The Eco-Home Design Guide: Principles and practice for new-build and retrofit (Sustainable Building) - Softcover

Christopher Day

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857843052 ISBN 13: 9780857843050

Publisher: Green Books (UK), 2015

Synopsis

The key principles of designing a pleasant, comfortable and healthy eco-home, with a foreword written by HRH The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III.

Designing an eco-home is much more about working with your house's location and situation than relying on intrusive technology and hi-tech materials. With the soaring energy bills and the climate crisis, it is now more important than ever to invest in a home that is considerate of keeping heat in.

In this handbook, architect Christopher Day draws on his extensive experience to explain the key principles of eco-home design, using common-sense methods. Packed full of practical information, it includes several case studies of eco-homes, reviewing (with hindsight) what worked well and what could have been better. There is also guidance on how to generate energy, upgrading old buildings, and site planning.

With beautifully hand-drawn illustrations, Christopher explores how to use local topography, combined with landscaping, to improve your home's microclimate and keep your house dry and warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. There are also handy tips on how to minimise hidden environmental impacts, and ideas on ways to make your home a safe and healthy place, both emotionally and physically.

The Eco-Home Design Guide is essential for anyone who wants to create a attractive, environmentally friendly home that is in harmony with its location.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Day has studied architecture and sculpture and has been committed to eco-architecture and an ecological lifestyle since the 1970s. He has received four design awards, including a Prince of Wales Award, for his work on eco-houses and Steiner schools. He pioneered a consensus design method, which has now been used in over 60 projects. As a designer, consultant, lecturer or teacher, Christopher has worked in 20 different countries from California, USA to New Zealand, managing the construction of 150+ eco-homes across many income-levels cultures and climates. Continuing to work despite being disabled for the last fifteen years, Christopher has developed a further specialism in adapting environmentally friendly buildings for disabled residents.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Eco-Home Design Guide

Principles and Practice for New-Build and Retrofit

By Christopher Day

University of Queensland Press

Copyright © 2016 UIT Cambridge Ltd.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-85784-305-0

Contents

Preface, 
Note on quantities, 
Brief biography, 
Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales, 
1. Introduction: why, where, how and when to use this book, 
I. WHY ISSUES, 
2. Why have an eco-home?, 
II. WHERE ISSUES, 
3. Climatic and microclimatic considerations, 
4. New-build: site choice and planning, 
5. Choosing an old building to eco-upgrade, 
III. HOW ISSUES, 
6. Keeping warm: minimising fabric heat loss, 
7. Keeping warm: airtightness issues, 
8. Keeping warm: heating, 
9. Keeping dry, 
10. Keeping warm and dry: implications for different types of construction, 
11. Keeping old buildings warm, cool and dry, 
12. Keeping cool, 
13. Keeping healthy: physical aspects, 
14. Keeping healthy: spirit and soul, 
15. Keeping the home safe, 
16. Whole-life access, 
IV. WHAT ISSUES, 
17. Minimising hidden environmental impacts, 
18. Generating energy, 
V. WHEN AND WHO ISSUES, 
19. Sequence of action, and by whom?, 
20. Eco-building and eco-renovation: learning and doing, 
APPENDICES, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction: why, where, how and when to use this book

What is an eco-home? What do you need to know to create one?

What is an eco-home? If you more or less know, and more or less know how to create one, you don't need to read this book. Or perhaps you do. There may be things you haven't thought about, or aspects of things that you haven't considered in depth or didn't know. Some might even be vital issues for how your house performs and lasts, and how it is to live in – and how long you live.

Everybody more or less knows what an eco-home is, but as there's no official definition, nobody actually knows. Is it necessarily a house? Can it be a caravan, yurt or even a high-rise apartment? Is it a zero-carbon – or, better, a carbon-negative – house? (Glossary entries are indicated at their first occurrence.) Would that include a wholly uninsulated house connected to a photovoltaic farm? Or is it a house so nature-friendly that it's full of wasps, rats and (suspiciously ominous) mushrooms? Or should it be so zero-impact that living in it means dressing for outdoor temperatures? Everybody knows it doesn't mean those sorts of things.

It's safer, therefore, to focus on what everybody more or less knows: that it's something to do with supporting ecological stability.

