Climate Change :
It is finally recognised that climate change is a fact. From discussions and agreements made at successive global partnerships starting with the Earth Summit in Rio (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997), the UK government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One part of this is the continuing development of the United Kingdom’s Approved Building Regulations in an effort to deliver improved energy efficient homes. However, just increasing insulation depths and thermal performance throughout is irrelevant if the walls and roof leak warm air out through its fabric and junctions. The regulations seek to ensure that increased thermal performance is matched by efficient homes that are well sealed against air leakage.
Environment :
Climate change is now causing the UK an immediate, obvious concern in flooding. With the Met Office predicting that the change in weather patterns is likely to stay, raising the home off the ground provides increased levels of confidence and financial safety for homeowners.
Green Technologies :
Stilthomes design means that developers can add any of the following green technologies to the basic house solution:
• Sedum Nature Roofs :
This type of roof uses sedum plants – think of heathers and the like, rather than grasses which would require constant maintenance. By design, nature roofs hold some rainwater back in ‘egg tray’ type containments. That is enough to preserve the roof and allow it to thrive, while reducing the amount of rainwater that drains to the ground, which reduces the risk of localised flash flooding.
• Passive Stack Ventilation :
Replacing mechanical fans, passive stack extracts in bathrooms and kitchens work like chimney’s in traditional houses. The vertical pipes through the house draw air from the living spaces, ensuring ‘wet’ air in the bathrooms and kitchens stays in those rooms to be taken up the stacks. Control vents on each pipe automatically adjust to the rooms air conditions to increase or decrease the amount of air being allowed to exhaust. Passive stacks work naturally with no electrical power requirements, so you get reduced bills and no noisy fan whirring away.
• Photovoltaic panels :
Generating power from light, electrical energy is monitored and sold back to the main electricity grid, usually appearing as a credit on your bill*. Your house still draws power from the national grid as normal, so you don’t have to worry about losing power when the sun goes down!
* note – differing electricity suppliers may show this differently, or have alternative arrangements.
• Rainwater Harvesting :
Collected from the roof and stored in a tank in the roof space, rainwater can be used for the WC’s in the house, saving water and reducing your bills.