Help me green my new build house!

Deleerious

I work in a more commercial environment of building services and "green / eco friendly" is certainly the buzz word at the moment. I have found that although effective and certainly cost saving in the long run. The initial cost can be high.

A few things you could consider sorry if i bore you though:

1. Re- using grey water, i.e collecting the rainwater and pumping it up to use as a source of water for flushing toilets / external taps etc. This is the extremety of re - using rain water however simply collecting water from a boss in the rainwater down pipe for the garden will in essence be a "green measure".

2. Solar powered hot water which i think someone has touched on above. Maybe not using it as the primary source of hot water generation, however certainly use it as adding to the HWS generation.

3. Energy saving light bulbs (probably speaks for itself).

4. PIR's / movement controlled lights. I.e If you walk into a room the PIR (passive infra - red) detector detects this and turns the lights on. The saving here is that when you leave the room you can't leave the light on wasting energy. It will go off after 5 / 10 / 15 mins depending on how you have set it.

5. Ground source heat pump (god i'm such a nerd!!!). This is awsome. The principal that if you dig a certain depth in the earth you will reach a 10 degree / temperature constant. This can then be used to heat / cool water for underfloor heating, hot water generation, air conditioning etc. Now this in expensive but repaid when you see peoples reactions when you tell them what heats / cools the building.

6. Condensing boiler. Make sure if you do use a boiler that it is a fully condensing SEDBUK "A" rated boiler. With maximum efficiency.

As i said i'm a bit of a nerd on this stuff working in the building services industry but feel free to PM me if you want to talk further. You'll find that building services heating / elecs etc will probably be side of the project where you can make serious savings on the "eco - side".

I'm here to assist if i can...

Here endeth the lecture.

Deleerious D

Still awake? _party_

thescouselander

4. PIR's / movement controlled lights. I.e If you walk into a room the PIR (passive infra - red) detector detects this and turns the lights on. The saving here is that when you leave the room you can't leave the light on wasting energy. It will go off after 5 / 10 / 15 mins depending on how you have set it.

Are you seriously suggesting this is a good idea? What if you sit down and stop moving enough for the PIR sensor to detect you (eg when watching TV etc). The lights will go out when you might need them, this will be very annoying.

Deleerious

You only have to make the slightest movment to re - start the timer... i.e scratching your body, picking your nose, picking up a drink, smoking a cigarette, laughing, any movement

The odds that you sit PERFECTLY still for 10 minutes are slim I would say...

Deleerious D

Jonesya

It's not energy saving but it's definitely green-ing - you can get stone bird boxes that can be build into external walls to provide a permanent habitat for wildlife.

http://www.jacobijayne.co.uk/birds_wild-life_shop.php?page=NESTBOX&type=BRICK_BOXES

Phil_L_2

Contrary to popular belief there is no good reason not to have dimmable fluorescent lights and the PIR's are very sensitive. If you can run to it a DALI system may be the way to go.

harryhound

Hi abomb1969,

(Is that a guide to your date of birth or a comment on the nuclear industry ?)

I am having to make a few assumptions about you and could make more accurate comments if I knew more about your circumstances, for example self builders have a multitude of objectives and range from self build hands on co-operatives to overworked dinkies, who can employ an architect to deliver the project.

The fellow who rescued this from the demolition ball, could be classed as a DIY self builder with no money:

http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/

We did something similar 35 years ago and these are a few thoughts from the days of kipper ties:

= Beware that road. We have got one too, and unless vehicles go electric or the Dutch project to "carpet" roads with recovered tyre rubber, comes to the A1, it can only get worse. Any chance of building a bund or a solid-fill willow wall. (The human ear has a damping muscle, eventually it gives up, worn out by the effort. You suffer hearing damage and a headache. So you need to build a walled outside sitting space, the other side of the house from the road).

= Don't completely block the view of the A1, though try to disguise the position and value of your home (1,000's of housebreakers will know where you live) It is interesting to see what is making the noise. Make you property "defensible space" ie only one way in and no escape route, anything to make a trespasser feel uncomfortable.

