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New BOI mortgage rate for home energy upgrades
Bank of Ireland has launched Ireland's first "green equity release" loan. The new mortgage feature allows customers to unlock equity in their home to invest in energy efficient home improvements.
Homeowners with SEAI grant approval for their home improvements can now avail of the bank’s LTV mortgage rate of 3%.
GB Shaw's rotating hut election policies on housing China plans megacity
Inside George Bernard Shaw's rotating writing hut
Linking you up with some green building and energy stories:
What could today's passive house designers learn from George Bernard Shaw's rotating hut? Treehugger
Is sustainable design wearing thin? Guardian
China to create world's largest mega city Infrastructurist
Can straw bales be used to insulate under a concrete slab? Green Building Advisor
Future housing supply in Ireland — for some interesting commentary from the Ireland After Nama blog about the Construction Industry Federation's call for new house building, see here and here.
As the election approaches, where are the parties' policies on housing and planning? Ireland After Nama
The Canadian ancestry of the passive house Treehugger
Profile of a passive house in Wisconsin Metro Hippie
Modern Rwandan education centre made with local materials Inhabitat
Dwelling airtightness in Ireland: where we are, and where we're going
A blower door test being conducted at Jer Rynhart's super air-tight Wicklow home — the house has an air changes per hour rate of 0.11
By Gavin O Se, NSAI certified airtightness tester, certified passive house designer and BER assessor with Greenbuild
Recent issues of Construct Ireland have featured houses that have been to the very best international standards of airtightness: eg Jer Rynhart's house in Wicklow and Tim O'Donovan's house in Cork, both of which had just a fraction of an airchange under standardised test conditions.
At the same time as these super-airtight houses are being built, the latest draft Part L of the Building Regulations is proposing to lower the air permeability rate for new dwellings from its present level of 10 m3/(hr.m2) to 7 m3/(hr.m2).
I was quite disappointed ― though unsurprised ― to learn of the new maximum airtightness level. It set in process a train of thoughts, the result of which is this article, in which I will look at:
• Where are we in terms of airtightness and airtightness testing?
• Where are we going?
• Where do we stand internationally?
Fuel poverty conference to hit Dublin on Feb 7-8
The pioneering energy charity Energy Action is set to hold a two-day fuel poverty conference in Dublin Castle on 7-8 February.
“The introduction of the carbon tax on fuel costs in 2010 has
further exacerbated the health and monetary problems for the fuel poor,”
said Energy Action general manager Charles Roarty. “Due to low income
and possibly debt these households will not have the funds needed to pay
for retrofitting measures, even allowing for SEAI’s Home Energy Saving
scheme grants.”
Termites trump human know-how on green building
Mankind can learn more about cutting energy consumption and carbon emissions by studying insects than by engaging in a space-race approach focused on high tech answers, leading Irish architect Seán Harrington writes in the new issue of green building and upgrading magazine Construct Ireland.
Creative houses from reclaimed stuff
Builder Dan Phillips tells a TED conference conference in Houston about the unique houses he's built with salvaged and reclaimed materials. This is funny and fascinating.
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Ghost estates manual pays lip service to sustainability
By Sadhbh Ní Hógáin
Managing and Resolving Unfinished Housing Estates is a consultation manual published by the Department of Environment late last year. It identifies unfinished housing estates and outlines the health and safety issues surrounding these unfinished developments.
The report says that the over-supply in key metropolitan areas is not extensive and should improve in the short to medium-term. However, part completed or part occupied developments in areas with a weaker housing market may prove problematic.
The main proposals outlined are to complete unfinished housing estates identified by the National Housing Development Survey, ensure compliance with health and safety legislation and identify the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders.
The report proposes that a team from each local authority maintain an up to date register of housing developments. This is a positive step, but the key responsibilities of the team should be widened to include the environmental assessment of housing developments.
While it is a positive step by the department to ensure the health and safety of unfinished housing developments, it is important to consider the long-term sustainability and environmental impact of finishing these estates. The report’s main aim is the “delivery of sustainable communities...and sustainable development...”, however there is no definition of sustainability. The three pillars of sustainability — the environment, the society and the economy — should be outlined and used as a basis to evaluate unfinished housing estates. The environmental impact of unfinished housing developments should be considered in terms of promoting sustainable living. A review of demand for housing, the existence of adequate local public transport and the availability of jobs and amenities within a locality are key to sustainable living. No alternative solutions are proposed for sites in areas with a weaker housing market.
