#031 - SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Please help Mr D. Tail to spot the differences within a Passive House and Passive Solar House.

Passive House and Passive Solar House are design standards for energy use in all building type. The design process it helps to reduce the buildings ecological footprint which is sometime we should be worry about:

“In 2012, direct buildings emissions (mainly from the use of gas for heating) accounted for 37% of UK greenhouse gas emissions (91 MtCO2). Buildings also were responsible for 67% of electricity consumption and related (i.e. indirect) emissions.” From www.theccc.org.uk

The Passive House relay on energy conservation through super-insulation, the heat losses of the building are reduced so much that it hardly needs any heating at all. However it involves the use of mechanical and electrical devices.

The Passive Solar House instead relay to the sum. It distributes solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer, this system virtually does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.

Both design standards are effective. The Passive Solar House design is performing better in sunnier climates white the Passive House design is performing better on colder climate.

The systems in reality are not perfect and without problem but they are a huge step forward the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Useful links:

Passive Solar House Design
http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/passive-solar-home-design

Passive House
http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/standard.jsp?id=122

PS:
Please note how beautiful is RayShelf

#017 - EGRESS WINDOWS

Is Mr D. Tail ended up to prison? No at all, he is just sitting in a room with a window designed in accordance with the English Building Regulation.

The Building Regulations (B1 – 2.8/A ) states that any window which is provided for emergency egress should have an unobstructed clear opening area that is at least 0.33m2 and must have a minimum dimension of 450mm high and 450mm wide. The same size of an average cushion.

Is it small windows? Yes it is. At least the London Housing Design Guide requires all habitable rooms to have a window area equivalent to at least 20% of the floor area, which is a sensible approach to the design. This should be a national rule as there are many individuals happy to speculate on it.

#010 - SPACE IS TODAY’S LUXURY

Recently the London Development Agency made some efforts in publishing the new London Housing Design Guide. Surprisingly the new homes built by the largest residential property development companies in London are meeting these standards, hence we cannot complain. Unfortunately outside London, where there are not such design standards, the housing developers keep building tiny properties. The good news is that the government is working on this matter (Here more info).

According to the London Housing Design Guide the minimum standard space for one bed room flat for two people is 50 square meters; outside London unfortunately you can easily find much smaller spaces.

Mr D. Tail is living in one of this tiny apartment, and he is demonstrating how minute the apartment can be once you start to unpack stuff. There's nowhere to store things and the apartment has soon become a hurdling track.



Space is today’s luxury.

#004 - HOME SWEET HOME

Mr D. Tail is enjoying his brand new air conditioning system while reading today’s newspaper. 

How the air conditioning system works: 
The indoor unit, the split air conditioner, converts warm indoor air to chill indoor air, during this phase the liquid is converted to a gas that absorbs heat. The outdoor unit, the condenser unit, is rejecting the unwanted heat to outside, during this phase the gas cools, it changes back to a liquid, and the process starts again.

#003 - MINIMUM CEILING HEIGHT

The finest city in the world deserves the finest housing.
However UK building regulations currently do not specified minimum ceiling height. If your ceiling is 2.4m high consider yourself a lucky person.