= If you do an advanced search on my name you can see my postings, some of the topics are relevant.

= Use recovered materials, not only can they be cheaper but they are timeless and add nothing to your carbon footprint. There will be nothing worse than living in a design crime of the naughties, in 30 years time (Yes I've got an avocado bath, it will be fashionable again by the time I die ?)
The A1 is a long road, if you give a hint as to the location of the site I may be able to give you a few pointers.

= Investing in property at any time is a gamble financially, keep a plan B for the interest rates that I hope will be going up at least 1/2% soon.

= The diesel engine in the car is a low maintenance transport equivalent of the condensing boiler, I think there is a Polo coming out that does more than 70 MPG? Beware of exotic technologies. Can you get the spares in 30 years time? Lucky you has a gas supply, so you cannot be too far out in the sticks.

= The present state of the world is very similar to 1972, only the world has almost doubled its population since then. Now the TV is full of property !!!!!!, and yes "Grand Designs" is the most inspiring; rather than the get rich quick stuff that is going to turn into get poor quick some time soon. In the 70's, we had to make do with "A House for the Future". If you could find a copy of that, watching it would put your ideas into context.

Feel free to send me a Private Message if there is an item on which you need a second opinion.

Harry.

harryhound

See if you can get some controls fitted to your underfloor heating, so you only heat the rooms you are using at the time you use them.[/QUOTE]

I agree with your other points 100% but under floor heating tends to have a slower response time. The idea being that you keep the whole house warm 24/7 and avoid the losses involved in "cycling" the heating system (ie the waste involved in heating it up only for it to go cold again).

This is especially so if using a Ground Source Heat Pump, this site includes some interesting pdf files explaining how its kit has been designed for the UK market and how the floor is really a giant economy 7 storage heater:

http://www.kensaengineering.com/index.html

However these people would prefer to plaster your underfloor heating into your walls, where the radiant heat effect should allow you to run the rooms about 2 degrees cooler for the same comfort level and let them get cold.

https://www.clina.de (have some fun asking Google to translate into English and then ask for it to be translated back into German, then realise that there is an English version.)

Deleerious

Though in theory what i'm about to say sounds redicululous, but please read on:

It is often more economical to keep your home at a constant temperature; In winter i keep my heating at 15 degrees in the day when i am not in the house. It is then ramped to 21 degrees for when i return home.

The theory here is that in winter if you house drops to say, 5 - 7 degrees in the day it then has a degree raise of 16 - 14 degrees to get to before you get home. The boiler has a lot longer heat up time to raise the temperature to this amount than it would to raise it by 6 degrees, or to keep the house at 15 degrees by coming on and off in the day for a short burst of time. **See also "cycling" that Harryhound mentions above. **

On a separate note:

I agree with your comments on the UFH however. I was always taught (certainly with a larger screeded system) that because the heat takes time to penetrate to floor level it should remain on ALL times. With newer clipped systems (i.e where the pipe is clipped in a mesh and insulated above and a shallower screed is used) there is less to insulate the heat and the heat is transferred more easily to the floor itself. Rememeber too that you should never put an underfloor heating system on straight away to the 50 degrees. It should always start around 20 degrees and increase in 5 degree increments until you reach the 50. This will prevent the screed from cracking!

Just reading that no - one really specifically has asked those questions but i hope they are of use to you.

Deleerious D

tr3mor

harryhound wrote: »

I agree with your other points 100% but under floor heating tends to have a slower response time. The idea being that you keep the whole house warm 24/7 and avoid the losses involved in "cycling" the heating system (ie the waste involved in heating it up only for it to go cold again).

Fair enough. I haven't looked into underfloor heating, I was just thinking out loud!

eilidh_s

I am just going to build a house made of structural insulated panels. You take your drawings to a SIP's comapny and they make the panels. They can then be erected at your site in about a week. They are so well insulated that they reckon you can run your home with just an open fire in the living room and no other heat system! However i am going to put UFH downstairs and have radiators upstairs.