RuralZED zero carbon homes

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

Entire southern house is a pleasant glazed sun space allowing solar heat capture

Passive heating of space and water can be augmented by wood pellet burner

The house is REALLY nice

The company site is here

Here are some pics: -

Ecotricity vs EDF

EDF are running a 'green britain' campaign at the moment to support a national renewables awareness day. Leaving aside the debate as to whether their mix of coal and nuclear can be considered green, what's really cheeky is that they nicked Ecotricity's logo for it:

www.guardian.co.uk

zerocarbonista.com

Npower and british gas are having a dig as well, claiming they are green every day of the year. Let the greenwashing begin !

LandArks zero carbon off grid homes

Off grid zero carbon homes are about the most environmentally sound lifestyle choice you can make. Producing their own electricity and collecting and filtering their own water they have virtually no impact environment whatsoever.

The last time I wrote about zero carbon homes that could be completely detached from the grid (water, electricity, drains) it was Earthships. These homes are made of recycled materials (tyres, aluminium cans, etc) and adobe. They user solar energy (photo-voltaic and thermal), thermal mass and reed bed water filtration. and are very cool.

However Earthships are a quite large investment in time and effort to build. If you are looking for a simpler zero carbon off grid home solution then LandArks or GardenArks could be the perfect choice. These homes are easy to construct kits that can be built by the buyer or the company and have the following design features: -

• They are made of wood sourced from FSC managed forests with cavity insulation made from sheep's wool.
• They have a curved living green roof that has a greater surface area than the land taken up by the Ark itself and can be planted with species that match the local grasses, heathers, etc. This roof makes the Ark far more pleasant to look at allowing it to blend in with the landscape, produces oxygen, insulates the Ark and acts as a rainwater collection and filtration system.
• Power is generated by a rotatable solar array and a wind turbine.
• The Ark can be connected to the grid to allow it to use grid electricity when it is not producing enough and to sell electricity back when it is producing too much.
• The Ark is raised off of the ground which provides thermal insulation and also minimises the damage done to the land when the ark is built or removed.
• The Ark contains a log burner for heating and cooking.
  
• People wanting a larger home could have multiple arks joined together.

The Ark comes in two sizes, The GardenArk is perfect for a place in a large garden, a home office, spare bedroom, etc. Here are some pics including two I took at the Hampton Court flower show.







The LandArk is a larger building that can be used as a holiday home or primary home. Ideal for a group of friend wanting to buy some land and creating a small eco community. Here are some pics.





The Company site can be found here, good information can be found here and here is a page from the Grand Designs show website.

Tesla Model S

At last an electric car that would not look out of place in any motor show rather than looking like a plastic roller skate. The Tesla model S: -

225 miles/charge
0-60 mph in under 6 seconds
$60,000

Here is the pic


Read about it on The Register

or Road & Track

SkyCar

An expedition is being mounted this year to drive from London to Tombouctou. The big difference is the expedition will use a Biofuel powered flying car. The car is a 2 seater buggy with a huge fan on the back that can fly by deploying a large paragliding wing. They are also hoping to make a production model by 2010. This will offer the performance of a sports car and a light aircraft and I WANT ONE.

http://www.skycarexpedition.com/index.php

Algae, Man's New Best Friend

Algae Soaking up CO2 and acting as a source of hydrogen, biofuels and cash: -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/23/biofuels-energy

Very interesting

Greendex

A green index has been prepared by national geograpic that details countries' attitudes towards green issues. Not surprisingly, the USA came last, and India and Brazil came first.

You can also calculate your own index here:

http://event.nationalgeographic.com/greendex/calculator.html

Mine was 65 - I'm sure that's beatable as we have a car and a disabled child who needs ferrying to various groups ! Stick a comment on with your score !

Silliest idea ever

This one actually works though. UPS now plan their routes in the US so that they make right turns in preference to left turns. This means they spend less time waiting to cross the flow of oncoming traffic and therefore use less fuel. Over the entire fleet this seemingly daft idea has saved them 30 millions miles and 3 million gallons of fuel. Scarily that implies their vans only do 10 miles to the gallon - even taking into account the smaller US gallon they should be able to improve on that.

fun fun fun

Quad biking is quite fun - now you can get electric quad bikes !

http://www.evtworld.com/atev_atev28.asp

tescos

Tescos are clearly seeing $$$ in the whole 'carbon' thing - they are starting to lable some of their products to show the suspected environmental impact of them. Full story here

Zoom zoom zoom

Nice bike (there, I said it):



It's an electric scooter - and for once, someone's come out with electric transport that isn't crippled and hideous. OK, the top speed is 100kph - but it's a scooter; they're usually speed limited to less than that anyway. 0-50 in 3.8 seconds. Range is a little low at 110Km, but for commuting to work or running errands in town it would be ideal.

The video on their website ( http://www.vectrix.com/live/uk.php ) is quite interesting; the number of parts in the bike is about a tenth of an equivalent petrol powered bike; I've not found anyone willing to divulge a price yet though !

Why can't we be like the Swedes?

