The International Energy Agency IEA says:
Global CO2
emissions are expected to decline by 8%, or almost 2.6 gigatonnes (Gt),
to levels of 10 years ago….. six times larger than the previous record
reduction of 0.4 Gt in 2009 – caused by the global financial crisis – As
after previous crises, however, the rebound in emissions may be larger
than the decline, unless the wave of investment to restart the economy
is dedicated to cleaner and more resilient energy infrastructure.
In its new 2020 review.
Just to update you on what is happening or not happening at
Hockerton at the moment! Our tours are cancelled now until the beginning
of June(we hope). We have added in an extra date on Saturday July 4th
which is obviously a provisional date.
These can be all booked via our website with this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sustainable-living-tickets-15018178777?ref=estw
New live offers
We know that nothing is quite like visiting Hockerton for
yourself and experiencing the site and the homes. We have been thinking for some time of
alternative ways people can ‘visit’ so that more people can enjoy the
experience and learn from the innovation that is Hockerton HP. The recent challenge of Covid 19 has
clarified our thinking on this but we hope it is something that many schools
and students can use in their future learning as well.
We are offering a live tour of the project for groups followed and if they wish, with a zoom session. If you are interested contact us via email at contact@hockertonhousingproject.org.uk .
Resources for Schools and Universities
For
schools or universities unable to make a visit or travel to Hockerton Housing
Project, we are now offering a new Remote Educational Package. This package
includes:
- A Skype tour with a HHP resident, covering areas
within Wi-Fi range i.e. resident homes and solar panels.
- A DVD or USB stick with video explanations
covering of all of the site’s design features and footage from the BBC’s
‘Inside Out’ programme. Please see our example Wind Energy summary video below.
- A package of infographics covering HHP’s design
features and further processes.
- Worksheets aimed at GCSE students to be
completed whilst watching the explanation videos.
The areas of GCSE and A level syllabus coverage is
detailed in the Education brochure. https://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Hockerton-Housing-Project-Education-Brochure.pdf
Resources for students and children at home
We are also encouraging students who are interested in
sustainability in any way to access our videos these can be found on the
website. For primary aged children years 5 and 6 we would suggest they
follow the link https://hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/sustainable-living/co-housing/
and look at The Green Pioneers Open University video. If anyone wanted to
then have a zoom meeting to talk to us about climate change or what it is like
to live here we could set that up afterwards. They would need to express
their interest in this by following this link: mailto:contact@hockertonhousingproject.org.uk.
What did you feel went well/was
useful/made you think? EVERYTHING from Hockerton! Your whole run-down on its history, original
techniques (and changes since due to research and new technology). You gave excellent stats, as ever, but MORE
than in the past, which were most interesting, especially full building costs
of the two newer apartment blocks. I know that a number were almost incredulous
at the figures which you gave. Even more
of this in detail might be worthwhile.
We need ever more HARD and provable facts. It was great that you told us straight,
that labouring and work input of yourself and the Hockerton team was input as
part of the cost, at full external rates; that immediately put a stop to anyone
thinking that all such costly work was excluded and so the £1,350 per sq m was
a bit of a fudge! That sort of thing, to
my mind is vital, as there are all too many, who will love to find fault with
your figures, which MUST be fully defendable!
What did not go so well
or needed improving? Due to inclement
weather, we could not spend as much time out seeing services (in a bit more
detail) as is usual. This would add more
than your albeit very charming friends from elsewhere.
Please give a brief review of the day for publication on
our web site? (If you answer here
are you happy for us to add your name to the post?______)
Another wonderful, stimulating Master Class at Hockerton!
Simon, Nick and Deb, you put on an excellent day of top-line tutorial on
cost-effective autonomous house design and construction, which, in its
fundamental science can be applied to a whole range of house and building
types. You are aware that I was commissioned
in 2008 to project manage a PPS7 type house (now a para 79 house, under the
current NPPF). I asked my commissioned architect
to attend one of your then Master Classes with me; she applied the science of
Hockerton to our project (a stunning stone-faced mansion of 17,000 sq feet),
which was designed (and audited) to perform, together with all its services, to
Hockerton standards. As a result of
this, our project application was passed by the Planning Committee 13 to 1 in
favour and only the second such house in history to be passed without going to
appeal.
