Following the example of Hockerton’s community wind turbine, which was project managed by HHP, residents of Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire have installed a single 33m diameter wind turbine just outside their village.
This is a local project delivered by the community, for the community, that will significantly offset the village’s carbon footprint. Part of the profit will be used to provide a regular income to the village, as our own SHOCK turbine does, to be spent on local charities and community projects, hence the title ‘Community Turbine’.
We are particularly delighted to see their success as Gamlingay residents attended one of Hockerton Housing Project’s renewable energy masterclasses as part of their initial investigations, and used us as a model of how to deliver a community energy project.
If you are part of a community group looking to deliver a sizeable community renewable energy project in a rural area we would be pleased to assist with your feasibility study, using the support of the Rural Community Energy Fund, or sign up for our next renewable energy masterclass.
Think Shakespeare is boring? Think again!
The Royal Shakespeare Company believes that in order to understand Shakespeare you have to do it! This two day workshop for students in Year 8 and over lets you explore the Romeo & Juliet as actors do – on your feet – in the beautiful setting of Hockerton Housing Project.
Techniques used to explore the story may include:
- Using the natural environment to set the scene
- Use of music and sound effects
- Exploring the use of everyday objects as props
- Script-writing
- Developing back stories
The two day course runs from 10:00 to 14:30 each day. Attendees are asked to bring a packed lunch. Drinks and light refreshments will be provided.
Course leaders
Laura Field and Debbie Yates studied with the RSC as part of their postgraduate studies in the Teaching of Shakespeare. They trained at Stratford and now apply the techniques across various settings including a regional Shakespeare festival and a performance at The Swan Theatre in Stratford. As alumni of the RSC they continue to train and have the facilities of the company’s expertise.
Laura is a drama teacher in various schools, providing tuition for all ages up to GCSE English. Laura owns the Spoken Word studio which specialises in developing people’s confidence in speaking publically, LAMDA tuition and tuition for people who need to improve their spoken English. Laura is also a LAMDA examiner.
Debbie was head teacher of a school in Nottinghamshire until 2 years ago. She now lives at Hockerton Housing Project and is developing these courses in this wonderful setting. She is also LAMDA trained and has a Grade 7 in the Speaking of English from the RCM.
Most importantly they both enjoy engaging with children of all ages and seeing them gain in confidence.
An air pressure test on a building is a way to measure the air permeability of the building, or put simply, the rate at which it leaks air, and therefore heat. The less heat a building loses, the less energy is required to heat it.
To perform an air pressure test, the following steps are carried out:
- All “designed” ventilation (the openings in the building fabric that are designed to be there, e.g. windows, doors, extract fans, etc) is sealed;
- A fan in an air tight lining is fitted into the main doorway of the property;
- The fan is powered up until it maintains a constant excess pressure of 50 Pascals;
- The rate at which the fan is then working defines the air permeability of the building, which is measured in cubic metres per hour. A minimum score of 10 (the lower the air permeability the better) is required under current building regulations for new build houses.
All properties being retrofitted are having air pressure tests carried out before the retrofit work commences, and then again afterwards to see what improvement has been made.
Our properties were air pressure tested today and actually scored well for 1940’s houses; one achieved a score of 9.36 (slightly better than current new build standards) and the other 10.6.
Below is a video of the air tightness testing on one of the houses.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y_uZnamrfM]
Our target for the retrofit is to get those scores down to at least 5. Our homes at HHP scored an average of 1 when tested just after they were built. With air permeability rates this low, you need to mechanically ventilate the building, but this can be combined with a heat exchange unit so that much of the heat in the stale air you are extracting can be used to pre-heat the cooler fresh air you are bringing in. We plan to incorporate a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery unit in the houses as a part of the retrofit, but more on that another day …
For the thermal imaging tomorrow, the internal temperature of the properties needs to be at least 10 degrees celsius greater than the external temperature. Given that the vacant property has been unoccupied for at least two weeks and therefore unheated, this poses a bit of a problem, as it is currently colder inside than outside – when we went in there today it was 10 degrees inside, and about 13 outside!
This problem was further exacerbated by the fact that the gas supply has been disconnected – not a long-term problem as we’re removing the gas central heating system as a part of the retrofit – but it would have been nice to be able to whack on the gas boiler overnight in such a thermally poor property.
So we had to resort to electricity. A minor problem was that there was a £50 debt on the keycard meter, so we had to pop down to the local Post Office to clear that and add some credit to cover our heating need. It was then time for an electric heater amnesty at Hockerton (OK, the secret’s out; even we heat our houses occasionally. But with the sun being strong for at least the last week our houses are now back up to 20+ degrees internally, and the heaters are well and truly back in storage for at least another 8 months).
So having rounded up about 20kW capacity of heaters, our next problem was that the house only has two ring mains (the kitchen and the rest of the house), each with a capacity of 8kW, so we couldn’t even deploy them all!
Anyway, we got about 12kW of heat output running at about 2pm, so hopefully by 10am in the morning the temperature inside the house will be 10+ degrees above that outside; I’ll be there early to check though …
Here’s a quick video of the heaters in action; apologies for the poor video quality – a new camera and a new operative – but I promise the video quality will improve!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R15PXY2mw6E]
Do you want to cut your energy bills?- Would you like a more energy-efficient home?
- How can your home achieve a better Environmental Performance Certificate?
- Do you want a greener life at little extra cost of effort?
Saving energy in the home is a book written by Nick White in association with HHP. Nick has been a member of HHP since the start of the construction of the homes in 1996. He contributed to the self-build and has led the development and marketing of the Project’s on site ‘eco-business’ since 1998. Now with this book, Nick offers you straightforward and achievable strategies for reducing your energy bills and living a more environmentally aware life. With lots of useful tools to assess your energy and carbon use, Saving energy in the home gives practical advice on everything from heating homes to managing those teenage consumers.
