| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| anneka |
Building a home - to live in!Due to some luck and family constraints, my husband and I are building our own home attached to my Mother-in-laws house. In a lot of respects we are in an extremly enviable position but there are some downsides too. We will not own our home outright and it has taken us 5 years to get as far as we have - deep holes in the ground!We want our home to be as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible - and cheap to run in the future. We have decided on several things which although making the project initially more expensive to build will reduce running costs and hopefully deliver us the most self sufficient manner of heating and lighting our home. The structure of the house is timber frame, with an incrediblly high U value (down to masses of insulation) and will have triple glazed argon (don't know if thats good) filled windows. We are installing a rainwater harvesting system with uv filters so the water can be used for baths and showers as well as toilets and washing machines. We will be running the lighting as long as we can fathom the system properly from batteries which will be recharged by a wind turbine and a small solar panel. The larger solar panel tubes are probably beyond our budget, my MIL has them on her roof and they were fantasitally expensive to buy and install, I don't really think that she will see the return on them in any way other than as a benifit to the environment, I'm not knocking the technology - just the cost. We are also looking at geothermal heating but are unsure about this as we have yet to talk to someone who actually has it - but have family in Sweden where it is common so hopefully all will become clearer. We will have underfloor heating and a heat exchanger for ventilation (see insulation) - we are undecided as to wether to get a solid fuel range (there is an oil fired range which can do hot water, underfloor heating and cook) - but again we could get these things from seperate appliances cheaper. Would be extreamly grateful for any suggestions with regard to the various items above, any experience of any of the above will be gratefully received. We want to be as efficient and as self reliant as possible, so any more ideas please let me know. I by return will - if anyone is interested - keep you posted as to how the building goes and what we eventually end up using. Be warned as we are doing most of the work ourselves and are lucky enough not to be living in a caravan all winter it may be a while before its finished. Anneka |
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| Treacodactyl |
I'm not sure how much you have read, but there is a reasonable article about heat pumps in the Nov Country Smallholding, it's been done by the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT) so you may have the details already. (Let me know if you need any info from it).
I would certainly like to be kept up-to-date with progress as it's something I'm very interested in for the future... |
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| jema |
Too my limited knowledge solar power should be a very good way to go, as really the tech in very cheap. The trouble is the way it is sold is very dear 
Sounds like a fantasitc project though, we would really appreciate you writing some more on it for our projects section 
jema |
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| tahir |
If you look in the web links section there's some links to heat pump/solar & small scale wind turbine sites. Sounds great, good luuck with it. | ||||
| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
try http://www.greenshop.co.uk/
they have books and info on power sources. There is also a sister company that does the rainwater harvesting systems you need! http://www.rainharvesting.co.uk/ sounds very exciting - good luck - have you also checked your local council website for grants for these things! |
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| wellington womble |
Anneka have you thought of solar tiles? I know they are not cheap, but if you take of the cost of regular tiles (which you wouldn't need) and take into account the grants available, I think they are quite reasonable. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the company (my uncle works for them  ) but I will ask and let you know.
With solar tiles you could just go for as many as you could afford. You may even be able to add more later, but I'm not sure about that. Uncle reckons it's worth doing if you replacing (or in your case building) a roof as you save on the other materials. I beleive the grant is around 50% of the cost. Sorry - short on details - I get them for you! |
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| Bugs |
Is that Uncle Bulgaria? 
(Sorry. I couldn't not say it. )
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| wellington womble |
Ha Ha, Uncle John actually! Like the toadstools! 
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| Gervase |
For the build, consider using lime-based products rather than modern portland cement and gypsum materials. They allow a house to breathe, reducing the need for for environmentally-unfriendly polymers in the fabric, and are also carbon neutral, absorbing as much CO2 from the air to cure as was produced in their manufacture. | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
There was an article in Country Smallholding about that as well a few months back. |
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| alison |
There is a lady, who advertises in our smallholder groups magazine that has written a book about lime builing. I will get the details if you are interested. | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
I would be very interested. | ||||
| alison |
Now I'll have to find it!!! | ||||
| anneka |
Thank you WW, I think that we are restricted by the planning as far as solar tiles go, I am not sure but I will look in to it.
