We’re looking at windows at the moment, and trying to work out what will fit into our budget while giving us the best possible insulation effect (U-Value). The PassivHaus standards state that our windows should have a U value of <= 0.8 W/m2K, so we’re going to try and get as close to that as [...]
Posts Tagged ‘retrofitting’
28 Jan
PassivHaus Building with SIPs – Structural Insulated Panels
Looks like our dream house may be an as-PassivHaus-as-possible extension of a traditional 3-bed semi. So now I’m looking at how we make that happen. One of the things I’ve come across are Structural Insulated Panels. Essentially these are a thick “sandwich”, with two wooden panels separated by a thick layer of insulating foam. One of [...]
3 Jan
A Passivhaus (Passive House) renovation?
The picture on the left is a thermograph – showing the difference in lost heat between a conventional house (on the left) and a house built to PassivHaus standards (on the right). Which house would you rather be living in when Russia cuts gas supplies? The PassivHaus standard, as interpreted for the UK by the [...]
23 Dec
Underfloor heating or radiators?
Assuming we’re not going to be at the point of only heating one room anytime soon, how do we heat the whole house? Traditionally I’d have said easy – just radiators. The hot water can come from our wood-fired range, topped up with Solar hot water and our emergency Gas boiler. But I’ve always had [...]
19 Aug
The view from the peak
Having recently awoken from a consumerist daze to realise that – duh! – oil is a finite resource, and that none of its replacements can produce even close to the same amount of energy, I decided to blog our efforts to reduce our energy consumption, ideally wean ourselves off direct & indirect use of fossil fuels as [...]
