Cover story

Eco-minimalism getting the priorities right

This article came about as the result of two separate thinkpieces echnology is often applied unthink- being developed simul- ingly or inappropriately, and suddenly T our patch is awash with it. Albert The Granada House - Built in 1975 as the taneously by each Einstein said: “Things should be as simple focus of a television series “House for the Future” - With 13 programmes @ one as possible - but no simpler." of the authors. Both technology a week, the house ended up It is so much easier to sell a product looking like a Christmas tree. The solar of them have a long than a process. Never mind the science roof contributed 2% to the annual energy - let’s cut straight to the technology. So input - with heat recovery from the cooker track record of living outstripping everything else - because as well as having the usual carpetbag- the building was superinsulated. (Howard and working with green gers out with their one-size-fits-all, old Liddell was a consultant to the programme products and technologies - re-sprayed and worked on the house with the TV team. design and technology Architect Don Wilson). green, we also have a new bag of goodies and are confronted in that urgently we should start to question. Technical fixes their daily business with Not least because those now interested The most prevalent current eco-clichéd what they have come in behaving more sustainably, who we technology is the photovoltaic. As far as would wish to influence, are daunted and we have been able to establish (after some to see as a number confused in equal measure by the perceived considerable delving and seeking of inde- of ‘eco-clichés’ which complication of something which, although pendent advice) the best available and non complex, should remain inherently clear and partisan estimate of financial payback is 50 can get in the way of simple - Ecological Design and Sustainable years, (does this take into account the pv good, efficient and Construction. grants? -ed.) more common are those that The most ubiquitous sustainability cliché run into hundreds. Ah but .... goes the truly environmentally of all is probably the one about solutions argument ..... once we get bulk demand sound solutions. This being "holistic". It is also probably the and a couple of technological breakthroughs most ignored. What’s needed is to identify the price will come tumbling down. Almost is their plea for some the nature of the problem and undertake too cheap to meter perhaps ....? commonsense thinking effective analysis first, then apply good The authors have yet to see a PV roofed to precede design and quality scientific thinking, without pre- building where the potential for more empting the solution. economic demand side measures has been specification deci- It is not unusual for clients to arrive with fully tapped. Whilst the sexy PVs sit on the sions that cost time, off-the-peg technology as a starting point roof, nothing is done about the phantom for their brief. Photovoltaics currently lead electrical loads of the cordless phone, hi- effort, energy and ulti- the field, closely followed by reed-beds fi, cooker clock, wall clock, TV, video, etc. mately reputations if and then combined heat and power. It There is, for example, a £5 circuit available used to be heat pumps. It is not unusual that will make the fax machine only come on not properly grounded. for clients to start their conversations with when the phone rings. One of the authors Howard Liddell and the suggestion that a heat pump would be has saved half the annual output of his a good idea, even before defining what it is experimental PV with this gismo alone. Nick Grant pique our that they wish to do. If a heat pump is the Then reed-beds - the problem with these consciences.... answer, what on earth is the question? glibly recommended treatment solutions

