simpleenergy: January 2010

I have mentioned zero carbon homes a couple of times on this blog.

The first one I mentioned way back in July 06 was the Earthips made from recycled materials. See article. The problem with Earthships is that they are lot of work to build.

This problem is solved by the land arks and garden arks that I wrote about in in July 09. See article. The arks are ready made and can simply be placed anywhere. The problem is that are very small and will never be a realistic replacement for the average family home.

Luckily ZEDFactory, the company behind the land ark has a solution, the RuralZED. An upgradable 3 bedroom house that is a pleasant realistic family home. It ranges from from level 3 to level 6 on the code for sustainable homes. Level 6 is the maximum level and is assigned to true zero carbon homes. The RuralZED can even surpass level 6 becoming carbon negative by using a vertical axis wind turbine to produce an excess of electricity that can be sold back to the grid.

The name RuralZed comes from rural in reference to the fact that 70% of UK homes are in rural low density setting of less than 50 houses per hectare and ZED (Zero Energy Demand).

The feature and technologies in the full level 6 house are very impressive: -

Southern side of the roof covered with 21 180 Watt PV panels

2 Water heating solar thermal panels

Vertical axis wind turbine

Northern side of the roof is green using sedum

Northern side of the roof used for rain water harvesting for non potable water

Wind catchers to continually supply fresh air in all rooms

Air sent to rooms warmed by heat exchangers that reclaim heat from outbound air.

Internal materials include stone and high density wood for thermal mass

All light fittings use LED's

All taps use aerating low flow fittings

Entire house uses 300mm of rockwool insulation

AAA high efficiency appliances such as an induction hob