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The ultimate green house... with heating bills of just £70 a year
Winds are howling, radiators are blasting, and many of us are dreading those astronomical winter fuel bills.
But Geoff and Kate Tunstall are feeling smug after commissioning what looks set to be the most energy-efficient house in Britain.
Their annual heating costs should be around 70 a year thanks to a pioneering build that combines British construction techniques with German technology.
Their new home in Denby Dale, near Huddersfield, is set to be finished in February and will be the first Anglicised version of the German Passivhaus.
Instead of complicated design and expensive bolt-on renewables like wind turbines and ground source heat pumps, Passivhaus creates a simple "tea cosy" effect.
It relies on simple design, orientation towards the sun, careful construction and insulation 15 times greater than required by Government building regulations to ensure almost complete air and wind tightness.
No draughts can get in and no heat can leak out of the building, but the air is never stale, thanks to a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system that brings in fresh air from outside, which it can warm using 99 per cent of the heat from the outgoing air.
The Green Building Store in Huddersfield suggested the design and is managing the build that uses a German computer software package to measure air tightness and energy efficiency.
Project manager Bill Butcher says: "You can buy a Passivhaus flat pack from Germany, but the materials are completely different. They use a solid wall and stick polystyrene insulation on the outside of the house.
"They don't fit into the local streetscape here, builders here aren't familiar with them and planning can be an issue. This Passivhaus is the first to be built using British construction methods with blockwork, a cavity wall and stone cladding.
"We use the Passivhaus principles and what's important is quality control and detailing on site. Everything has to be monitored from beginning to end to make sure there are no gaps."
The three-bedroom property is being built in the garden of the Tunstalls' Victorian cottage and is being created on a tight budget of 140,000.
But the couple will enjoy a 90 per cent reduction in fuel bills and will rarely have to put on their fire or underfloor heating.
Warmth generated from the sun through windows, body heat and cooking is usually all that is needed to heat a Passivhaus. "There are 15,000 in Germany and Austria and we went to look at one after Green Building Store recommended it.
"We were so impressed. They are ordinary, modest homes, nothing flash. It was minus two degrees outside but the house was warm and it is healthy and comfortable to live in," says Mr Tunstall, a retired art and design teacher
"They're also very cost effective to run, which is important to us because this is a house we are retiring into."
Bizarrely, the house won't score top marks on the Governments Code for Sustainable Homes register because points are awarded for renewables like solar panels and woodchip boilers. But it is being closely monitored by the construction industry.
Building to this standard costs around 15 per cent more, but the savings for its inhabitants and the planet are enormous.
Both Mr and Mrs Tunstall and the Green Building Store are hoping that the Yorkshire Passivhaus will provide a blueprint for the future of housebuilding in Britain.
n To follow the progress of the Yorkshire Passivhaus you can read Bill Butcher's blog for Building magazine at www.building.co.uk or see www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/denbydalehouse
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
