Minutes of May's Buildings and Energy Group meeting

[George Latham]

Minutes of Buildings and Energy Group   held   Tuesday 17^th May 8-10pm

 

Present:  Tom Wright, Phil Leask, Nick Hartley, Siobhan Cross, George Latham, Armstrong Yakubu

 

 

Actions arising:

 

1)      To produce a leaflet on energy saving (see below).  Nick, Tom, Siobhan.  Chris Wells to help with design.

2)      A talk to be arranged at St.Anne & St. Andrews, Salusbury road, 1^st half of July on the Victorian Passivhaus.  Armstrong & George.

3)      Draughtbusting: Sarah Nichols to talk on this subject.  George to arrange. Work towards launching series of draughtbusting workshops in autumn.

4)      Simplified home energy surveys – NH to report back.

5)      Phil looking into setting up an Ecoteam - http://ecoteams.org.uk/

Next meeting:  8pm, Thursday 16^th June, 20 Hopefield Avenue.

 

NH reported a conversation with Seb Beloe of Berkhamstead TT:  They had done some home energy surveys

(presumably based on a simplified version of the SAP); one of their members was qualified to do this and had trained others. Householders were then referred to the Energy Saving Trust who at the time were offering discounts on loft and cavity wall insulation.  Unfortunately EST no longer do this and are being merged with another quango. They had also produced two leaflets, one on energy saving devices and the other on the financial benefits (or otherwise) of the FIT (Feed in Tariff) for solar PV.  They are planing to work with local estate agents to include energy advice with the home information packs acompanying property sales.

 

(NH said that the current SAP document – 204 pages with 55 for the spreadsheet and notes was impractically long.  A cut-down version should be available – he will research this.  Siobhan was concerned that producing SAP reports might deprive local contractors of the business).

 

GL had made a survey of other Transition group websites, reckoning that the main activities in this area are:

Education, Home energy efficiency, Renewable sources (inc. for schools), Links with local businesses and Audit training.   He reported that Sarah Nichols of Belsize TT was working practically full time on draughtbusting and training others to do this;  ultimately, this is a prime aim: to help create green jobs.

He also mentioned “Ecoteams” (see website), a kind of environmental weight watchers (Carbon watchers?), where local residents come together to aid and abet carbon footprint reduction. The 10:10 scheme

Remains active too.

 

Tom commented that Brent ‘Green Zones’ had been discontinued owing to lack of funds.

 

GL said that Brent FOE were interested in collaborating on a joint meeting on how to access the FIT.

Phil said he had PV panels installed on a SE facing roof by “Ethical Solar” based in Grimsby.  Installation had only taken a day and it was now generating some £20 a week.

 

Armstrong (an architect ) mentioned a Victorian house in Sheperd’s Bush which has been upgraded and accredited to Passivhaus standard (essentially low to zero energy consumption through insulation, solar gain and airtighteness with heat recovery) .  The owner would be willing to give a talk to us on how this was achieved.

 

There was a general discussion on the cost-effectiveness of the various energy saving/ renewable energy generating methods and agreement that draughtproofing and insulation, unsexy as they might be, are far out in front and therefore essential before proceeding ‘up the pyramid’ to more capital intensive projects.

 

NH talked a bit about electricity saving in the home; how the many wallcube chargers, oven clocks, TV recorders consume tens of Watts 24/7 and that can amount to as many £s a year on your bill. ( Solution:

Switch off/unplug/use ‘Intelliplug’ type devices.)

 

It was suggested that we produce a basic factsheet listing ways & means of reducing or eliminating energy wastage, in plain language, for handing out at stalls, meetings etc.

 

GL said that Careen Hertzog is organising the adapting of two bicycles to generate electricity for recharging mobile phones, running a radio, etc.  KTKTT would inherit these. Useful for demonstrating the effort needed for even a few Watts.