The site resolution plan for problematic developments in areas with a weaker housing market should be extended to include the wider environmental impact of completing these developments. For problematic sites the focus should be promoting sustainable solutions. Although the environmental cost of demolishing a development may prove high in the short-term, the long-term environmental cost of completing developments in areas with low housing demand, poor local employment and poor public transport outweighs the short-term cost. This analysis should be included in the forward planning section of the report to promote sustainable low energy communities.
The report’s proposals are based on the National Housing Development Survey (2010). This survey was crucial to identifying unfinished housing estates. However, the report should extend this survey to include technical surveys of all unfinished estates. These surveys should include a review of services, access, safety, structural defects and a review of the quality of the housing stock with a focus on energy and carbon. This survey should focus on developments in areas with a weaker housing market to determine the value and viability of completing them.
Based on the extended survey a cost-benefit analysis should be carried out. This analysis should be used to evaluate the cost of completion — including upgrading the dwellings to a low energy standard — versus demolition of these developments. The analysis should include provision of adequate local public transport, the provision of amenities and the existence of a local job industry. Demolition of sites should be carried out where sites do not satisfy this analysis.
The report is a positive step to ensuring the health and safety compliance of occupied and part occupied unfinished housing developments. However, it would be enhanced if it examined the environmental impact of these developments. The report would also benefit from a detailed cost-benefit analysis which should include the economic, social and environmental costs of completing developments with particular focus on areas with weak housing demand.
Sadhbh Ni Hogain is a structural engineer working at EOS Future Design. She recently completed a MSc in advanced environmental and energy studies from the Centre For Alternative Technology, Wales.
William McDonough's Chinese eco-city
William McDonough is arguably the world's most famous green architect and is the father of cradle to cradle design. Here he is describing one of his planned eco-cities in China. Keep watching until the end, it gets good. This is taken from McDonough's Ted talk. There's a longer version of it here.
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Green building trends for 2011 going off grid should cold homes be illegal?
Happy new year to all Construct Ireland readers. We're getting right back into the swing of things here with a new issue due out before the end of the month. Here's a few interesting stories you might have missed over the holidays.
Six green building trends to watch for 2011 Jetson Green
Ten more (slightly US-centric) trends for 2011, also from Jetson Green
A review of green technology in 2010 Guardian
Largest postwar prefab estate set to be demolished Guardian
Following on from Mark Stephens's blog posts for us on going off grid, here's another guide from Green Building Advisor
How one US town is dealing with the problem of vacant houses New York Times
Should dangerously cold houses be illegal? (I'm going with yes on this one) Treehugger
From the Ireland After Nama blog, a post on the "true extent of Dublin's functional urban region", and a series of interesting-sounding papers on the future of Dublin city
More...
China's ghost cities building on floodplains (again) Grand Designs passive house
Here's some linkage for y'all.
Think Ireland's ghost estate problem is bad? China may have up to 64 million vacant homes Sustainable Cities Collective
The UK is backtracking on plans for a green bank Guardian
Clare councillor wants to build on floodplain. Will we ever learn? Ireland After Nama
A striking renovation and extension project in Kentucky gets Leed Platinum status Treehugger
The most popular design and architecture posts of 2010 Treehugger
Crossway, an eco house featured on Channel 4 TV show grand designs, meets the passive house standard Green Building Advisor
A US perspective on using EPS to insulate foundations Green Building Advisor
Interesting analysis of the government's new greenhouse gas emissions targets Irish Economy
CI exclusive: Ryan dismisses reports of energy grant cuts
Government grant schemes for energy upgrade measures such as insulation, heating controls and renewable energy systems are running as normal, energy minister Eamon Ryan TD has told Construct Ireland. The minister said that €99m is set aside for the Greener Homes scheme, Home Energy Saving scheme and Warmer Homes scheme in 2011.
Renewable energy in Ireland grew 15% in last 4 years
Renewable energy in Ireland grew by an average of 15% per annum from 2005 to 2009 driven largely by a significant growth in wind energy of 28% per annum in that period, according to SEAI's latest Energy in Ireland report. Last year also witnessed a steady trend towards lower energy prices in Ireland for both domestic and business energy users.
