Articles
Tim Pullen is a regular contributor for Homebuilding and Renovating magazine and speaks at H&R exhibitions, Build Stores Big Green Homes show and many other eco building shows.
Apr
2010
Passive Ventilation
As the movement towards sustainable, energy efficient houses increases so does the interest is passive ventilation systems. They are increasingly seen as an essential component of a sustainable home, but what is passive ventilation and how does it work?
Mar
2010
Building Regulations Part G – Water Efficiency
Changes to Part G of the Building Regulations, introduced in April 2010, require that we use less water and that the temperature of water reaching a bath is regulated. It is sometimes difficult to understand why water needs to be saved, but fairly simple changes in how we use water can be effective.
Feb
2010
Feed-in Tariffs
Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) are a wonderful new way of getting paid for electricity (and heat – but we will come on to that) generated from renewable sources. On 1st February 2010 the Government set rates of payment for electricity generated and exported to the grid, as an incentive for the installation of micro generation schemes. These tariffs are set to come into force from 1st April 2010 for electricity and 1st April 2011 for heat.
Jan
2010
Combined heat and power – The New Technology
Combined heat and power, or CHP, is a bit of a good news-bad news story. There are more players in the market and the technology is moving forward, but there are still very few machines actually available to buy.
CHP is the production of both heat and electricity from a single fuel source in a single machine. Machines fall into 2 broad groups, combustion engines and fuel cells. Typical operating efficiency is around 80% to 90%, compared to the electricity coming out of the plug socket at about 27% of the energy that went into the power station.
Jan
2010
Heat Pumps: A Layman's Guide
There are 3 different types of heat pumps – air source, ground source and water source. They all use the same compression/expansion technology, identical in all but size to that used in domestic refrigerators. They are called heat pumps because they are intended to move heat from one place to another. They do not, or should not, generate heat. Heat pumps work by collecting heat from air, water or the ground and, in effect, magnifying the heat and transferring it to water or air.
Dec
2009
Sustainable Finishing Materials – The Green Options
People building a sustainable home often want other people to know that it is a sustainably built home. Not just to show off, although that is a pretty good reason, but to advertise the fact that building sustainably is possible. The most obvious and most noticeable feature of any house is the finishings and rainforest timber flooring is not a good advert for the sheeps wool insulation and FSC timber underneath. But there are alternatives and plenty of them.
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