What is ecological stability, though? Climate stability is an absolutely essential part of this, but only a part. Preserving or recycling key resources (e.g. water, nutrients, perhaps manufacturing feedstocks) is comparably important, although this hasn't yet reached a tipping-point crisis. So is the maintenance of a self-regulating ecology. This is mostly about reducing pollution, preserving biodiversity and, indirectly but crucially, food security. Common to all these, however, is living in harmony with nature. But can we do this if we live in town? As most of us do, for life to survive on our planet, this is absolutely essential: living in harmony with nature doesn't mean living in nature.

Historically, however, the eco-architecture movement didn't start very harmoniously. There were those who focused on minimising energy use. Hermetically sealed buildings with tiny windows appealed to them. Others were principally concerned with occupant health. They liked air-permeable buildings, lots of fresh air and solely natural materials. Others again sought hi-tech solutions to everything. Some focused on autonomous houses and self-sufficient lifestyles; others, on social issues – even to the point of collectivism. And everybody thought 'ecology' meant they couldn't use their favourite materials or do anything artistic. Nobody ever considered the risk of dying from heatstroke, at least not in Britain: at that time, heat retention (for resource preservation) seemed the issue, not cooling (for survival). Climate change wasn't a concern; oil depletion (and related price rise) was. Also, although some thought meditation could transcend ecological disaster as this is 'merely' material, nobody discussed the spiritual dimension of sustainability.

Fortunately, those days are behind us – but their echoes still remain. Few seem to realise that harmony with nature means embracing and synthesising all of this. If we omit the material concerns, things don't work. If we omit the aesthetic, we only serve the material side of nature and humanity. The climate crisis demonstrates this. If material solutions don't work, human – and probably all – life won't last. But if concentration on practical aspects ignores soul and spirit issues, life won't be worth living – and (according to statistics) is likely to be shorter.

Does this make what "everybody more or less knows" unduly complicated? It shouldn't. It just means that there are many more issues than energy conservation to attend to. In this book, I therefore first address the 'why' behind eco-home design: the overarching 'mother issue'. Then follow 'where', 'how' and 'what' issues: the specifics. Further, to actually build or convert your home I also discuss the 'when' and 'who' issues: achieving its delivery.

How to find what you need in this book

This book is divided into six parts. These cover the reasons – and their design implications – for wanting to live in an eco-home; how to decide where it should be and remedy the shortcomings of your chosen location; how, in performance and constructional terms, to design a new eco-home or eco-upgrade an existing building; the things it affects and the energy it needs; how to do it; and how to get started and avoid mistakes.

WHY ISSUES helps you to identify the particular benefits you're aiming for. These are much more varied than most people, looking through their individualised lenses, suppose. They range from monetary to spiritual, personal to global. We may want them all, but different people have different priorities. This affects design.

WHERE ISSUES covers microclimatic, social, connective and space-use matters, and how these affect site planning. These also have much greater significance and scope for action than is generally supposed. 'Where' also applies to eco-renovation, but in a different way: you need to be able to evaluate problems that existing buildings have. All old buildings have some, but how easy are they to remedy? This is critical to your decision about what building to buy and eco-convert.

HOW ISSUES introduces you to how to get your home to do all those things you need it to: keep you warm, dry, cool, healthy and safe. Whether you're building an entirely new eco-home or renovating a less-than-satisfactory old building, the basic physical and design principles are the same. Consequently, although chapters on old buildings deal with specific renovation issues and associated constraints, pitfalls and solutions, the bulk of every chapter is relevant for both. As there's a huge variety of building types, construction and ages, and of climatic circumstances, this is the largest section of the book.

WHAT ISSUES covers hidden environmental impacts; recycling of water, waste and nutrients; and generating energy.

WHEN AND WHO ISSUES discusses how to proceed, to actually build or convert your home. Who will build it: you or a builder? What are the practical and sequence-related implications of your involvement? The final chapter helps you get going!

Before you start, I recommend you read the Case studies (Appendix 1). These give examples of eco-homes I have designed and what I've learnt from the mistakes I made. I suggest you read the descriptions and test yourself to see if you can anticipate the mistakes described in the What I should have done reviews.

