Tiger Woods? Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 I am disgusted by how poor EA prepared details of housing - few seem to know if a house has an internet connection, what the house is built from, whether it has cavity wall insulation, etc, etc, that it would be great turning up with one of these. Jeez TMT, what do you expect?! It's not as if they get paid £5000 for letting you in through the front door and lying to you about everything... Oh, wait a minute... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number79 Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 borrow one from a fireman ...or you could go to the police station and ask if they can get a police helicopter to fly over the place for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashinmattress Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 ...or you could go to the police station and ask if they can get a police helicopter to fly over the place for you You'd have to tell them you suspect a hydroponics lab in your attic though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Cholmondley-Warner Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) The most efficient 'shape' is of course the sphere by volume, with a cube way down the ladder. The reason you live in a cube is because that is what we've all become accustomed to in Britain and most of the west. There are other ways to affect the heat loss in your home beyond loft insulation, and lets be clear, all you are doing is preventing heat loss, no matter what systems you put in place. So many people are convinced that their double glazing and loft insulation are making them save money, yet the walls between the windows and doors are nothing more than void spaces. One can install a heat exchanger, which is not too expensive. Put in a humidifier system. As I said before, one can install mass in the house which is going to store energy, such as granite near a window. Black or dark curtains, etc... ground source heat pumps for a new build, ring main heating, wood burners, refuse burners....there are a multitude of things you can do. Turn down the water temperature, turn down the thermostat, open/close doors and windows as required, etc... The cost of energy is going up, so we've been told, unless you've had your head buried in the sand... We are running out of indigenous energy very quickly and have been net importing energy for more than a decade. Our wise government is spending almost nil on energy infrastructure, instead handing over the reins to foreign corporate and state interests, and feeding taxes directly to banks, the euro coffers, etc... Sheesh, do you own homework, I don't know why I'm bothering but... Do you think that Russia, Norway, and the Middle East are all of a sudden going to see Britain as the victim and start gifting us energy? BTW: I work in the UK oil and gas sector and have an idea of what's going on out there. While a sphere may be most efficient from surface area but not cost efficient to build and you end up with a lot of wasted space. I note your suggestions, btw you are going to need a big lump of granite if it will be of any use, might take a up a bit of your living room On a serious note payback on renewables such as GSHP is so long without feed in tariffs it is difficult to justify and probably pretty pointless for an existing house unless you cam mix with other technologies to improve building thermal performance and airtightness, you would also need to have underfloor heating with GSHP. Ring main heating needs to be part of district heating system with large numbers of houses to make viable, these tend to run on gas by the way, biomass is not proving as efficient as they would lead you believe. Heat recovery only really works if you can seal the building to stop the heat loss and tie into whole house ventilation systems. I am not trying to knock you per se but the comments were a bit of a blanket statement and these are not always suitable . It is a still good idea to to look at lowering your energy consumption but need to be realistic about return on outlay. For existing home owner wood burning stove probably a good bet (if you can get cheap supply), insulate as much as possible, solar tubes if you get enough sun for hot water. are prob best bang for buck Of course as energy gets more expensive these other solutions may become more viable. I work in the construction industry so do have knowledge of this stuff. I am aware of the decline in fossil fuels, it was a serious question though, how you assess doubling of energy prices every two years? Edit: I attach link to document prepared for Scottish government on building low carbon homes (new build). It is a long document but page 75 has table showing payback periods. As I said as energy costs rise payback will change but it should be noted the embedded energy in making the stuff will also go up http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/234359/0064168.pdf Now if you have the money and just wish to secure supplies of electricity or heating in the future, that is a different matter Edited June 16, 2011 by The_Dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 This is all well and good fpr home owners. But what about renters? The LL isnt going to give a shit of the council tax of their renters goes up, they wont pay for the works to be done as it will eat into their proffits. And it would be silly for a renter to spend potentially thousands to insulate someone else property. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number79 Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 This is all well and good fpr home owners. But what about renters? The LL isnt going to give a shit of the council tax of their renters goes up, they wont pay for the works to be done as it will eat into their proffits. And it would be silly for a renter to spend potentially thousands to insulate someone else property. Rents to fall for houses with big energy taxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I wonder how much these cost and whether it owuld be worthb investing in one when going to view houses? Enough to stop my OH from letting me buy one. EPC doesn't use one though so you have no idea of knowing how good the cavity wall & dg is without further inspection (And apart from one of these cameras I don't know how you check the CWI is done ok.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 A totally unworkable, stupid idea (what a surprise). They can f off if they think they can come into my house and poke around, and trying to measure heat loss from the outside is so completely open to other factors that it's impossible to tell. If I was lucky enough to have my own patch of woodland and wood-fired heating then so bloody what how much I use? Does anyone look at that energy efficiency crap when they buy anything, from light bulbs to houses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthe~ Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 A totally unworkable, stupid idea (what a surprise). They can f off if they think they can come into my house and poke around, and trying to measure heat loss from the outside is so completely open to other factors that it's impossible to tell. If I was lucky enough to have my own patch of woodland and wood-fired heating then so bloody what how much I use? Does anyone look at that energy efficiency crap when they buy anything, from light bulbs to houses? I am sure that people like Huhne would be able to get out of this tax, by paying a poor person to say they live in his house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1swellfoop Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 A totally unworkable, stupid idea (what a surprise). They can f off if they think they can come into my house and poke around, and trying to measure heat loss from the outside is so completely open to other factors that it's impossible to tell. If I was lucky enough to have my own patch of woodland and wood-fired heating then so bloody what how much I use? Does anyone look at that energy efficiency crap when they buy anything, from light bulbs to houses? One thing I hadn't realised until I looked at the EPC for this monstrosity http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18837195.html is that the "Energy Efficiency" of a building is based on some calculation of overall size of building, not on something meaningful, like energy per person living in it. So a building with 5 bedrooms that needs a 135 kWatt heating system http://www.zenexenergy.co.uk/Zenex1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15:tindale-towers&catid=10:case-studies&Itemid=22 can get an award for "Sustainability" http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sitelines.co.uk%2Fdocs%2F27430.pdf&rct=j&q=tindale%20towers%20energy%20award&ei=WiX7Tb-yNc6xhQehho2VAw&usg=AFQjCNGyFbVvCRQBo5XEzjyOeXsWpCVALw&cad=rja . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 ...you could fill the home with more bodies, preferably working ones, should give off plenty of heat...the only down side is the fuel required to feed them but is more tax efficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmonitor Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 (edited) So the eco friendly home with its profligate family that need a mini solar power station on the roof (eg. the Camerons) and even then have two grand in power charges will be given a rebate whilst Scrooge shivering in his castle paying a hundred quid a year will be hit for extra. Edited June 17, 2011 by crashmonitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1swellfoop Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 One thing I hadn't realised until I looked at the EPC for this monstrosity http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18837195.html is that the "Energy Efficiency" of a building is based on some calculation of overall size of building, not on something meaningful, like energy per person living in it. So a building with 5 bedrooms that needs a 135 kWatt heating system http://www.zenexenergy.co.uk/Zenex1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15:tindale-towers&catid=10:case-studies&Itemid=22 can get an award for "Sustainability" http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sitelines.co.uk%2Fdocs%2F27430.pdf&rct=j&q=tindale%20towers%20energy%20award&ei=WiX7Tb-yNc6xhQehho2VAw&usg=AFQjCNGyFbVvCRQBo5XEzjyOeXsWpCVALw&cad=rja . To put this in perspective, we live in a large 50's 5 bed house, and have a 25kW oil boiler as our only heating. Since this is an older building, despite me adding all the extra insulation (cavity wall and roof) that I could, my EPC will probably be D or E, despite the building using less than 20% of the energy of the "Sustainable" B rated building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmonitor Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 (edited) To put this in perspective, we live in a large 50's 5 bed house, and have a 25kW oil boiler as our only heating. Since this is an older building, despite me adding all the extra insulation (cavity wall and roof) that I could, my EPC will probably be D or E, despite the building using less than 20% of the energy of the "Sustainable" B rated building. Not to mention the fact that you have saved the planet loads of CO2 by not f**king about with the property in an energy efficiency drive. i reckon the Camerons must have needed a power station station just to power the manufacture of their modifications to their pre- Downing street property. Edited June 17, 2011 by crashmonitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerinako Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Time to build my hobbit home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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