Eco houses -"a joy and a delight"

Well, yes, it would be nice to live in a house that heated itself and which kept its occupants comfortably warm at a very low cost.  In the UK  housing is responsible for 27% of the country's carbon emissions overall.  

Why do not more people build their own houses and ensure this level of comfort?  It is obviously an effort and many people do not want the inconvenience of this process.  Yet, according to the Radio 4 "Costing the Earth" programme tagged in my last blog, there is great interest in self-build.  Magazines, tv programmes and "Grand Design" fairs are very popular. 

Charlie Laing, of Charlie Laing Project Management (CLPM) works to manage self build projects so that the client can plan to get exactly what they require.  He says that the planning laws in the UK and too complicated, especially as applicants also have to deal with building regulations - a completely different department.  Finding land is also difficult.  Large areas are purchased by mass developers, so that the small plots left often have problems such as lack of access to utilities or a difficult site. An article by Patrick Collinson (Guardian 26.11.11) agrees that UK self build lags far behind all Western countries and that the reason is largely the complicated an d arbitrary planning situation.

Eco-technology is evolving rapidly and can seem unfamiliar, as well as unwieldy and complicated.  One of CLPM's projects uses an air source heat pump which circulates external and internal air, but which requires a huge buffer tank to heat the incoming air.  This tank and other equipment uses a whole room in the new house.

One solution is to form a group and share knowledge, as the Ashley Vale Action Group did (see previous post).  These buildings are built to high eco-standard.  In one example, described on the R4 programme, a solar conservatory heats the upstairs, and a woodburning stove is used partly for the underfloor heating. 
Members of this scheme stress that the basic structure of the house is far more important than visible features such as attractive kitchens, which can be added later when budget allows.

Other support groups or associated organisations are the Community Land Trust and The Self Build Portal 

The concept of a "passive house" is described on the radio programme by Mark Gillott, of the Institute of Sustainable Technology at Nottingham University.  At Nottingham a selection of houses has been built to test their energy-efficiency.  Air tightness membrane is installed to reduce draughts, and with good orientation, layout and insulation,  a house should almost heat itself.  A mechanical ventilation air recovery unit filters fresh air coming into the house.  Janet Cotterell has written the Passivhaus Handbook (with Adam Adeby) which provides practical guide to constructing the passive house.  

A building by Gaia Group Edinburgh

 
What the programme did not discuss is how the new technology affects the appearance of houses.  How much of our traditional building styles have become just styles?  Do we need slate roofs or brick build, for example?