See eco-refurbishment at its best
With new-build family homes in the UK offering 40% less floor space than the average 1920s semi, some may find retrofitting an old home to modern efficiency standards to be the more attractive prospect.
SuperHome Open Days showcase older homes refurbished by their owners to produce a carbon footprint at least 60% smaller – real homes where the owners can explain the benefits and challenges involved.
Visitors can expect to come away with plenty of ideas for greening their own properties, including home improvements likely to be eligible for Green Deal finance. Most SuperHomes have superior insulation; many have alternative heating sources and some produce their own energy.
One home in Hackney (pictured) is part of the Open Days event. It’s a multi-level 1870s townhouse that has had radical interventions to achieve significantly higher levels of comfort.
Insulation was the first step. The front wall was insulated internally so the brick façade remains unchanged. The back and side walls were insulated externally then rendered. Aerogel insulation boards (a NASA technology) were applied under the lowest floor of the house. Loft insulation was deepened and a raised flooring system installed to avoid compressing this under stored items.
A gas combi-boiler, the home’s heat source, features an additional heat exchanging device on top, which recirculates the waste flu steam, said to save 15% in gas.
The old uPVC windows were replaced with double glazed timber sash windows and secondary glazing (with acoustic glass) to the front.
An underfloor heating system of hot water pipes were fitted to the entire lower ground floor.
The finishing touch to the Hackney house was a PV array, which has generated income of the owner thanks to the Feed-in Tariff. Between December 2010 and September 2012 the panels generated 2893kWh of electricity, which is worth about £1300.
SuperHome Open Days present an opportunity to see green technologies like this in situ. These include biomass boilers, heat pumps, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery and water saving devices; also triple glazing, modern wood stoves and all types of insulation. Virtually every technology expected to attract Green Deal finance can be inspected at closer quarters this September.
To find a SuperHome near you, visit the website.
