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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
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Renewable Energy: Powering our new build - will this work?

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthoraviatrix
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2008
     
    Build to passivhaus standards with a woodburner and solar thermal and install 6kWp of PV - south facing, not overshadowed. The local electricity monopoly here will pay 6p per unit and charges 12p - not brilliant. However it will cut my electricity bill in half and I will be completely carbon free.

    Lots of posts on this site have deterred me from GSHP although we do have the land area. The electricity supplier has a heat pump tariff at 7.5p which is an incentive though.

    It is going to take guts to build new with no heating system though..
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2008
     
    Go for it!!!
  3.  
    Don'y about the heating system it will be fine. However if you're really concerned, you could lay in the pipe work for 3/4 rad's for very little cash. Also can't you get a better deal than 6p from another supplier...?

    J
    • CommentAuthoraviatrix
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2008
     
    There are no other suppliers.
    • CommentAuthoraviatrix
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2008
     
    James, how would you supply the hot water for rads (or for an abbreviated ufh system for that matter) - I presume it would be electric (as that would be our only power source), or solar thermal, but that is no good if the sun hasn't shone that day. How effective are hot water accumulators/storage systems?
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2008
     
    What I read James as suggesting would be to put in the pipes for the radiators (because that's cheap to do up front but very expensive to retrofit) but leave out the actual radiators and boilers. If you decided, after all, that leaving out the heating system was a mistake then the radiators and boilers could be added later. Having this option takes some of the stomach churning out of building with no heating system to start with.

    In general, I think the idea of giving yourself options to change the design depending on in-use experience is a really good idea, rather than doing a conservative over engineering (e.g., putting in a complete CH system you're not sure you need) in order to have a single "complete" design. This is one area where self-builders have a real advantage over the mass housing builders - to them any later changes are a complete disaster both from financial and a public relations point of view.
    • CommentAuthorpmusgrove
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2008
     
    Any chance of finishing the construction (floors, walls, roof)at the end of the summer and then leaving the building through the winter to see what the temperatures are like inside? I am doing the same next year and intend to build some internal stuff before putting the screed down just to see what the temps will be like. The PHPP software suggests that our design is PassivHaus but because of very large south facing windows I am guessing that the real world situation will depend upon the number of sunny days between Nov and Mar.
    • CommentAuthoraviatrix
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2008
     
    Nice idea, but financially I don't think we will be able to do this. On reflection, I am considering laying ufh pipes in the ground floor screed. The upstairs will be rooms in the roof and I think the MHRV will distribute the warmth. Do you think that the software you refer to is a necessity. I can do u-value/air change/solar gain etc calculations.
    • CommentAuthorjerseyman
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2008
     
    Hi Aviatrix, as a fellow Islander I will follow your progress with considerable interest. Do you know if you will be the first grid connected micro-generator here?
    • CommentAuthoraviatrix
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2008
     
    Hi Jerseyman, I am about 20 miles away from where you think. Being cagey about personal details on the net is a habit.

    I think there are two others here. The deal is crap and I am writing to the deputies.

    My biggest problem is going to be to get local builders to do anything different to how they have done it for the last century. You don't have any shining ecological construction companies over there do you. Are you building?
    • CommentAuthorjerseyman
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2008
     
    Hi Aviatrix,

    I admire your commitment 6KWp of solar is quite an investment in the light of the lousy pay back deals here.

    I'm afraid I can't help on builders, I have a dream to build in Spain one day, prices are too high for me to consider it here.
    • CommentAuthorjddevel
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2008
     
    Hi All,
    Did look into GSHP here in sunny Cornwall but did meet the problem with the local electricity distributor that the pumps caused problems due to start up load. Any one had experience with the so called new soft start motors/pumps?

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