Fri 1 Jun 2007
Upping the Ante
Energy efficiency has never been higher on housebuilding's agenda. Natalia Gameson looks at the latest techniques and materials on the market, and speaks to builders who are already ahead of the game.The government looks like it means business at last, with Yvette Cooper ruling that all commercial buildings must join the residential sector in the national drive to achieve carbon zero energy ratings by 2016. In the future, a green office plan suggests, offices will be decked out in floor coverings made from newspapers, while waterless urinals and loos will be cobbled together with recycled bottles. (The first person to witness male eco sceptics trying such contraptions out is certainly in for an enviable treat.)
But, to return to housebuilding, and the Code for Sustainable Homes, which came in as a force to be reckoned with in April. Designed to complement the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) this month, the Code rates the home as a whole package on six starring levels, one being relatively low, while six achieves a zero carbon rating. All new appliances will need an A+ rating, while the Code provides more scope for variation on materials and features.
The papers would have us believe that going sustainable will net the housebuilder bigger profits than ever – a recent building supplement issued in the Guardian featured an article by Kirsty Gogan which argued that the “vast majority” of homebuyers will pay a premium for a sustainable home. But the market may not be ready to add masses of value to sustainable new-builds, particularly where outlandish, gimmicky eco models are concerned.
Savills’ recent research on the state of the market works to prove this case in point. “Although required by law, our research suggests the value of sustainable homes is not going to be realisable by developers through higher prices as buyers are primarily interested in features that will save them money,” says Yolande Barnes, Savills’ research director. “To recoup costs, developers will have to go further in design to create products that will stand out – although happily, 84 per cent of the people we polled considered good thermal insulation in the home to be important.”
So what features will add the most value in reducing overall build and running costs to please both builder and buyer?
Gadgets and gizmos
Energy efficient lighting is always likely to be a winner with buyers. Tp24’s Kyoto 2 low energy lighting range takes the energy bulb a little further in its spread of self-ballasted fluorescent pendants, spot lights, wall lights, flush fittings and table lamps. The required bulbs will last for 8,000 hours, eight times longer than a conventional light bulb – or two and a half years in a home running for eight hours a day, seven days a week – while giving the user 80 per cent savings on running costs. They also look rather nice, unlike the majority of low energy products on the market, and accept standard lightshades too. “The other low energy fittings currently available have oversized glass shades to hide unsightly bulbs,” says , the firm’s sales and marketing manager. “Our new range looks as good as any conventional light fittings – and even better, Kyoto is much less expensive.”
On the appliance front, Electrolux offers a range of energy saving products. These include the UK’s only A-rated tumble dryer (the AEG-Electrolux T59800) which dries clothes so gently that even wools and silks can be loaded in, and an AAA dishwasher fitted with an auto programme that’s designed to sense load size and dirt so it only washes what it needs to. The 335-litre AEG-Electrolux S72348KA1 fridge, chosen by Sue Roaf in her latest eco tome Ecohouse 3, uses 141 kWh per day, which works out to be less than a light bulb.
With water becoming an increasingly valuable commodity as summer droughts intensify, rainwater harvesting units may see a rise in popularity among buyers over the coming months. Culligan International’s P55N water purifier, is designed to eliminate e-coli, cysts and bacteria. “The units are economical, safe and simple to operate, says homeowner Mike Hillard, who recently installed the purifier in Tranquillity, his low-energy home. “Pure domestic water now costs us just £9.50 a year, as we run the UV filtration system when we need to pump water up the header tank.”
Heating
Heat conservation, recovery and ventilation are big business for those canny enough to have got into the market at the right time. Total Home Environment, supplier of Genvex heat recovery ventilation and heat pump technology, aims to marry the requirements of building regulations Part F (adequate ventilation) and Part L (energy conservation).
”Telling potential buyers that your homes can save them up to 95 per cent of the heat that they lose is likely to go down a storm,” says Michael Hunt, the group’s director. “Modern, low-energy homes are highly insulated and airtight, which can lead to a build up of mould growth and carbon dioxide, which can trigger illness.” The Genvex system offers the user energy and cost savings through heat recovery and the reuse of waste heat for heating and hot water, while the enhanced range offers air source heat pumps that often prove cheaper than oil or gas heating alternatives.