Sweden's carbon-tax solution to climate change puts it top of the green list

Low Energy Lighbulbs

Huraah!!! I have finally replaced the last incandescent bulb in my house. The reason I took so long is that it was connected to a dimmer switch which have been a real problem for low energy bulbs. Homebase have finally started selling dimmable low energy bulbs made by a company called Varilight.

The bulb was a lot more expensive than an ordinary low energy bulb (£11.99) but I had wanted to replace the incandescent bulb for a long time and I expect the price will start to drop sooner or later. The bulb works pretty well with the dimmer although it take a significant fraction of a second to adjust so if you change the dimmer to quickly the light increases or decreases in sudden steps.

Overall the bulb is good but I think the price needs to come down before they'll really start selling.

Cool Looking Zero Emission Car!!!!!

The subject of why alternative fuel source cars look like plastic bricks has come up a few times on this blog. Antony is particularly passionate about the subject, often flying into extreme rants and demanding answers that we all want. This post should provide warm fuzzy feelings and calm all of our doubts about whether a cool looking car can be ever be environmentally friendly.

That great manufacturer of classic cars Morgan has developed a new vehicle it has called the Morgan Life Car (to be unveiled this month at the Geneva Motor Show). The Life Car motor is powered by hydrogen fuel cells and so only emits water. The Life Car itself however emits an look of classic elegance and style. The specs are not too bad: -

22KW motor
150 mpg
250 miles per tank
0-60mph in 7 seconds
100mph top speed.
50% energy recovered from regenerative braking

The Morgan Page is here
The BBC story is here


Now the pics

Air Powered Car pt2

I while ago I posted a story about a French design for a compressed air powered car read it here.

BBC news have done a story on the development. The car should be on sale within a year and may cost as little as £2500 for a 5 seater. It can be refueled from a compressor in 3 minutes or plugged into a domestic supply overnight and refuel with an onboard compressor in 4 hours. It can also burn various liquid fuels to preheat the air increasing it's range.

The company MDI is planning a range of products from sales of the actual motors, through a range of small cars and even including buses. Their website can be found here.

Read the BBC story here.

Here is an artist's impression of one of the small car models.

Cycling in London

London is about to receive a £500 million investment towards improving cycling in the city. The scheme will include 6000 hire bikes. These will be available from docking stations where users of the scheme can unlock them, use them and then place them in another docking station when they are finished. This is similar to the Velib scheme in Paris shown below.




The scheme will also include 12 new cycling routes as well as clearly marked bike zones linking parks, waterways and key destination around the city. The aim is 5% of all journeys in London being made by bike by 2025. Personally I think that 5% in 17 years is pretty unambitious and that it will take a hell of a lot more than £500m to change the way Londoners travel. However I have seen the system in Paris and it was very popular so it may take off (assuming Londoners don't steal or vandalise all of the bikes).

Renewable Suber Grid pt2

In August 2006 I wrote a post about a plan for a renewable energy super grid covering Europe and North Africa read it here.

The plan is now going ahead. The company behind this is the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Company (TREC). The plan is to build commercial concentrated solar power stations in North Africa that would sell electricity to Europe while simultaneously desalinating sea water as a by product of energy production.

Germany and Algeria have already reportedly signed a deal to lay cables stretching as far north as Aachen on the German-Belgian border. read more here.

Excuse me my good man this wine is errr.....bagged.

One of the areas of environmental concern that is thankfully gaining increased attention is the carbon footprint of food production and distribution. Many producers are now starting to reduce packaging in their products while retailers are starting to make more local produce available (there is still a very long way to go but it is a start). Now changes are coming to that most traditional and civilised of packages, the wine bottle.

Australian producer Wolf Blass have started to use PET plastic bottles while Banrock Station are using my least favourite packaging the infamous Tetra Pak. However the prize for ingenious packaging must go to Arniston Bay with their resealable bag. They claim the bag uses 80% less of a carbon footprint than glass bottle. It also uses 90% volume in landfill (for those too damn lazy to recycle) and can be taken to public events where glass is not allowed. All this may be true, it may also be a good thing but it does not bode well for the traditional images of the snooty wine waiter, the dust covered bottle in a musty wine cellar, the scrunch of a champagne bottle in a silver ice bucket or the homeless person reduced to drinking blue nun or black tower from a bottle inside a brown paper bag. Oh well here is a picture: -

new battery tech

Silicon nanowires have been used in a lithium battery to increase the capacity by a factor of ten - should lay waste to the 'milik float' arguement against electric cars.

hybrids, solar and google

Google are getting into the renewable energy market by investing (through google.org) in solar, and in hybrid cars.

here's a link to the stats on one of their hybrid cars - this one has been fitted with an extra battery to improve performance.

http://www.google.org/recharge/dashboard/car?car=Machu%20Picchu&evy=3&evd=20071128&evt=000000

Note the MPG is a rather pathetic 54.4 - which is about what we get from our petrol C2. Shockingly the average MPG for an american car is 19.8 - this presumably is why the americans think the Prius is great, where as the rest of the world views it as a waste of space, or more charitably, a testing ground for mass production and marketing of electrically powered cars. Some little diesels can get at least /double/ the milage without the complication and cost of having batteries and generators on board.