Most chapters includes a list of resources (in alphabetical, not importance, order). These include further information on sustainable building issues, techniques and products. This, of course, can only be a partial list. For the products especially, there is a huge amount of information out there. For example, a complete list of all the (purportedly) ecological building products found at Ecobuild (the largest building trade exhibition in Britain) would fill several volumes. (Instead of this, just visit www.ecobuildproductsearch.co.uk) Moreover, new products, suppliers and publications are appearing all the time, so this list is unavoidably already incomplete and out of date. Consequently, I have limited the products and suppliers listed here to those less common ones that I have used or considered using. Many items are relevant across different chapters but, unless of particular importance to another chapter, aren't repeated.

Unavoidably, this book contains some technical terms and concepts you may be unfamiliar with. I have included a glossary at the back of the book, so you can both understand these terms and have sufficient techno-speak to convince builders you understand enough about building so they can't cheat you. (You don't have to understand, and they may try to cheat – but it still helps.)

Speed-reading

The time for abstract theorising disappeared with the last century. Climate change is now an established fact and one that we have to find out how to live – indeed, to survive – with. We no longer have time to spare, so we need to know the practical ways of doing things. This book aims to help get you started. To speed understanding and highlight crucial practical issues, I include choice-tables, keypoint summaries and a large number of diagrams and illustrative examples. To further assist speed- reading, and to help navigate your way through the book, each part and each chapter starts with a diagram of the issues it covers.

To create an eco-home, it isn't necessary to read the whole book. Just look at the sections you need to know more about. However, to create an eco-home that's worth living in, I recommend you also look at the sections you think you don't need. The topic, after all, is immense. Moreover, as every family is unique, every home (and every eco-home) will be unique. No one formula can ever fit all. Only you know your needs and preferences, and the unique location of your home gives unique opportunities. That's why you need to start, not with fully formed answers, but by asking the right questions. This book, therefore, aims to give a brief and holistic overview, so that you can ask the questions right for your situation. The next step is what to do, then how to do it. I therefore include enough practical details and concrete examples so that you can find out most, perhaps all, of what you need to know, look in the right direction – and see through salesmen's hype – if you want to know more.

CHAPTER 2

Why have an eco-home?

Overarching reasons

Why build an eco-house or eco-convert an old house? Is it for your benefit? Your children's and grandchildren's? The world's? Or all of these?

Most of us feel a measure of eco-responsibility to do something to mitigate climate change. The built environment accounts for about half of all climate and ecological damage, and housing accounts for 30% of all human-caused CO2 produced. The design and construction of our homes and how we live in them, therefore, give considerable scope for reducing this. Mostly, reducing climate damage is about reducing heat loss. In Europe, 75% of building energy heats homes, and in Britain 80%. Energy-efficient lights and appliances – and energy-minimising use of them – can significantly reduce energy consumption, and also bills! Furthermore, as summers become hotter, cooling will require increasing amounts of energy. Air-conditioning is electrically powered. Most electricity requires three times more fuel per kW than heating.

Embodied energy and pollution in the materials buildings are made of are also significant. Nowadays buildings embody about a third of the energy that they use over their lifetime. European buildings typically last a hundred years, American ones generally much less; but the longer any building's lifetime, the longer period its embodied energy is amortised over. Longevity doesn't only depend on durable materials; adaptability to changing needs (e.g. family size, homework, other uses) and easy reparability are also factors. Most important, however, is that the building is sufficiently soul-nourishing to be worth repairing. Also important to remember is that sustainability is about much more than energy: it's about "living on the planet as if we intend to stay". This has social, ecological and aesthetic dimensions.

What benefits do you seek?

Sustainability is often the principal reason for wanting an eco-home, but it's rarely the sole reason. Sustainability is about benefits to others: our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But it's we who pay the considerable sum that building, buying or renovating any house involves. So, as we are the ones who pay, what's in it for us?

There are many benefits from living in an eco-home. Eco-homes are more comfortable thermally, cheaper to keep warm or cool and more resilient to weather extremes and energy supply disruptions. They're also healthier to live in than 'normal' homes. Your primary motivation for creating an eco-home may be any one of such benefits.

