 Back Latest news from Green Building Press Subscribe to our newsletter
Scheme to showcase eco renovations
Posted: 05/11/2007
A total of eighteen Oxford houses will open their doors to the public during November. They are all part of a city wide scheme to demonstrate a variety of eco renovations, creating an opportunity for other residents to learn from the experiences of the home owners and see ideas for a greener buildings in action.
The houses cover a remarkable range of challenging types-including a garden office, a former council house, a terraced Victorian house, a 17th century cottage in a conservation area, a listed Regency villa, and a 1980’s developer house.
Some of the houses use standard materials that could be bought at any builders merchant. Others use experimental technologies including straw bale and sheep wool insulation, solar panels, and wood burners.
One Victorian end terrace house now has a south facing 'sun trap', which together with a solar thermal system and heat pump, ensures highly effective space and water heating in the winter and summer.
The space and water heating are both fed by a large water thermal store tank which is maintained at a temperature of 45°C by a combination of solar and heat pump.
The five Viessmann thermal flat plates with a total area of 7.5 m2 provide the initial heat. A clever (and money saving) feature is that the large area of panels fully replaces the roof of the south facing roof above the side and rear kitchen extension.
The additional ‘top up’ heat is provided by the heat pump. Heat pumps are electrically powered compressors that extract heat from the local environment and concentrate it at the temperatures needed for heating purposes.
A ground source was not practical on this restricted site so the system draws its heat from the River Thames. A pump lowered into the river pulls the water at a rate of 35 lites per minute through a filter and into the 1.5 inch diameter pipe which carries the water under the road and the ground floor of the house, through the heat pump, and then back into the river.
The river has a higher and more stable temperature than a ground source and the high flow levels possible with an open loop system of this kind further enhance efficiency.
The event is hosted by COIN, the ClimateXchange and the Sustainable Energy Academy with the support of Mid Counties Co-Op, Thames Valley Energy, Thames Valley Energy Advice Centre and Oxford City Council.
For further details and case studies, visit www.ecovation.org.uk
Green Building Press
Back Latest news from Green Building Press Subscribe to our newsletter
2200 |
