Low Carbon House
South Lanarkshire College has won a Business to College Award for the second year running. The College won this year's award for "Innovation” for its work with Dawn Homes and 50 business partners on designing and building the Aurora, an affordable low-energy low-carbon house - the first in Scotland to be built by a mass house builder. Congratulations to all those involved.Just a few days before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, launched the first affordable, low-energy, low-carbon home at South Lanarkshire College, East Kilbride.
Linda Fabiani, MSP, sponsored a debate at the Scottish Parliament on the project. To see the full members' debate, click on the link.
http://www.holyrood.tv/popup.asp?stream=http://vr-sp-archive.lbwa.verio.net/archive/040310_members_business.wmv
Aurora Low Carbon House Partnership
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. 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. For a full list of sponsors, please use the link on the right.Training Facility
The low-energy house exceeds building standards requirements likely to come into force in 2013 and then in 2016 by which time all new housing will require to be “net-zero-carbon.It leads the way as a blueprint for eco-friendly house 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 achieves a “D” rating and even most new housing usually 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!
Angus Allan, Depute Principal at South Lanarkshire College said:
"At South Lanarkshire College we aim to prepare real people with real skills for real jobs. It is important that we take account of likely changes in industry so that we can prepare students well 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 very 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."
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.
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.
Home of the Future
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 achieves a “D” rating and even most new housing usually 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!Martin Egan, Managing Director of Dawn Homes said at the launch: “Rather than adapting our current portfolio, we have taken The Aurora right back to the design stages, integrating the principles of the Code for Sustainable Homes 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 will become a necessity following the implementation of the Code for Sustainable Homes legislation in Scotland in the coming years."
Please click on the link to see the design of the Aurora low carbon house. Low Carbon House 3D Diagram
During construction several innovative techniques and technologies were employed, many of which are still uncommon in the UK, making it 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, 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'. For further information, please click on the link to the factsheets.
The four-bedroom detached house is fully scalable, allowing smaller or larger properties and semi-detached or terraced styles to be produced as the market demands.
Monitoring
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.
