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Eco-friendly houses are not only beneficial to the environment, but they are
also more convenient and can save your family money. Creating and designing a
house that is more efficient and cost effective doesn't mean that you have to
live in the wilderness, it just means that you have to be more conscious of your
consumption and waste.
Eco-building - 8 areas to consider
Geo Thermal Heating
1. If we start from the ground up, you’re going to need foundations, drainage,
maybe a “fosse septique” (septic tank). Therefore, one option for you could be
Geothermal heating. Depending what type of ground you have, you may be able to
benefit from domestic hot water and central heating provided by heat taken from
the ground by a “Ground Source” Heat pump. These pumps “gather” heat from the
ground from a series of pipes either laid horizontally or, through a large loop
buried deep under the ground where the temperature is always at around 17°C. The
benefits of this are that for every 1kW of energy you use, you produce four
times as much energy in output. There are also reverse cycle heat pumps that can
cool in the summer so it may be possible to combine the two.
2. Still at ground level, you can install a rainwater recuperation system, all
water from your gutters can be captured and stored in a large underground tank
to be filtered and used for flushing toilets, washing machines and showers etc.
In certain areas of South Eastern France this is already obligatory with every
new build. To economize on water costs, particularly when there is a water
shortage, can be very advantageous. It’s not enough to store rainwater for
watering the garden when so much of it is on hand for other uses.
3. Foundations are in, but before the floors go down, more pipes could be
installed to provide under-floor heating. This is a very effective way of
heating a property as it requires a much lower running temperature than a
conventional radiator system. If you intend to use alternative heating methods,
air or ground source heat pumps, wood-burners, solar heating etc under-floor is
the only sensible way to go. At just 30°C, an under-floor heating system needs
less energy production to heat your home compared to conventional radiator
systems and is better suited for coupling with alternative heat sources.
4. Walls are going up so, insulation, insulation, insulation! The more you shell
out on insulating your property, the less it’s going to cost you to heat it.
There are many construction methods used when building from scratch, so you need
to take a good look at what’s on offer and decide which the best option for you
is. There are recycled materials that offer incredible insulating properties,
including natural products such as straw. Your choice of insulation may depend
on where you are building and what method you are using. There are grants for
installing windows, doors and insulation so take your time and choose wisely.
5. The main buildings done so what about power? So many people are investing
huge amounts of money in “PV” (Photovoltaic) solar panels. However, to produce,
for example, an electrical supply of 12kW, you would need nearly 100m² of
panels, this makes for a long term investment of at least 20 years. It is much
more practical to equip a new build with as much as possible running on 12
volts. Certain appliances are not readily available in 12 volts, and certain
items can work by using transformers, but either way, if you reduce the amount
of power you need, it will cost much less initially and your pay back is much
quicker. Wind or water turbines are an excellent provider of power if you are in
the right place and have the room, sizes and outputs vary from 200 watts up to
several megawatts, certain domestic turbines rated at 5kW can produce over 12kW
of power in some cases but if you intend on selling your surplus power back to
the grid check out what is on offer. PV panels installed IN a roof, (solar
tiles) produce power bought at 0.55centimes per kW hour, whereas power produced
by panels ON a roof is bought at 0.38centimes, while, wind turbine power is
bought at 0.08 centimes. According to EDF the total payout for the year is
comparable to PV panels.
6. When heating a new home people’s choices vary. The design and construction
technique may dictate the type of equipment used and in France there are still a
huge amount of people using wood as a fuel, either from their own property or
from a local supplier. Some new wood burning boilers are capable of burning
anything at all from logs to sawdust. Pellet burning stoves are popular but do
require quite a large amount of space. The better models are very clean burning
and can be adjusted to run at over 95% efficiency, which makes them a viable and
renewable option, particularly when using these types of machines with an
alternative source such as solar panels.
7. Using recycled materials in any building project can be fun and save you a
fortune, some may not consider trawling around scrap yards or brocants and
haggling in their best “Charabia” (Pigeon French) an option but for those of us
that are happy to do so, bargains can be found and you would be amazed what is
out there. If you are in a restricted or sensitive building zone you may not
have as much choice, but for gates, railings, timbers, natural stone, canal roof
tiles and other architecture, mixing old with new can not only save you money it
will also enhance the outlook of the building if done properly.
8. Waste is a growing concern for everyone. Depending on the size of your
project there are ways of reducing your waste or using it to produce energy,
including, environmentally friendly toilets that use a type of soil or natural
product to turn you waste into fertilizer. You can produce methane from waste
(if you have enough of it) to run generators, and let’s not forget the good old
compost heap, all your kitchen waste can put nutrients back into the soil so
even if you are not a keen gardener you can reduce what you throw away.
There are more and more renewable energy solutions in France every year, new
technologies and revolutionary breakthroughs are available for everyone. So, why
not take a trip along and see how and what can be incorporated into your next
project and take another step further towards joining the “Renewable
Revolution”.
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