The government has launched a public consultation on its proposed new building control regulations. Environment minister Phil Hogan announced the new rules last year following the high profile failure of the Priory Hall development in Dublin to meet fire regulations, but details have just been released.
Leading Irish timber frame manufacturer Cygnum is launching a pioneering closed low embodied carbon panelised building system that integrates cellulose insulation.
The Precision system has been developed by the company to drive down the costs of a building system that’s becoming increasingly popular due to its thermal performance, healthiness and low environmental impact.
Fuel poverty has “come of age” in the last 3 years and great strides have been made in understanding the scale of the problem, Christine Liddell, professor of psychology at Ulster University, said in her keynote address to the Energy Action conference in Dublin Castle on Monday, 6 February.
Citing British research as an example, she stressed that any investment made in tackling fuel poverty would be recouped by the state.
Construct Ireland this week wrote to every local authority in the country to ask whether they follow Department of Environment advice to request building energy rating calculations at an early stage in the construction of every dwelling. The advice is designed to help ensure homes comply with Part L of the building regulations, which deal with energy efficiency.
Last year, the department told Construct Ireland that only eleven of the country's local authorities follow this "best practice", which was suggested in a circular letter sent out by department officials in 2009. The letter read:
"There is a possibility that some completed dwellings with be found by Building Control Officers (BCOs) to be non-compliant with Part L. This presents a practical difficulty in that remedial action may be difficult and expensive to achieve. In order to avoid such a situation, it is considered that best practice from an enforcement point of view would be for BCOs to ask for the Deap calculations at an early stage in the construction process. It will be readily apparent from the Deap calculations as to whether the design of the proposed building is fully compliant with Part L."
Hi all, it's been a ridiculously long time since I've updated the blog for various reasons, sorry about that. More normal service should resume now. Here's a few interesting links to get things kick-started again.
What lies beneath — Ireland's septic tanks Ireland After Nama
Activity map of Ireland's unfinished estates, 2011 Ireland After Nama
Fibreglass company threatens to sue blogger (interesting story) Green Building Advisor
Top ten air leaks in existing homes Green Building Advisor
A net zero energy campus in New York city Green Building Advisor
Bigger houses, smaller energy bills: can it be done? Reuters
In the US, the energy efficiency of a house could soon be factored into a home's value Los Angeles Times
Plans to combat global warming by painting roofs white could backfire Guardian
A ground breaking performance-based advertising system developed by
green building and upgrading magazine Construct Ireland has been
nominated for an innovation gong at the Irish Magazine Awards.
The bold offer means companies advertising green products and services
in Construct Ireland don’t have to pay for adverts until they receive a
pre-agreed number of reader enquiries.
Here's our semi-regular round up of links that might be of interest. Have a good weekend everyone.
The 2011 Solar Decathlon — which challenges US university teams to build solar-powered homes over a week — is under way. Follow their blog and Twitter updates. Here's a video tour of just one of the projects.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7GPeEY9dYM 500x400]
Building a school from plastic bottles for $10,000 good.is
Is green building really for everyone? Green Building Advisor
Do hybrid solar thermal-PV panels increase efficiency? Jetson Green
The cost of solar PV technology continues to drop Jetson Green
Seven green building blogs you should be reading Centre for Alternative Technology
Timber frame self build: an empowering journey in sustainable building skills Centre for Alternative Technology
Thoughts on a sustainable human ecosystem The Oil Drum
Peak oil — now or later? Energy Bulletin
Is this "zero net energy home" a model for mainstream housing in the future? Treehugger
Heating expert Des Flynn of RVR outlines the importance of weather compensation in boiler systems.
Weather compensation is a control strategy which is used to adjust the heat output of a boiler in proportion to the outdoor air temperature. This is generally implemented by adjusting the setpoint of the central heating flow temperature so that the flow temperature increases as the outdoor air temperature decreases. This is shown in the following graph.
Heating systems are designed for worst case weather conditions. In Ireland the outside design temperature will be between -3ºC and -10ºC depending on the location. The central heating flow temperature required at the design temperature is usually about 80ºC.
However the average outside air temperature during the heating season is much higher than this. In most locations it is about 8ºC. Under these average conditions the higher central heating flow temperature is not required.
The weather compensation system monitors the outside air temperature and adjusts the central heating flow temperature accordingly.
Flow water temperatures are kept as low as possible resulting in higher system efficiencies. There is a particular benefit when weather compensation is used with condensing gas boilers as the efficiency of the boiler is greatly increased.
The efficiency of a condensing boiler is dependant on the return water temperature. The lower the return water temperature the more efficient the boiler.
When the combustion products are below their dew point of about 55ºC, the boiler is in condensing mode and its’ efficiency increases almost exponentially. Weather compensation is of advantage in systems where high temperature heat emitters such as radiators are used as it allows the system temperature to decrease sufficiently for the boiler to condense.
A boiler which heats radiators and is not fitted with weather compensation will rarely be in condensing mode and will have a much lower efficiency than a boiler which does.
Comfort is also enhanced as the output of the Central Heating system automatically adapts itself to the weather conditions. This results in a reduction in ON/OFF cycles of the boiler.
An important aspect of weather compensation is ensuring that any hot water demand is satisfied at a higher temperature if the boiler is running in weather compensated mode. As domestic hot water is usually heated to 60ºC, high temperature boiler water is needed to do this. To allow this, boilers can use a feature called “Hot water priority”. This is achieved by having separate flow and return pipes for the central heating and the domestic water heating tank. When there is a demand for hot water heating from a water heater thermostat or sensor the boiler diverts the flow to the water heating tank, gives priority to hot water heating and raises its flow temperature to 80ºC until the hot water demand is satisfied.