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You're obviously forgetting that HMGov has a vested self interest in keeping fossil burning and nuclear energy going.Martyn1981 wrote: »I can't help thinking that they are still lowballing here, as costs/prices for RE and storage (battery and large scale longer term storage) are still falling and deployments are speeding up. I'd expect more of a rising curve deployment, than a steady roll out now.
Why do you think they're dropping FiT and BEV incentive, and, got rid of the legislation for more efficient buildings?The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.
Oliver Wendell Holmes0 -
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HiI seem to recall a university in Wales was building net zero homes at the same cost as "normal" ones.
We've more than met the ZEB (net-zero energy emissions) requirements and have been borderline ZNE (net-zero energy) for some time .... since the installation of the heatpump we've been seriously bettering both!
Currently powering the house, providing around 2.5kW of space heating & ~1.3kW of DHW heating and still exporting ~1.7kW to the neighbours!! ... looks like banking a net positive day today ...
HTH
Z"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
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Yep, it's been a good couple of days for solar. My setup is very basic but I've a (very) hot tank of water, done some washing and batch baking and manually switched an oil-filled radiator. As the temperature drops rapidly with the cloudless skies I shall light the stove furnished with free wood. Just picked up another tub of large joinery off-cuts from my neighbour this very afternoon.
If our experience was replicated more widely evening peaks would reduce even more. Has anyone got any experience of single room MHRV, for my bathroom as I can justify that level of investment for my single occupancy terrace house but couldn't for a household system?0 -
Why do you think they're dropping FiT and BEV incentive, and, got rid of the legislation for more efficient buildings?
Here's a very timely reminder (article dated 12/2/19) on that very subject, explaining what 'they' did, and the cost implications of residents. And of course, more energy consumed (by anyone and everyone), is an impact on everyone, an impact it would have been nice to reduce.
Zero Carbon Homes axe costing consumers £200 per year“One of our long-running campaigns is for better new-build homes; low standards, thin walls and inadequate heating are problems that we see time and again. Homes should be built to the highest standards to be fit for this and future generations; government and industry need to recognise that it’s in everyone’s interest to get this right.”Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)
For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.0 -
Slightly misleading headline, as there is but one WT (so far), and the wind farm 'will' be the biggest ...... but what a story regarding the modular nature of some RE generation. :cool:
World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Hornsea One Generates First PowerMart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)
For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.0 -
Hi
We've more than met the ZEB (net-zero energy emissions) requirements and have been borderline ZNE (net-zero energy) for some time .... since the installation of the heatpump we've been seriously bettering both!
Currently powering the house, providing around 2.5kW of space heating & ~1.3kW of DHW heating and still exporting ~1.7kW to the neighbours!! ... looks like banking a net positive day today ...
HTH
Z
Hi Z,
Apologies if you've discussed this in the past (if so, do you have a link?) but I'm really interested in how you've achieved this, especially if your home is a retrofit.5.18 kWp PV systems (3.68 E/W & 1.5 E).
Solar iBoost+ to two immersion heaters on 300L thermal store.
Vegan household with 100% composted food waste
Mini orchard planted and vegetable allotment created.0 -
Hipile-o-stone wrote: »Hi Z,
Apologies if you've discussed this in the past (if so, do you have a link?) but I'm really interested in how you've achieved this, especially if your home is a retrofit.
Effectively the house was built in the early '80s to a bespoke design which incorporated higher than minimum spec insulation levels for the time (eg - underfloor pumice thermal barrier!) as well as some optimisation of glazed areas to help with solar gain, intentionally high internal thermal mass to smooth internal temperatures, high spec (for the time!) cavity insulation, double glazing etc ...
The property is considerably larger than the UK average and has going on 200sqm of loft space which made for an easy target for improvements, so we upgraded the loft insulation to ~500mm (+in places) ... add in sealing (most of!) the usual air ingress holes and improving the quality of draft seals on all external openings as well as improving the thermal efficiency of external doors (including loft hatches, door to loft space, internal garage access etc ... even the wooden doors to an integral garage are internally insulated & draught sealed ....
Open fire was replaced with a high efficiency log burner a couple of decades ago, we have solar thermal & solar PV, high efficiency GCH boiler & zoned heating (which gets little use!) and now also a small heatpump.
For a couple of decades we've strived to reduce energy use through actively chasing high efficiency products & appliances, not only when replacement is due, but when there's a perceived benefit from doing so (environmental or financial) ...
Add to this a vegetable patch which is likely larger than most modern gardens, a small orchard (which is around 4x as large as the veg patch!) along with plenty of trees/bushes for kindling & you'll understand that we're also far more self sufficient than most too!
