provide domestic hot water. As deep floors are required to accommodate pipework and insulation, wet systems are generally unsuitable for retrofit installation in existing buildings unless renovation works include replacing the flooring. (14)


With new build construction though, most of the pipework can be installed reasonably quickly and inexpensively, and works well with solar thermal collector, CHP, and ground source heat pump renewable energy sources because of the comparatively low mean temperatures of the system. As underfloor heating is concealed, it is not visually intrusive inside properties.


Micro Wind Turbines. Whereas wind energy is generally associated with


Hoval BioLyt Boiler – clean and user-friendly, with a pellet feeder system, automated controls, self- cleaning surfaces, and automatic ash extraction


of installation of ground collectors. Lakeside properties can draw heat from heat pumps drawing energy from loops placed in lakes.


Air Conditioning. The overriding purpose of air conditioning in buildings is to ensure that there is an adequate air supply so that building occupants can breathe normally, with the air supply normally being provided by natural ventilation or by mechanical ventilation using electrically driven fans. Natural or passive ventilation, which includes the opening of windows, is typically used in low occupancy traditional buildings up to four storeys in height, whereas mechanical ventilation is typically used in larger, high occupancy buildings or in buildings with specialist air quality management needs such as hospitals and computer facilities. (13)


The Carbon Trust has found that mechanically ventilated buildings have twice the energy costs and CO2 emissions of naturally ventilated buildings. Critics of naturally ventilated buildings though, have pointed to the impact of noise and air pollutants in city buildings using natural ventilation, and suggested that the increasing air tightness of new buildings means that air flows are now insufficient to reduce CO2 levels below recommended limits.


One means of improving internal air circulation in buildings is to install Monodraught WINDCATCHER@naturalventilation systems to both draw in fresh air from prevailing winds around buildings levels and expel stale air from within buildings downstream of the wind direction.


Underfloor Heating. Underfloor heating can involve either wet systems or electrical systems. Wet systems involve water being circulated through underfloor pipework to warm the floor structure so that heat can be radiated above. The heat source will usually be a gas or oil boiler, which may also


THE TERRIER - Autumn 2011


Monodraught WINDCATCHER @naturalventilation – draws in fresh air, and expels state air, from buildings to improve internal air circulation


Combining Renewable Technologies in New Schemes


Other renewable technologies such as smart metering, low energy lighting, grey water recycling from showers and basins, rainwater harvesting of water collected from pitched roofs, or


17


multi-megawatt wind turbines on on-shore and off-shore wind farms, micro wind turbines can offer a back-up domestic electricity supply if the turbines are able to benefit from ‘planar wind’, which flows uninterrupted straight into the propellers, rather than wind flows buffeted and dispersed by the topography of built-up urban areas. Being made from fibre-glass, the turbines are light in weight and ideally should have integral speed stalling mechanisms, as a major criticism of turbines is the noise they can generate, particularly when operating at full speed. (15)


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