 

 

 

Further dates for diaries:

 

Wednesdays 6^th or 13^th July:  film: ”The economics of happiness” by the New Economics Foundation followed

                                                                                                by AGM in the constitutional club next door

Sunday 11^th September:  Queens Park Day inc. TT stall

Friday 9^th October: Harvest festival with ‘Cut-a-Shine’ band (as last year)

Saturday 15^th October: Harvest festival supper.

[Rik Smith]

 

I am kicking myself that i missed the meeting - i do have some things to contirbute

 

• I think you need to advocate caution on the draft busting side of things. reducing drafts does keep in hot air and reduce energy wastage but does increase the humidity and consequential condensation inside - this can leads to mould growth on walls if the circulation of air is reduced too much
  • this is also exacerbated by the previous trend of removing fire places, and the modern trend of air tight double glazing.
  • don't want people blaming us for making their house becoming mouldy and damp (through condensation)
• I have extensive experience with SAP2006 / 2010 having written a dissertation based upon it's use and sensitivities for achieving code for sustainable homes level 5 /6 new properties.
  • PS. Code for sustainable homes level 5 and 6 are far more demanding than passive haus - worth a bit of research by interested parties.

Regards

 

Rik

[George Latham]

Hi Rik

I hope you are able to come to next week's buildings and energy group meeting on the 16th - it would be good to see you there.

I'm sorry that its taken such a long time to reply to your email.  The issue of condensation was raised at the meeting by an experienced architect.  I think that the learning is that we need to make sure that when we are running draught busting workshops, we need to have the right experience and understanding present that can give advice on what to do and what not to do.

Regards

George

 

[Marina V]

Hi, George.

 

Just joined the group.  I am currently a student in the MSc Environmental Technologies programme at Imperial College and am doing my thesis on energy efficiency in housing, so, could potentially contribute to some of the things your group is looking into.

 

In relation to energy savings at home item - it might be worth having a look at the leaflet Metropolitan Housing Partnership has come up with for their residents for these purposes for a start:

http://www.mht.co.uk/documents/Energy%20and%20money%20matters_0109.pdf

 

I am actually doing an internship at MHP in the next couple of months, with one of my projects being taking this leaflet a step further.  Let me know if you have an interest in this at all.

 

Best,

 

Marina

 

[George Latham]

Hi Marina

Are you able to come to the meeting on Thursday? It would be great to have someone with your experience there.

Regards

George

Marina V said:

Hi, George.

 

Just joined the group.  I am currently a student in the MSc Environmental Technologies programme at Imperial College and am doing my thesis on energy efficiency in housing, so, could potentially contribute to some of the things your group is looking into.

 

In relation to energy savings at home item - it might be worth having a look at the leaflet Metropolitan Housing Partnership has come up with for their residents for these purposes for a start:

http://www.mht.co.uk/documents/Energy%20and%20money%20matters_0109.pdf

 

I am actually doing an internship at MHP in the next couple of months, with one of my projects being taking this leaflet a step further.  Let me know if you have an interest in this at all.

 

Best,

 

Marina

 

[Marina V]

George, will try to make it tonight.

 

Regards,

 

Marina

George Latham said:

Hi Marina

Are you able to come to the meeting on Thursday? It would be great to have someone with your experience there.

Regards

George

Marina V said:

Hi, George.

 

Just joined the group.  I am currently a student in the MSc Environmental Technologies programme at Imperial College and am doing my thesis on energy efficiency in housing, so, could potentially contribute to some of the things your group is looking into.

 

In relation to energy savings at home item - it might be worth having a look at the leaflet Metropolitan Housing Partnership has come up with for their residents for these purposes for a start:

http://www.mht.co.uk/documents/Energy%20and%20money%20matters_0109.pdf

 

I am actually doing an internship at MHP in the next couple of months, with one of my projects being taking this leaflet a step further.  Let me know if you have an interest in this at all.

 

Best,

 

Marina