It is true that some insula­tion applications are accessible enough for us to replace them occasionally throughout the lifetime of the building if we so wish but, likewise, some application decisions are 'whole building life' choices.

Different forms of energy have different costs per unit (1 kWh) of energy. Table 1 shows the typical cost to a domestic consumer of different forms of energy and also the cost relative to gas.

Each type of building will have a different pattern of energy consumption throughout each day and throughout the year. Predicting the energy used by a building is complicated because of the wide range of factors that affect its energy consumption.

Our built environment accounts for over half of our carbon dioxide emissions. We now have the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) to help designers and builders of new homes in the UK. But will it help or hinder?

The movement of building standards towards passive house and rising fuel prices are the main initiatives driving the construction industry in the direction of certified passive house standard within Northern Ireland.

Cooking steaks on the barbecue, mowing the lawn or taking a walk in the countryside – all normal summer pursuits for many people. But, for hay fever sufferers, the thought of uncut grass sends them rushing indoors.

“Heat Loss Parameter” is a phrase I wasn’t familiar with but it’s embedded in the SAP calculations. It’s defined as the specific heat loss for the whole house divided by the internal floor area. The figure 0.8 is very exacting, equivalent to constructing to PassivHaus standards, which is where the 15kwh/m2 figure comes from.

The Green New Deal for Northern Ireland is a joined up approach to the ‘triple crunch’ of recession, rising energy prices and climate change. The proposal is a simple one: investing in an ambitious programme to cut consumption of fossil fuels can create thousands of new jobs

Did you ever have a really good idea about how to save money? Paul McAlister (Passive House Architect), Richard Bell (Solmatix Renewables) and Eamonn Connolly (SIPFIT ltd) are three local house experts who have had their lightbulb moment and have discovered the secret of building a house which reduces heating costs by 80%.

Following on from the introduction The Low Carbon Homes Scheme in 1 April 2010. Land and Property Services have amended the criteria for the scheme. All the necessary information is below. What is the Low Carbon Homes Scheme?

With rising fuel costs and Arctic weather conditions this winter, the challenge of burning less fuel and keeping our homes warm has been uppermost in the minds of all homeowners. Thicker loft insulation and double-glazing are a must for existing houses but if you are building a new home, there are other steps which you can take to make dramatic savings on energy costs.

Norfolk-based Parsons & Whittley architects employed Passivhaus principles in the design of what is set to be the UK's first rural affordable housing scheme to gain Passivhaus certification

Many people appear confused about how PassivHaus and the code for sustainable homes can run in parallel, 'Does one compliment the other?

The Passivhaus approach is neither a building style nor simply a new build­ing technology. It is simply a perfor­mance standard, the implementation of which requires a set of experiences, tools, and high quality components available to all building professionals. 

A carbon tax has been in introduced in ROI on everything from domestic heating oil to the diesel that powers our cars and machinery. So what can you do to reduce the emissions arising from building your own home?

In 2009 Bere Architects won a competition to design low cost houses for Wales which would showcase the Passivhaus concept and feature innovative measures for energy efficiency and eco excellence.

'Tigh-Na­Cladach' (house by the shore), is the UK's first social housing Passivhaus development in Scotland. This affordable low-energy housing scheme effectively demonstrates how the Passivhaus standard can help meet the increasingly high levels of energy performance demanded of public housing.

The Passivhaus standard offers a well-established alternative to the Code for Sustainable Homes and the Building Regulations for sustainable design and construction. Denise Freeman investigates the emergence of Passivhaus in the UK and the benefits of external wall insulation and modern render systems.

To help stimulate the uptake of renewable technologies in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) will provide support for wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) following the closure of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme Stream 1 grant for renewable electricity technologies in early February 2010

Will the updates to Part G of the Building Regulations result in water efficiency and safer hot water systems in new dwellings as promised by the previous government? In this article Cath Hassell covers the updates that are most relevant to sustainable building.