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is that they are seen as inherently green, regardless of context. The term 'reed beds' covers a wide range of technologies that can be both economic and ecological in the right situation. However their green image often leads to inappropriate specification where, for example, the public sewer or a subsurface irrigation system might have been better. What about greywater recycling for WC Dunning - Straw bale office in Perthshire Tressour Wood House - House of the Year flushing? Similar water savings can be made - with a turf roof at client insistence 1993 - the unheated conservatory was by water efficiency measures but without - conceded when they agreed to grow incorporated into the stairwell - mezzanine strawberries on it. Membrane is latex based. at the landing. This meant that the tempera- the considerable financial and ecological (Gaia) ture regime could vary according to outdoor cost and ongoing maintenance burden. climate and the sitting area would only be Domestic greywater recycling seems inher- Local materials used when comfortable. (Gaia) ently flawed and yet continues to attract What are these - in the city centre? We funding for research and trials usually at presume that the logic is that embodied the expense of eco-minimalist alternatives. energy is strictly related to travel distance. If you live in a dry climate then direct reuse More often than not the industrial process- for irrigation makes sense especially if it ing of materials is the highest component can be achieved passively without pumps of embodied impact. Over the building’s and filters. lifetime, durability, toxicity and efficiency Then there are heat pumps. If the coef- (e.g. energy or water) are likely to be far ficient of performance of a heat pump does more important than the usually, relatively not rise above 4:1 (3:1 is more common) minor impact of initial transport distance. whilst the cost of electricity against gas is 5:1 then, until tariffs change, it is neither Etcetera an economic nor an environmentally There is a similar discussion to be had Windmill House Skive, Denmark - the beneficial technology in most, current UK on many other off-the-peg, one-size-fits- house was one of 9 different experimental circumstances - (they make sense in hydro- all eco-technology solutions, and they will eco-technology houses built in 1977. The windmill became redundant very soon after powered Norway for example). all benefit from project specific review. See commissioning due to excess vibration in the Combined heat and power (CHP) is table below. house. totally scale and context dependent. The >>>>> most appropriate condition for the exploita- tion of waste heat from the generation of electricity is where there is a known and constant 24 / 365 demand - as in hospitals Technical fix Side effects or swimming pools. The critical period Photovoltaics - financial pay back better than 50 years? otherwise is when there is an electrical Heat pumps. 4:1 - versus tariffs electricity-gas @ 5:1 demand but no equivalent and balanced (CHP) - combined heat and power - context dependent. Hot water in summer? requirement for the waste heat in summer. Conservatory (semi climatic zone) - 70% have heaters in? Embodied energy? Hence it has a value mostly as a base load Small windmills - heat churn or storage/battery system? in a hybrid scheme. Active solar collectors - longevity v. pay back period? Most turf roofs are actually plastic Condensing boilers - cheap ones don’t condense. Too Big? roofs with turf on top. They usually add District heating - specific to context, layout and form significant weight to the roof, which then Reed-beds - Issue of context requires additional structural support (ie Grey water recycling - expensive, - who looks after it? more resources than a conventional roof). Living machines - high energy costs, expensive As with many of the items outlined here we Turf roofs - heavier, plastic DPM, furtive aesthetic have been known to build them under client Recycled materials - strength, certification, embodied toxicity? insistence, and after long discussions. Local materials - is it the most appropriate benign material for the job?

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This may appear to be a litany of criti- Manchester or Glasgow for example, the every stage of the process. cism of eco-technology solutions. It is not. need to consider how we might reduce the All of the above will have some circum- demand for the chemical and energy rich stance some time where they have a valid filtration of water to drinking standard is case to make for consideration. But this an issue which is becoming more pressing. article is a plea for common sense and It is easy to achieve cost effective reduction rigour to prevail, and for each solution to in the amount of potable water we simply be the result of clear, efficient and realistic flush away. Also simple is the management analysis. If it makes sound environmental of surface water so that it does not enter and economic sense - then use it, but if it is the drainage system (or flood plains) and merely an unresearched gimmick and it does cause problems at the treatment end. Surely not actually save the planet, save money or we can incorporate these routinely into Leslie Court Fairfield, Perth - Fairfield is generally contribute to the environmental designs (e.g. via SUDS- Sustainable Urban shortlisted for the World Habitat awards. The Sunscoop on phase 7 is based on perma- agenda, then why do it? Drainage Systems). culture principles. The development includes several passive design items. The whole Common sense project was delivered without subsidy at Nature is good at conservation - of yardstick costs. (Gaia) energy, water and matter. It is an exemplar For instance: developing an ongoing of passive design and it looks after its client relationship from start to hand over own economy not just locally but globally and beyond, selecting the right location in (Lovelock’s Gaia principle). the first place, arranging accommodation appropriately on the site, understanding Conservation of energy and using topography, landform and land- Because supply side gets all the media scape, orientating the building to exploit attention (let’s face it insulation is not gains and minimise losses, designing the sexy) it is not easy to convince the fans of Glencoe Floor - the flooring at the Glencoe building fabric so it can deal with extremes the latest fashion in energy generation and Visitor Centre is nail-free - designed for without having to resort to mechanical distribution technology that reducing the easy removal, replacement or reuse by being systems, selecting materials that are benign loose laid and held at the ends by screwed demand may be a good place to start. It is to humans and habitat, putting things battens. (Gaia) a pity that the SAP ratings are inappropri- together in a way which allows them to be ately biased towards bolt on technologies Conservation of resources disassembled for both maintenance and for such as condensing boilers which can earn Much is made of recycling and, whilst it ultimate recycling, minimising the usage of more brownie points than super insulation. is essential to start putting in place more resources, energy and water. Even more significantly they do not yet even effective ways of doing this, there is a To say that this is not rocket science is to tackle structural air tightness in housing. serious limit as to just how much can be risk devaluing the extent to which a good They also take no account of the fact that delivered, and issues of embodied toxicity understanding of scientific principles can after a very short time in operation cheap need to be addressed just as much as issues come into play and be effective in making condensing boilers do not condense. of primary toxicity. We do also know that economies and delivering environmentally The world out there is full of badly we need to design for future recycling or sound and client friendly solutions. But it insulated, draughty buildings bristling with better, reuse. The use of lime mortar does not need rockets. eco-gimmicks. In fact there is an interesting instead of cement enables us to reuse problem in the heating system world. If we masonry for more than hardcore. The use of Materials choice. doubled our insulation, glazed appropri- screws instead of nails allows us to reuse In general terms the nearer to natural ately and tested all our houses for tightness, timber for more than firewood. and the less a material is processed the we end up with a heating requirement for healthier it is likely to be for both humans most houses around the 1.5 kW mark. The Passive design and habitat. Embodied energy is not the industry does not make boilers that small. So much of the ecological agenda can only thing to consider in a material. Most be dealt with by heading problems off at ecolabel systems cover a number of criteria Conservation of water the pass. Many projects end up in solving and these apply through a number of stages Whilst water conservation is not one challenges which are of the client or design- in the life cycle of a material (or product). of the first things that leaps to mind in er’s own making. Mitigation is an option at The danger of many systems is that they

