National House-Building Council revealed that consumers are put off by the idea of an “airtight” house and don’t like the look of eco homes, preferring more traditional styles.
The Holdsworths live in a small five-house development: the first commercially available houses in the country to be built to Code Level Five standards. Since they moved in it has been monitored by academics and government advisers to ascertain how their home is performing, and what are the drawbacks and benefits to such a high-grade eco home.
The findings, released to the Sunday Telegraph, are vital if the house building industry is going to be confident that if it builds thousands of low-carbon homes, the public is going to want to buy them.Whilst oil paintings for sale are not deadly,
The testing results have been mixed. Although the Holdsworths are delighted with their 350-a-year energy bill (for their wood pellets and added electricity needs for household appliances), their main gripe has been getting the hang of the complex technology needed to run their home.
“When we moved in the solar panels weren’t wired up correctly, we didn’t know how to operate the ventilation system and the rainwater harvester didn’t work properly for months,” says Peter. “I’m not saying you need a physics degree to live in this kind of house but having someone to run through the operations systems with you, say, within a week of your moving in would be extremely helpful. We moved from a Victorian four-bedroom semi so it was a culture shock.”
Professor Fionn Stevenson from the University of Sheffield, who led the monitoring, said: “A key lesson is that occupants shouldn’t be put off by complex 'eco bling’. One of the occupants had been given the wrong information about the ventilation system and thought it was a heat recovery system. They left it on all day and their house got very cold.” As a result, says Duncan Pyle,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, of O2i Design which designed the houses in Stawell, Somerset, “the occupants started blocking up the air vents to try to keep warm.”
Tim Cutting of Ecos Trust, which built the homes, says the results show how much better informed small developers – who build most of the nation’s new homes – need to be about designing low energy houses and using eco materials and appliances. “Overall,Our high risk merchant account was down for about an hour and a half, however, occupants are happy and say how comfortable the homes are to live in.”
Peter and Christine however are rare in that they are living in a new home which is “zero carbon” in its emissions from heating, lighting and ventilation – they aim to produce no carbon dioxide when using the basic functions of their home. As a comparison, the average home in the UK produces between five and six tons of CO2 a year.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a RUBBER MATS .
The Holdsworths’ energy needs are provided by solar panels and a wood pellet burner. Their heating requirements are extremely low because their home has been built around a super-insulated shell made from timber frame, cellulose fibre and encased in a wood fibre “blanket”.
Their home, built to “Code Level Five” is what is known as “airtight” – it allows only minute amounts of heat out of its walls, windows and roof. In 18 months’ time all new homes must be built to nearly the same specifications and, in a further three years, to the same specifications as the Holdsworths’.then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence.
But, despite the advantages in terms of reduced bills, British home buyers still seem reluctant to live in them. A recent survey of attitudes by the National House-Building Council revealed that consumers are put off by the idea of an “airtight” house and don’t like the look of eco homes, preferring more traditional styles.
The Holdsworths live in a small five-house development: the first commercially available houses in the country to be built to Code Level Five standards. Since they moved in it has been monitored by academics and government advisers to ascertain how their home is performing, and what are the drawbacks and benefits to such a high-grade eco home.
The findings, released to the Sunday Telegraph, are vital if the house building industry is going to be confident that if it builds thousands of low-carbon homes, the public is going to want to buy them.Whilst oil paintings for sale are not deadly,
The testing results have been mixed. Although the Holdsworths are delighted with their 350-a-year energy bill (for their wood pellets and added electricity needs for household appliances), their main gripe has been getting the hang of the complex technology needed to run their home.
“When we moved in the solar panels weren’t wired up correctly, we didn’t know how to operate the ventilation system and the rainwater harvester didn’t work properly for months,” says Peter. “I’m not saying you need a physics degree to live in this kind of house but having someone to run through the operations systems with you, say, within a week of your moving in would be extremely helpful. We moved from a Victorian four-bedroom semi so it was a culture shock.”
Professor Fionn Stevenson from the University of Sheffield, who led the monitoring, said: “A key lesson is that occupants shouldn’t be put off by complex 'eco bling’. One of the occupants had been given the wrong information about the ventilation system and thought it was a heat recovery system. They left it on all day and their house got very cold.” As a result, says Duncan Pyle,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, of O2i Design which designed the houses in Stawell, Somerset, “the occupants started blocking up the air vents to try to keep warm.”
Tim Cutting of Ecos Trust, which built the homes, says the results show how much better informed small developers – who build most of the nation’s new homes – need to be about designing low energy houses and using eco materials and appliances. “Overall,Our high risk merchant account was down for about an hour and a half, however, occupants are happy and say how comfortable the homes are to live in.”
没有评论:
发表评论