SELFBUILDER SURVEY: BUILDING A LOW CARBON HOME
PRODUCT SOLUTIONS O
ur survey respondents ranked the product solution types which they saw as key for their low-carbon build. The results generally weren’t surprising, although you might have expected heat pumps to be higher up the list. At the top of the chart, rated as ‘very important’ by 92% of
respondents was insulation. Some distance behind was triple glazing (also solar control glazing), only picked by 55% as very important, which may suggest that the overall design approach and details were seen as more critical than individual product
SPECIFICATION CHOICES O
ur survey revealed the materials, construction methods and products, which were the most important for our sample of self-builders as they pursued a low carbon
home. The results were as follows: • LED lighting (73%) • Air-tightness tapes (56%) • Rainwater harvesting (47%) • Thermal breaks (46%)
• Recycled building materials (27%), green roofs (20%), greywater recycling (17%), biomass heating (14%). Infra-red heating (12%), sustainable alternatives to concrete (12%) and lime mortar brought up the rear with 10%. Air source heat pumps were relatively unknown a few years ago, but have become the subject of fevered debate among those looking to upgrade their existing properties to a non-gas heating solution for both fi nancial and climate considerations. The Government is giving homeowners grants of £5,000 towards heat pump installations, and has cut VAT on them. Systems are likely to offer a good return on investment in terms of lower bills, and avoidance of gas price fl uctuations. The extra expense may be marginal when you are looking at installation plus lifetime cost, with the government incentives. There is some debate however over whether without insulation upgrades, heat pumps will be able to run at the lower temperatures they need to in order to provide the right level of effi ciency.
types. Solar PV panels were in third place with half of respond- ents picking them as ‘very important.’ Vapour control layers/membranes, including high tech
breather membranes, were seen as a ‘very important’ part of creating a healthy, sustainable building by 49% of respondents. Heat pumps were next in line, at 46%, and interestingly 40% chose thermal mass, a clearly fabric-oriented element of sus- tainability design. Then came battery storage and EV charging (40%), and timber construction (30%).
Selfbuilder + Homemaker’s readers did allude to some of the
concerns, such as potential noise of systems, internally as well as externally, and also the space required. Pump manufacturers are continually innovating to bring both the noise and scale down to make them viable for most users. The Committee for Climate Change reckons that 40% of the UK’s existing heating stock can have heat pumps installed without upgrading their building fabric, thanks to tighter thermal requirements in Building Regulations since the 1970s.
The use of photovoltaics (PVs) for electricity generation and solar thermal arrays (for heating water) is well-established, however the instant incentives in terms of offsetting capital cost are far less attractive for solar PV, following the downgrading of the Feed-in-Tariff. However, once electric cars become the norm in 2035, according to government targets, demand for electricity generation and battery storage may see another bonanza of solar PV installations. According to many in the industry, designing your house to the Passivhaus standard ensures a zero carbon building without making huge investments in renewables. Passivhaus design has been around since 1990 but is now well-established among the UK design community. Builders may face challenges in delivering the high levels of rigour for this ‘gold standard’ of low carbon buildings, but they are increasingly grappling with them. Experts believe the cost of building to this level does not need to be prohibitive.
PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH
30
www.sbhonline.co.uk
may/june 2022
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