Planning on having some kind of solar panels, should be installing rainwater harvesting tank soon as well. Anneka |
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| Gervase |
For lime-based building techniques (and general self-build help), try these sites:
http://www.lime.org.uk/ (Ty-Mawr Lime: The firm I use, based in Brecon. V competitive rates, v helpful and they also offer training courses) http://www.womersleys.co.uk/ (Womersley's: A good source of lime-based render and plaster) http://www.stastier.co.uk/ (St. Astier Lime: The main importer of hydraulic lime, which will set even under water - essential if you're pointing lower walls in a damp area) http://www.mikewye.co.uk/ (Mike Wye: Another major supplier of lime products and advice) http://www.thelimecentre.co.uk/ (The Lime Centre: ...and another!) http://naturalbuildingproductscouk.ntitemp.com/index.htm (Natural Building Technologies: A good source for green building materials and advice) http://www.ebuild.co.uk/ (very good reference site for self-builders and renovators, with a particularly good forum and Q&A pages) http://www.buildthedream.co.uk/ (another self-build site, though not so green-friendly) http://www.buildingconservation.com/ (E-Build: Aimed mainly at the conservation of existing buildings, but has explanations of techniques applicable to new builds, and also a suppliers' database) http://www.ihbc.org.uk/ (The Institute for Historic Building Conservation: also mainly aimed at conservation, but with good advice for anyone working with traditional materials) http://www.spab.org.uk/ (Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings: Again, conservation oriented, but the techniques are applicable to new builds. The main lime book is Building with Lime, by Stafford Holmes and Michael Wingate (about £25) , which has everything you could need. A cheaper alternative, and almost as useful is Lime in Building, a Practical Guide, by Jane Schofield (about a fiver). You can get both of these through Ty Mawr or SPAB - or probably from Amazon. |
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| wellington womble |
I'd be surprised, as I think you have to be looking quite hard from the ground to notice, so it would be unreasonable to refuse them - but then councils never are reasonable, are they? I'll ask Uncle John. WW |
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| Guest |
Re: Building a home - to live in!
Hi - Undoubtedly brilliant insulation is the right priority for expenditure. But remember that "free" solar gain can be maximised, and heat loss minimised by the basic design using large south-facing windows, and smaller ones on the north. I'm surprised that you have concluded that windpower and pv (solar electricity generation) are more worthwhile than solar water heating. My reading has suggested that large, cheap (albeit relatively low "effeciency") 'flat plate' solar water heating was quite cost effective - and you can even make your own, see CAT. The vacuum tubes have higher "efficiency" in terms of heat per square metre, but not in terms of heat per £! I'd think of using solar water heating with a larger than expected (and better insulated) tank. A tall, thin tank gives better "stratification". Thus you can harvest all the heat on offer on good days, and have enough to see you through the odd bad one or two. I'm thinking of this as a means of getting nearly 100% of your water heating for 6/8 months of the year. Some auxilliary heating is going to be required in winter, (or otherwise the system is going to be excessive for summer). Just pick the low-hanging fruit! Underfloor makes a lot of sense, but particularly in a 'solid' floor. Which probably means concrete. This can then act as a giant "storage radiator", spreading daytime solar gain into the evening - and potentially allowing a heatpump system (called "geothermal" but not correctly) to run usefully on off-peak electricity. Heatpumps are at their most efficient when producing a small rise in temperature. So while you may get a factor of 5x for their efficiency when heating water to 35C for underfloor, it will likely drop to 2x when heating to 65C for hot water (or conventional radiators)... You can take that efficiency factor, and use it to *divide* the unit cost of electricity to get the cost of your heat. Running a heatpump primarily on offpeak is pretty good on running costs (and making use of generator output that would likely otherwise go to waste). But it barely makes economic sense compared to mains gas, if that should be available... With super-insulation, all the heat from cooking and lighting will make a noticeable impact on the central heating requirement. So a smaller, less wildly expensive heatpump can be used. And don't do anything to improve the "garden" area where the collector would be buried until after its in! (Buried about a metre down, its really using the ground as a solar collector and energy store - true geothermal means going much much deeper for volcanic-type earth's core heating.) There are special hot water tanks called "thermal stores" which can be used to 'gather' the heat from varoius sources (solar, range backboiler, heatpump,...) and even (although I doubt you should) distribute it at different temps to hot water and central heating. You might want to check them out, but probably a big tank with two or three indirect coils is your answer. I'm a little surprised that you would opt for "standalone" electricity generation - with lots of faffing with batteries, and a limited output. If you are on mains electricity a "grid connected" system would be so much easier to live with - think of it as using your own, selling the surplus and having the mains to draw from if needed - automagically and without you having to get involved in the problems of energy storage! Unless, of course, you just want to disconnect...! Just my two-pennyworth, hope its helpful, I'm dead jealous really! Dougal |
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| tahir |
Re: Building a home - to live in!