Off grid living, part five effluent disposal
This is the last in a series of blog posts by the architect Mark Stephens on going off grid. The full series can be found here.
A flooded percolation area is a serious health hazard
Welcome to this final blog post on living off gird, which focuses on the safe disposal of any wastewater from a house not connected to a public sewer.
This topic is probably the one that Ireland has the most experience with (both good and bad), due to the lack of sewerage infrastructure once you leave the main towns and cities. There are currently around 500,000 on-site wastewater treatment systems in Ireland, and many are believed to be contributing to groundwater pollution due to poor design, maintenance and lack of regulation over the years. The EU recently ruled against Ireland for this, and the mandatory inspection of such systems is expected to start within the next year.
This is also the one topic that will cause the most problems if you are looking for planning permission on a new house or more particularly the renovation of a ruin or abandoned house.
So let’s have a little look at the history of effluent disposal in modern times.
Septic tanks
The traditional septic tank would have been a concrete single chamber system — the outlet would have simply been piped out into a ditch that drained into the next field.
One problem arising with these systems is that frequently the farmer working the field would fill in the ditch, causing the effluent to start backing up. Then you could find yourself standing in a field slowly submerging in crap (this has happened to me on numerous occasions). A system like this also provides little treatment of effluent.
An article by Lenny Antonelli in issue twelve, volume four of Construct Ireland discusses precisely this problem and the bacterial ha�zards that are created.
The next stage on from a single-chamber septic tank was the dual chamber (again constructed in concrete). This system allows the solids to settle, with the second chamber taking the overflow which then exits the tank in a similar way. The same problem described above will also occur if the overflow effluent isn’t treated correctly. It’s therefore essential that a proper percolation or polishing filter system is designed and constructed within the curtilage of your own site.
Proprietary effluent treatment systems
A proprietary effluent treatment system utilises some form of aeration or mechanical purification/digestion before the wastewater exits the system. If properly designed for your site conditions, these systems can treat the effluent to a high standard, but consideration must still be given to what happens to wastewater when it enters the field. Most of these systems will require an electricity supply, which will add to your energy usage (and some may say goes against the off-grid ethos). One advantage of such systems is that it is possible to test and verify the quality of the effluent as most of the treatment is done in the unit itself, whereas with septic tanks more of the treatment takes places in the soil itself, making testing of final effluent difficult for these systems.
Composting toilets, reed bed systems etc
The principle of the composting toilet is straightforward — the solid waste goes into a separate section to the liquids, and the solids then dry and become first-class manure for the land. To create this compost requires a bit of time away from human contact which thereby breaks the cycle of the pathogens. Another option is rapid hot composting where usually sawdust or straw is added in order to kill all the known pathogens to humans in hours. But it will typically take about six months for compost to be available in dry conditions, longer if it is outdoors in a damp location.
Another popular way of percolating any waste in the ground is via a reed bed system, which is a natural solution that works ideally on a site with a fall where any effluent trickling through the reed bed is cleaned by micro-organisms living on the root system. Micro-organisms here break down the sewage in the presence of oxygen (ie aerobically). Your site will need to be physically suitable for a reed bed, and you may have difficulty convincing the planners that your system will work.
Planning
Any new effluent treatment system, either for a new house or a renovation will require planning permission. It is often thought that because a house was previously on the site (say for example, a wreck with no septic tank) you will have a better chance of obtaining planning permission. But I have seen many a dream quashed when planning is refused because the ground on site wasn’t suitable. The rules may be relaxed a little if the house already has a septic tank - a proposed upgrade may be acceptable if it improves treatment even if it doesn’t exactly meet the Environmental Protection Agency's Code of Practice. But you will find it harder to convince planners about any new system that falls outside the remit of the EPA Code of Practice.
If you're looking to install a new effluent treatment system for your new build or renovation project, start by contacting an experienced engineer or similar professional who can advise on the most appropriate system design for your site.
So that’s it, my take and discussion for living off-grid. With the country currently in economic turmoil, maybe living a simpler life not connected to electricity, water, sewerage etc doesn’t seem too mad cap after all.
Special thanks again to Nick Rosen's book How to Live Off-Grid.
Mark Stephens
ARB RIBA MRIAI is a UK and Ireland registered and chartered architect specialising in sustainable, unique designs.