Many people's main objective for their eco-home is thermal comfort: somewhere cosily warm in winter and deliciously cool in summer. With climate change already increasing weather extremes in many places, this becomes increasingly important. We shouldn't assume that global warming means warmer winters. It might; but the regional effects of global temperature rise will be complex. For instance, if the Gulf Stream – already weakening – changes course, winters in north-west Europe will be much colder. Nor should we assume that keeping heat in is the only issue: summer heatwaves are already becoming more common across the world. Over 30C (86F), these start to lose their appeal; over 45C (113F), we never want to experience another one. This is about more than comfort: for the vulnerable, it's a survival issue. Related to this is future-proofing: building habitability when energy supply – particularly electricity – fails. Most heating and cooling systems depend on electricity (e.g. for pumps and fans). Extreme weather, oil depletion and international politics, however, mean uninterrupted electricity supply is no longer assured.

Another common objective for creating an eco-home is to save money. With oil depletion raising energy prices, energy bill reduction becomes increasingly attractive. Eco-buildings are dramatically cheaper to run. They're usually more expensive to build – sometimes a little more expensive, sometimes a lot more – but not always; some are no more expensive, or even cheaper than conventional buildings. In lifetime-cost terms, however, reduced energy bills outweigh any increased construction expense many times over. If we design for disabled access, we may well be able to live in our house for a lifetime. And if we need to move before recouping our costs, resale value increasingly reflects a house's low-energy benefits.

It's possible, however, that excessive focus on energy conservation can produce environments that are unhealthy to live in – what William McDonough calls "killing machines". Since Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) began to be recognised in the 1980s, there has been growing awareness of the effect buildings can have on health. Many building (and furnishing and cleaning) materials emit small amounts of toxic gasses. In the past, draughts and uncontrolled ventilation diluted these but also lost a lot of expensive heat. The more airtight buildings are, the more important indoor air quality becomes. Additionally, modern building materials contain many more unstable chemicals than traditional ones do, particularly glues and plastics. Occupant health is a growing issue, especially for children, whose immature organs are more vulnerable to these toxic compounds. This isn't a solely modern problem: airborne chemicals may be modern, but many old buildings – and even some new ones – are damp, and therefore full of mould spores, which aren't good to breathe. Additionally, human sickness and health are complicated. Besides physical nutrition (air, water, food and warmth), health is influenced by social, sensory and psychological factors. Healthy building must consider all these.

Most of us want to live longer, and remain healthy. We therefore need healthy homes. This has both passive and active dimensions: from non-toxicity and thermal comfort to well-being induced by social, nature connection and multi-sensory aesthetic factors. We might consider the fitness advantages of being able to walk or cycle to work, or even of maintenance-intensive gardens or three-storey homes (although stairs are a major cause of accidents). The longer we live, however, the more likely we are to experience mobility, sensory or memory disabilities. Consequently, we'll need homes we can move around in and manage when we're infirm. (We could, of course, just move to somewhere better, but moving home is the third most stressful event in life, and old age the least healthy time to be stressed.) This means homes should ideally be fit for – or be easily adapted for – lifetime use, namely fully disabled-accessible.

Eco-purism or pragmatism?

Most of us are concerned about all these issues but to varying extents. Whichever we prioritise will affect how we approach eco-house design. It's unwise, though, to ignore any of them completely. It's certainly easy to build a house that uses no energy at all – a sealed polystyrene box will do – but no home is worth living in if it's miserably uncomfortable, depressing or will kill us – or will help kill the planet.

Eco-purism can fulfil many aims. It is possible to reduce CO 2 emissions by over 90% and other impacts even more. (Indeed, a wood-fire-warmed, hidedraped tipi causes no net CO2 emissions at all to build or live in.) Such impact reduction is inspiring, and it feels good to live in an eco-purist home. However, few of us want to over-winter in a tipi, or can afford to buy a purpose-designed, eco-purist house. Nor can all of us afford to do everything. Even in an old house, an 80% reduction of environmental impacts is reasonably achievable and affordable, but is this aim a compromise? Eco-purist inspiration is indispensable to motivate change, but ten (affordable) 80% achievements deliver eight times as much as one (expensive) 100% achievement. Both, therefore, are essential.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Eco-Home Design Guide by Christopher Day. Copyright © 2016 UIT Cambridge Ltd.. Excerpted by permission of University of Queensland Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Green Books (UK)
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857843052
• ISBN 13: 9780857843050
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256