The house is 'only' EPC rated at the top end of the 'B' band and this was assessed prior to a number of further improvements, however, the rdSAP system used for the EPC is flawed in many respects (ie dumbed down for assessors!) for example, not recognising (no tick box) the level of loft insulation we have & some of the high spec insulation materials we've used in various places or having the ability to assess which of the heat sources is primary or apportion energy supplied by each ... it's also important to note that the assessor wouldn't confirm the existance of underfloor insulation, so the score & banding excludes this.
For a couple of decades I've modelled (spreadsheet) the properties of the building using a combination of SAP(full) & individual material properties and have a decent idea of heatloss in various ambient conditions. This has been used to justify investment in further thermal improvements based on 'investment' recovery years ... there is plenty that can still be done, but not much that makes financial sense!
Our actual energy usage (detailed records for a couple of decades) not only confirms that the model mentioned above is pretty accurate, but also that the house meets the majority of criteria which would apply to passivhaus properties, but where we miss we're still far closer to passivhaus than current building standard requirements!
Hope this gives an idea!
HTH
Z"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle0 -
Hi
Effectively the house was built in the early '80s to a bespoke design which incorporated higher than minimum spec insulation levels for the time (eg - underfloor pumice thermal barrier!) as well as some optimisation of glazed areas to help with solar gain, intentionally high internal thermal mass to smooth internal temperatures, high spec (for the time!) cavity insulation, double glazing etc ...
The property is considerably larger than the UK average and has going on 200sqm of loft space which made for an easy target for improvements, so we upgraded the loft insulation to ~500mm (+in places) ... add in sealing (most of!) the usual air ingress holes and improving the quality of draft seals on all external openings as well as improving the thermal efficiency of external doors (including loft hatches, door to loft space, internal garage access etc ... even the wooden doors to an integral garage are internally insulated & draught sealed ....
Open fire was replaced with a high efficiency log burner a couple of decades ago, we have solar thermal & solar PV, high efficiency GCH boiler & zoned heating (which gets little use!) and now also a small heatpump.
For a couple of decades we've strived to reduce energy use through actively chasing high efficiency products & appliances, not only when replacement is due, but when there's a perceived benefit from doing so (environmental or financial) ...
Add to this a vegetable patch which is likely larger than most modern gardens, a small orchard (which is around 4x as large as the veg patch!) along with plenty of trees/bushes for kindling & you'll understand that we're also far more self sufficient than most too!
The house is 'only' EPC rated at the top end of the 'B' band and this was assessed prior to a number of further improvements, however, the rdSAP system used for the EPC is flawed in many respects (ie dumbed down for assessors!) for example, not recognising (no tick box) the level of loft insulation we have & some of the high spec insulation materials we've used in various places or having the ability to assess which of the heat sources is primary or apportion energy supplied by each ... it's also important to note that the assessor wouldn't confirm the existance of underfloor insulation, so the score & banding excludes this.
For a couple of decades I've modelled (spreadsheet) the properties of the building using a combination of SAP(full) & individual material properties and have a decent idea of heatloss in various ambient conditions. This has been used to justify investment in further thermal improvements based on 'investment' recovery years ... there is plenty that can still be done, but not much that makes financial sense!
Our actual energy usage (detailed records for a couple of decades) not only confirms that the model mentioned above is pretty accurate, but also that the house meets the majority of criteria which would apply to passivhaus properties, but where we miss we're still far closer to passivhaus than current building standard requirements!
Hope this gives an idea!
HTH
Z
Fantastic, thanks Z. I agree with your views on EPC ratings. We made some huge improvements from when we bought our house (A rated windows, warm roof, etc.) to fitting our solar panels (and getting a new EPC sorted for FiTs) and our environmental impact rating actually got worse! :mad:5.18 kWp PV systems (3.68 E/W & 1.5 E).
Solar iBoost+ to two immersion heaters on 300L thermal store.
Vegan household with 100% composted food waste
Mini orchard planted and vegetable allotment created.0 -
sevenhills wrote: »One of their priorities is high numbers of houses built.
One of their priorities is higher profits for big construction companies that are major donors to the party. Fixed that for you
But seriously I don't buy the Trump-style argument that relaxing these sort of regulations will benefit ordinary people, or that high prices of housing etc is because of "overly burdensome" environmental regulation.Solar install June 2022, Bath
4.8 kW array, Growatt SPH5000 inverter, 2x Growatt ML33RTA batteries.
SSW roof. ~22° pitch, BISF house. 12 x 400W Hyundai panels0
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