Space Air has recently launched the Altherma air-to-water heat pump by Daikin, which absorbs heat from air outside and transfers it to heating or hot water on the inside. Made up of an outdoor heat absorbing pump and an indoor hydro-box heat exchanger and connected by pipes, the Altherma can produce water temperature of up to 55 degrees celsius without using extra electric heating, and can be used for underfloor heating, radiators or fans. Heat pumps use renewable energy, and aim to offer the user a cost effective, eco-friendly alternative to fossil-fuelled models.
Moving over to radiators, the Dimplex DuoHeat model aims to help the developer achieve higher SAP ratings in offering 10 per cent carbon savings over traditional heaters, while providing reductions on running costs. “In the current climate of escalating fuel prices, running costs are a hot issue for end users,” says Chris Davis, Dimplex’s marketing manager. “A significant proportion of DuoHeat’s energy is provided from off-peak electricity, so running costs are kept low.”
Materials
As the eco stakes are raised, materials are increasingly coming under the spotlight. Ziegel bricks, which come with a RIBA recommendation, are one particularly lauded example of this. Designed to counterbalance changes in temperature and humidity, these clay blocks act as a natural air conditioner, as internal walls are built with bricks of a higher density than those used for the external walls to control outdoor temperature peaks. The blocks’ dual capacity to thermally store for winter and insulate for summer has made them a popular choice throughout the industry, while their ability to filter out toxins from the air while simultaneously cutting fuel costs should make them equally popular with the buyer.
Staying on the subject of building blocks, H&H Celcon’s Aircrete, an autoclaved, cellular concrete material, is used increasingly as blocks in internal and external walls, or as infill in beam-and-block flooring. It’s also very easy and fast to install – Peterdale Developments used aircrete blocks for a development of nine flats in Derby, and managed to cut their build time and manpower by 30 per cent. “Using Celcon aircrete was much easier than using aggregate blocks,” says the firm’s Yan Wosik. “And it also helped with both thermal and acoustic insulation, so meeting the Building Regulations wasn’t a problem.”
Phase change materials (PCMs), substances with high heats of fusion that can store and release large amounts of energy are also coming into their own. German firm BASF has devised the Micronal® PCM SmartBoardT, a microencapsulated heat storer based on paraffin wax that absorbs excess heat. Once installed, the wax changes from a solid to a liquid state from 26 degrees Celsius onwards, and begins to melt and absorb excess heat from outside, akin to the manner in which ice cubes in a glass on hot days absorb large amounts of heat when melting to keep the drink cool for longer. As temperatures fall during nighttime, the wax becomes solid again, while the warmth that has been released can be removed from the room by ventilation. “Our minuscule droplets of wax are enclosed in a virtually indestructible acrylic polymer shell that can withstand drilling and sawing,” explains Marco Schmidt from the firm’s Functional Polymers division. “The wax cannot leak out of this capsule, while our products satisfy all regulations.”
Meanwhile, Kingspan Offsite’s range of insulated panels has helped the firm to become the first manufacturer in the industry to achieve Environmental Profile Certification from the BRE with its Green Guide ‘A’ rating. “This certification confirms that our products are some of the most sustainable around,” says Mark Harris, Kingspan’s building technology director. “The BRE hallmark provides specifiers and contractors with the assurance that any claims we make for the environmental performance of our systems are backed up by independent verification.”
Similarly, German firm Knauf Drywall has launched what it labels as the UK’s first carbon neutral plasterboard as part of an environmental drive. The firm is currently supplying plasterboard to the Olympic Village, as touched on in our green news section, and the firm’s new Futurepanel aims to combine good sound and fire resistance with green credentials in response to the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes. The panel has a core made from 10 per cent recycled gypsum, while the rest is taken from other sustainable sources, also features liners made from recycled paper.
But this focus on greater product energy efficiency is nothing new or faddish from the company, says Ian Stokes, Knauf Drywall’s commercial director: “Our plasterboard has always performed well against environmental benchmarks – it’s the greenest product on the market. We’re now taking plasterboard into a new era – the market is desperate to buy into real green action.”
However, such processes have to be complemented by a rigorous offsetting programme, Stoke continues: “The carbon created during production is being offset through investment in a number of projects. Our ongoing aim is to continue to find ways to remove carbon used during production to reduce the need to offset in the future.”
First published in Show House Magazine June 2007.
The greatest care has been taken to ensure accuracy but some information contained within this article may have changed since it was first published.
Posted by Natalia Gameson
in BASF, Buderus, Culligan International, Dimplex, Electrolux, H+H, Kingspan Offsite, Knauf Drywall, Space Air, Sustainability, Total Home Environment Ltd, Tp24, Ziegel on Fri 1 Jun 2007
Have your say and comment on this article