|
Just a few days before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, John Swinney, Cabinate Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, has launched the first affordable, low energy, low carbon home at South Lanarkshire College, East Kilbride. The low energy, low carbon house "Aurora" is the result of a successful and unique partnership between South Lanarkshire College, Dawn Homes and more than 50 private sector partners, including NIBE Energy Systems Limited. It showcases the low-energy technologies and high insulation levels capable of reducing energy use and energy bills to zero while contributing towards challenging government targets to reduce greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. The low-energy house exceeds building standards requirements that are recommended to come into force in 2013 and then 2016/2017 by The Sullivan Report: "A Low Carbon Building Standards Strategy for Scotland". It also leads the way as a blueprint for eco-friendly construction and will provide a unique training facility in the UK to teach students the principles behind low-energy buildings.
The house is one of very few to be built that easily achieves the highest possible energy performance rating - an "A" rating. Currently most older housing only achieves a "D" rating and even most new housing usually only achieves a "C" rating. It is expected that with the technologies embedded in the design, this particular house may actually generate more electricity than it consumes. So in addition to potential energy savings of up to £1800 per year the owner of a house like this could receive a net income by selling electricity to the national grid! The team behind the development are going to monitor the energy produced and the energy consumed over the next few years and will produce real-time information on the houses' performance. Any saving in energy use is good news not only for consumers but also for the social housing market where the provision of low-cost, energy efficient properties is key to solving fuel poverty.
Cabinent Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, John Swinney, said:"I'm delighted to have had the opportunity to visit this exciting project, a flagship development representing a vision of our homes for the future, looking to 2020 and beyond. Scotland has the most ambitious and comprehensive climate change legislation anywhere in the world, and moving to low carbon homes is a necessity if we are to achieve our world-leading targets."
To produce this affordable low-energy home a sensible holistic design approach was adopted, from the design of the timber frame and placement of windows, to the inclusion of heat recovery units and a rainwater harvesting system. During construction many innovative techniques and technologies were employed, making this a first for the housebuilding industry. The low-energy house incorporates photovoltaic panels, solar hot-water panels, an air heat recovery system, a ground source heat exchanger (supplied by NIBE) low-energy heating systems, one third of the air leakage of a typical new house, a rainwater harvesting system, energy-saving light tunnels on the upper floor and water-saving sinks and baths. When operational it will "be net zero carbon". The four-bedroomed detached house is fully scalable, allowing smaller or larger properties and semi-detached or terraced styles to be produced as the market demands.
Martin Egan, Managing Director of Dawn Homes, commented on the launch: "Rather than adapting our current portfolio, we have taken The Aurora right back to the design stages, integrating the principles of sustainability to produce a property that is truly low carbon from the foundations up. Part of our "Green Living by Dawn" concept, The Aurora is the first step towards producing affordable and eco-friendly homes for the mass market and, in particular, the social housing market where the energy efficiency savings it offers a very real solution for fuel poverty.
We believe that The Aurora is the house of the future and therefore we are delighted that it will be helping students at South Lanarkshire College who are very much the house builders of the future.
The Aurora at South Lanarkshire College will be used as a training facility to meet the imminent and emerging needs of operatives in the construction industry. With integrated cut-away sections and models demonstrating technologies, construction approaches and insulation materials that would otherwise be hidden below ground or behind walls, the facility offers a unique insight into design features that could help inform future building regulations."
Angus Allan, Deputy Principal at South Lanarkshire College:
"At South Lanarkshire College we aim to provide the best possible education and training experiences that we can. It is important that we take account of changes due to take place in the industry so that we can prepare students for these changes. This low-energy, low-carbon house demonstrates to students the insulation levels and low-energy technologies that will bring down energy use and energy bills in domestic housing to almost zero, in houses such as this, in the near future. We think that Dawn Homes and all the sponsors have produced a fantastic house that is sensible in design and very attractive from the point of view of minimising energy bills. We think that this house may actually generate more electricity than it consumes and it could therefore provide income for the owner by selling electricity back to the national grid!
Students and staff at South Lanarkshire College and Glasgow Caledonian University will be able to access live, up-to-date data and information from the house for use in project work and dissertations. We are extremely grateful to all the sponsors of the project for their enthusiasm and contribution to making this project such a success. It is an excellent example of private companies and a local college working together to mutual benefit."
The Aurora will be monitored by Glasgow Caledonian University to produce live data on the low levels of heat loss and the contribution that micro-renewable energy makes to energy flows into the building, providing statistical evidence of the effectiveness of the eco-friendly design. |