12 Building for a Future Winter 2002/03 Reproduced with permission of the Green Building Press www.newbuilder.co.uk No further reproduction without permission eco-minimalism

reward the easily measurable and ignore the whole ecological agenda in build- and good practice - albeit it often requires the less measurable. This can distort a ings is "daunting"- it is the fact that it is new knowledge and insight to underpin it. balanced assessment. For this reason it is being made more complicated than it need It also needs for us to go back and question as well to seek to establish LCA systems that be. The world is suddenly full of carpet- all the new man-made and often "magical are as simple as possible ("but no simpler"). baggers purveying their eco-goodies and remedy" materials that have rushed into We do need something - it could start with quack doctors with their snake oil remedies, buildings over the past four decades. a mandatory declaration of contents - as in whilst the populace is still insufficiently Howard Liddell - Gaia Architects the food industry, because the UK building knowledgeable about the nature of the Nick Grant - Elemental Solutions products industry is far less open to the status quo to be able to resist. All photos courtesy of Gaia Architects real greening of products and has shown a The advice therefore is simple. Trust preference to date for the rhetorical green- your common sense, do the straightforward washing of what they already produce. thing first and be wary of strangers bearing Local economic benefit. If a project is gifts. to benefit the local economy then an under- Much of ecological design lies in the standing of that economy and what makes it identification and revival of common sense work is an essential prerequisite. Benefits may come in the form of reinforcing a local activity, growing an existing local activity or creating something completely new. The biggest challenge for a building project is to create something which has a life beyond the construction period.

National economic benefit Recent work by Gaia in both Norway and

the UK is investigating the impact on the CO2 storage of replacing energy hungry materi-

als with nega-CO2 materials (ie biomass). Early results of this research indicate that a shift in the construction industry towards increases in wood construction and espe- cially mass wood construction could have a major impact - ie significantly greater than shifting vehicles to more benign fuels. The

possibility of locking up CO2 in buildings is immense and extremely simple - it is merely a materials choice - nothing more nothing less. No bells, no whistles and no need for discounted cash flow calculations in mitigation. It is not the ultimate long term panacea - all materials eventually go back to earth and, in the case of wood then

release the CO2 - but it could buy us up to a CO2 Tree - Gaia has calculated that the

100 years or more, whilst we shift to more amount of CO2 stored in a mass timber "In technology reality must take house (e.g. log or brettstapel) is at least benign and less CO2 generating methods precedence over public rela- twice that saved by a 40 m 2 photovoltaic and activities. roof installation over 25 years. tions, because Nature won’t be Summary fooled" To return to the beginning of this discus- Richard Feynmann sion - it is not the fact that the responsibility of delivering sustainable developments and

Reproduced with permission of the Green Building Press www.newbuilder.co.uk No further reproduction without permission Building for a Future Winter 2002/03