Nick Woolley February
2020
www.woolley.co.uk
Thanks for the great feedback Nick.
Book now on an HHP Master Class by contacting us.
Spring is just around the corner and if you are thinking
about pruning your apple and pear trees before the sap rises, we are running a
training course for you. The tutor is Marc Richmond who prunes many of the
orchards around her . Last year his training day was extremely good and is
highly recommended. You can book onto our pruning course
here on the 8th February.
My son Luke is organising a workshop on soil health in
conjunction with the Land Workers Alliance in Leeds so if you are north of here
this might be one for you. The event will look at how we can improve soils and take
a problem-solving approach. Visits to two local farms in the area will take
place the Sunday in conjunction with the LWA. Book here on soil
health 1st February.
We are running a course on Sustainable Living at Hockerton Housing
Project 7th March and places have nearly all gone so do consider
booking soon if you’re planning to come. Book now on
Sustainable Living.
Later in the year there is a farm hack events
in Meanwood urban farm, Leeds. Here you will need an idea to make some
equipment for a farm/small holding/allotment or share a skill with others. A
skilled tutor with a load of equipment will facilitate making your idea if
appropriate. This will happen over the weekend of 6th March.
Every 2nd Tuesday of the month people are
gathering in Southwell to discuss positive “green” actions. Meeting in the
Admiral Rodney around 8pm please join Green Drinks then. The next
meeting is 11th February 2020.
If you have a group that wants to visit Hockerton Housing Project
you can design
your own tour and set the date. We also run remote
tours especially suitable for schools who have limited budget and a lot of
children. These include a live “skype” tour around a house with one of the
project members and a package of specific films on various topics with activity
sheets.
We are running a repeat of the very successful peg loom
workshop we ran last year. Here you will make a natural wool rug and take home
the loom to make as many more as you wish, please contact us for
more information. 22nd February 2020.
And finally if you want to know more about us our shop has a
sale on with all our book
chapters reduced to 50p each, loads of good detailed analyse for you.
We have a climate emergency to tackle and tactics start now!
Simon
Long term solution to carbon storage with oak heat battery houses.
The start of 2020 seems to be a good time to envisage the
future. What will housing look like in 2100? How will we build low impact, warm
houses that also act as a carbon store? We have understood super insulation
combined with thermal mass and passive design is key to achieving warmth
through the winter and “coolth” in the summer but how can you do this and deliver
low impact and a carbon store? Here is a vision of how we might achieve these
things….
I hope we will tackle
the climate crisis swiftly and decisively this year and over the coming years.
Part of this will include a massive tree
planting campaign which will absorb carbon, create wildlife habitats and oddly
a dilemma. For the carbon absorbed by these trees to be truly removed from the
atmosphere the wood will need to be kept rather than let rot back into the
ground at the end of the tree’s life. I have been considering how in the future
we might achieve this and solve some of the housing need questions raised
above. In the following discussion I’m going to assume the benefit of high
internal thermal
mass is taken for read as we have covered this in depth in other articles.
I was quite surprised recently to discover that the specific heat of wood can be more than that of concrete. This could mean we can substitute high density wood for example oak for concrete in our high thermal mass housing design. (Light bulb moment!) The wood would need to be grown and in doing so would absorb carbon from the atmosphere. (And create wonderful wildlife habitats.) By using this wood in the construction of houses we would be locking up the carbon for many extra years as houses should last a very long time.
What would a high thermal wood mass, super insulated house
look like? The penalty of using wood instead of concrete is that the density of
oak is about a third of that of concrete. This means more of it would have to
be used inside the insulated envelope to store the same amount of energy. However,
because it has a higher specific heat than that of concrete the net result would
be that about double the volume would be required. The sacrifice here would
possibly be lower internal floor space however this effect could be mitigated
by using more wood in the floors and ceilings. In effect the house could be
very similar to the Hockerton Houses but with a slightly smaller floor – area
may be 6% less.Of course, the practicalities of building in oak rather
than concrete would be quite different and the material supply chain would take
a long time to become sustainable. The benefits of substituting oak for
concrete would be enormous though.