Dougal you sound pretty knowledgable, fancy doing a full blown article on the options available? |
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| Guest |
You may have come across it already, but www.eco-logicbooks.com have some great books on alternative building techniques, t.o.h and I have been inspired by 'Building with Bales', just got to find the land and money now!
Tristan |
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| tahir |
It's a great site, haven't got the book though, how close are you to getting the land and money then? | ||||
| Tristan |
Let's put it this way, if I buy the bales next season I'll have a great pile of compost by the time the land is sorted!
Seriously though, we've only just started to look at the idea, so any suggestions and ideas welcome. Tristan |
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| alison |
What do the planners, or the building regulation people think about building with straw. | ||||
| Sarah D |
I think the planning peoples' views vary from Council to Council, and no two seem to be exactly the same..............
I don't know about Building Regs people, but imagine it may be much the same for them. I'm longing for someone here to apply for permission for a straw bale build - something to get my teeth into on the Parish Council.............
It may well be me applying, though
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| wellington womble |
I don't know about the building regs, but the NHBC won't cover straw bale builds. For anyone who doesn't know, then the NHBC let you (for a fee!) register your property for a ten year structural gurantee, and most mortgage lenders insist on it as part of their lending conditions (there is an alternative scheme through zurich, but I don't know if they would cover a straw bale build either)
If you you don't need a mortgage, you don't need to consider this (lucky you), but may have problems selling it later, if your buyer needs a mortgage. |
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| hardworkinghippy |
I'm dying to jump in here, then I remember that I live in France and everything is different here - but it's not that different. 
Twelve years ago I applied for PP to build a 170 sqare metre straw bale house. I'd done my research (France already has a lot of straw bale buildings.) and technically, the plans I did were excellent. I was refused permission time after time simply because the local planning department didn't know much about the technique and couldn't be bothered learning. I needed somewhere to live, so I relented and changed "bales" to breezeblock" on the plans and the PP was delivered without a hitch. Education and spreading the word is the most important this we can do to help this technique become accepted by planners. Now, in this part of France it is not too difficult to get PP for small straw projects, providing they are not loadbearing. With respect, I think too that many of us should get away from the idea that building is for "reselling" or for "life". Sometimes a temporary structure can give you and your family a few years breathing space at a cheap rent in an amazing natural environment. I know there's no stability, but at least you can be sort of sure that you won't be swept away by some huge tidal wave. 
HWH |
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| Uncle-silas |
heater cooker boilerThere is a product that I sell that does all of the above, big oven, 15kw boiler and burns wood, have a look at http://www.metaldynamics.com.au/metaldynamics.htm and go to the gourmet page, get in touch if you need any other help |
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| tahir |
The Metal dynamics stove looks good Uncle, only snag is you're the other side of the world...
Welcome on board by the way |
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| Uncle-silas |
I am in Lincolnshire, where are you? | ||||
| sean |
He's in Essex, it's a world away... | ||||
| tahir |
Aha, I thought you were in sunny Oz |
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| Blue Peter |
Tahir,
If I'm not mistaken, Uncle Silas is the same as Silas who's got the latest post on the AECB website. Silas, Are you a member of the AECB? Peter. |
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| tahir |
Haven't been over there recently (too much going on there ) I'll check later
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| Blue Peter |
Silas,
With regard to the gourmet, a few questions: Do you get a Clearskies grant? How is it with children? How does it compare with an Aga or Rayburn? Peter. |
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| Uncle-silas |
Tahir,
I sent my application for AECB this week, waiting for a reply. Peter, There are no grants for any cookstove in the clear sky list, if you want a clear sky approved boiler give me a shout I am a registered installer. I am not sure what you mean, "how is it with children".... a small one would fit nicely inside! A 15kw version costs about £2700, I think new Aga's start at about £5000 |
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| tahir |
Where are they made? (the stoves...) |
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| Blue Peter |
Sounds reasonable. I take it that doesn't include fitting and flues and the like?
Re: the children remark, it was just the pictures of what I take can be quite a hot metal box standing in the kitchen, and then thinking about little prying hands 
Peter. |
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| Uncle-silas |
The stoves are made in Australia, by the man who used to be Aga's Asia pacific sales director, they now have 70% of the market down there.
They can get hot and a fire guard would be recomended if toddlers are around, and the price is without fitting, flues etc. Regards |