Climate Change Series: How to cut carbon out of your heating, P6
- Shidonna Raven
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Shidonna Raven, Chief Editor
& Laura Cole, BBC
November 16, 2020
Source: BBC
Photo Source: Unsplash,
This Year we are bringing you Our 12 Months to 12 Climate Change Goals & New Habits Series. The series is designed to help you begin making simple and easy habit changing goals that can have a huge impact on your pocket and the environment, you are leaving to your children. We hope that you will be inspired to make your own Climate Change Goals and share them here with the community.
Climate Change can seem daunting as a whole, however, we are many. When we each make our own contribution, we believe these add up to huge numbers. Be inspired, encouraged and most of all enjoy yourself. Involve your children and help start their own space online where they can engage in Climate Change Habits.
We recently brought you the Cooling (Homes/Buildings/Office) Series for the July & August Climate Change Habit Changing Goal to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, This change can have a huge impact on Climate Change and is important Habit for Corporations and Community (Individuals) alike.
September is all about EnergyEfficiencies (at home, in the office and other buildings), which can have a huge impact on the environment. In September the 12 Month Habit forming Climate Change Goal is Solar Panels. Even if you decide to go another route, we invite you to learn more about Solar Panels. Solar Panels are having a huge impact in states and locations like California, that lead in such energy efficiencies. Choose carefully, in some cases Solar Panels have other environment impacts, some associated with production and longevity of usage. Heating and cooling can require a huge energy load depending on where you live and the weather differential.
Enjoy this Series, Apply what you have learned here and share the Journey with the community here by making posts and submitting photos and video to us. It could be featured on our eZine here. Also be a Climate Change Community Champions and share with your community and help empower them to make New Habit forming Climate Change Goals also in the community you share.
Insulation and passive designs
After draught proofing, insulation is the most important way to cut back on carbon.
At its most extreme is a rigorous sustainability energy certification called “passive house”. The movement has its roots in 1970s American architecture, when the energy crisis meant homes were designed to maximise as much as possible on insulation and “solar gains” – the free heat that comes from the sun.
“It was a case of necessity becoming the mother of invention,” says Julie Torres Moskovitz, who completed the first certified passive house in New York. Growing up in the 70s, she remembers colouring-in exercises about how to save energy during the crisis at school. “Energy has always been a theme for me,” she says.
To achieve passive house level of energy efficiency, a home must use below 15 kilowatt hours per square meter for heat for the whole year annually – about a 10% of that used by the average home.
A dog might give off 50 watts while an oven, a refrigerator and electric lights also add to the warmth inside the building
“Virtually airtight” is how Moskovitz describes the requirements of a passive house. “If the standard for insulation are met, a passive house can reduce heating energy consumption of its occupants by up to 90%,” she says.
A passive house needs a high level of insulation, and to eke as much use as possible from the heat available inside. External insulation on the outside of the building is one of the most effective at creating a sealed envelope and avoid “thermal bridges”, which wick heat from warm indoors to cold outdoors. But it can also be the most expensive and, thanks to its change of appearance, runs up against planning permission problems.
There are easier and cheaper options – 10mm-thick insulation can be rolled on like wallpaper to internal walls. “Adding a layer roof insulation is also very easy to do,” says Jones. “A roll of mineral wool to the floor of cold loft space could make a noticeable difference.”
Insulation doesn’t just trap heat from radiators – it also keeps in warmth produced by other sources too. “Each person in the house is going to be giving off 100 watts,” says Justin Bere, a sustainable architect in London. In a 100sq m (1,076 sq ft) three bedroom passive house, it should only require 1kW to heat the building even in the coldest months, he estimates. “So in a family of five you’ve already got half the warmth you need for the house.”
A dog might give off another 50 watts while appliances such as an oven, a refrigerator and electric lights also add to the warmth inside the building.
Bere’s point is that if the house can be fitted to hold onto the warmth inside, there is less need for more from carbon-emitting sources.
While many new builds are being fitted to passive house standards, existing buildings can also be retrofitted with insulation. Bere often uses insulation panels that are as thick as a mattress and are attached to wooden board. These can be drilled on the interior of existing walls. “It means the rooms come in by 10cm (4in) on every side,” he says. “However, most people barely notice the difference in the end, and the added comfort is far more valuable than a few centimetres of wall.”
Jones cautions that making a building too airtight can cause problems when it comes to ventilation. “You really don’t want to encourage mould growth, or create poor air quality,” she says. Installing a mechanical vent that circulates fresh air, while recovering the heat can help here.
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