To finish let me emphasise that I am not suggesting building
timber frame houses out of oak with insulation within the walls as this would
not be able to store heat. A heat
battery for a house needs to have internal mass surrounded by insulation on
the outside of the building envelope. The configuration I am proposing is a
thick oak structure with insulation outside this with no cold bridges of oak or
any other material across the insulation layer.
Some of the background detail: Specific heat is basically a measure of how much heat energy a material can contain. The density is how much of a material you can fit into a certain space. The heat figure ranges I saw for concrete were 840 J/kg·K to 1800 J/kg·K (Kodur, Properties of Concrete at Elevated Temperatures, 2014) and for wood the range was 1300 J/kg·K to 2500 J/kg·K with oak being 2400 J/kg·K (EngineeringToolbox, n.d.). This makes oak a third better than the best capacity concrete. Obviously the density of these materials plays a role as well so for completeness a high density concrete might be 2300 kg/m3 (Guo, n.d.) The density density of oak varies but typically English Brown Oak is 740 kg/m3 (EngineeringToolbox, n.d.). So, comparing concrete and oak by volume, one cubic meter of concrete could store for each degree of temperature rise 4.1MJ and wood 1.8MJ. (The arithmetic 2300 x 1800 = 4.1x 106 and 740 x 2400 = 1.8 x 106). Our explanation of how heat battery works can be found three videos down. A pine building product of cross laminated timber (CLT) is available and is well understood. CLT has the ability to store heat if configured correctly but is less dense than oak.
Incidentally I would encourage you to become a member of the Woodland Trust to help support tree planting initiatives. HHP is a member of the charter branch network. Hands up here my daughter now works there! Hockerton Housing Project has become a tree charter group and is focusing on planting trees where it can. Come and see what we have done on one of our Sustainable Living Tours of the project.
Our HEAT BATTERY is explained in a new video click here. Can oak be used as a thermal store? Click here Oak as a thermal battery
I will be discussing how sustainable houses are delivered in
Westminster on the 29th January. Please come and join the event. Other speakers
include:
· Lord Best, Social Housing Leader, House
of Lords
· James Harris MA MSC, Policy and
Networks Manager, Royal Town Planning Institute
· Barry Goodchild, Professor of Housing
and Urban Planning, Sheffield Hallam University
· Anthony Probert, Programme Manager, Bioregional
· Stewart Clements, Director, Heating
and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC)
· Dr Steffie Broer, Director, Bright
Green Futures
· Rene Sommer Lindsay, Urban Designer
and Strategic Advisor, R|S|L|ENT
· Simon Tilley, Director, Hockerton
Housing Projects
· Emma Fletcher, Chair, Swaffham
Prior Community Land Trust
· Mikhail Riches Architects
Thanks for listening your comments
would be welcome!
Simon Tilley
Mr S Tilley, CEng MEng MIMechE
Director, Hockerton Housing Project Trading Ltd
NOTES on the Climate Crisis:
National Geographic: Sea level rise, explained:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/sea-level-rise/
BBC: Australia bushfires north of Sydney ‘too big to put out’:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-50690633
BBC: Hundreds of temperature records broken over summer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49753680
38 Degrees: DEFRA consultation on Environmental Principles and Governance after
the United Kingdom leaves the European Union: Summary report of responses from
80,826 members of the public collected by 38 Degrees:
https://files.38degrees.org.uk/items/files/000/002/653/original/DEFRA_environmental_bill_consultation_-_submission_report.pdf
References
EngineeringToolbox. (n.d.). https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-capacity-d_391.html.
EngineeringToolbox. (n.d.). https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html.
Guo, Z. (n.d.). https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/concrete-density.
Kodur, V. (n.d.).
Kodur, V. (2014). Properties of Concrete at Elevated
Temperatures. International Scholarly Research Notices, 2014, 468510.
Retrieved 1 2, 2020, from https://hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2014/468510