麻豆社

A traditional 1950s semi council house was literally packed with energy and water saving features including a solar panel, a wind turbine and a 4,700-litre underground rainwater-recycling tank.

At an Open Day for the newly converted house in October 2006, Paola Munns, the Asset Manager at St Albans District Council explained what they hoped to achieve:

"We've been doing cavity wall, loft insulation works and double glazing for a long time on our stock" she said.

"We're looking at moving up a step and looking at alternative technologies and what else we can do to make our homes more energy efficient, and also to use less energy, because as you can appreciate, our residents don't have that much disposable income."

Monitored

The energy use in the house is constantly monitored remotely so that after 12 months the Council will have a set of results that they can look at to see what has worked.

Well, what has actually happened since? A few months after that open day, the Keys family moved in. They knew that they would be in a special kind of house and hoped that it would save them money. The family of six have now been living there for about 11 months so we decided to go back and see how they were getting on.

From the outside, the house in Sleapshyde, St Albans, looks pretty normal, until you take a closer look. Peering upwards to the roof you can see a solar panel and a sun pipe, but these are the only real visible signs of the Council鈥檚 project to make its homes greener.

In the back garden a large plastic disk in the ground is the only evidence of the huge water tank which collects rainwater that feeds into the family鈥檚 toilets and washing machine, but on the extension roof you can see a blanket of sedum which not only provides insulation but also changes colour throughout the seasons.

Inside the features include dual flush toilets, double glazing, special vents which open and close according to humidity and radiators that cool when rooms get to a certain heat.

All the energy-efficient features have monitoring equipment attached that beams the results direct to the Council鈥檚 offices and their effectiveness will be assessed to help the Council to decide which elements should be installed in other Council houses.

Mum Debbie Keys explained what her favourite features are:

鈥淚 like the sun pipes鈥� she said, 鈥渂ecause they do throw out a lot of natural light so you don鈥檛 need the lights on upstairs, and we鈥檝e got a nice sedum roof which looks pretty and changes colours throughout the season.

鈥淎nd I suppose the solar panel鈥� she added, 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 look as unsightly as you might think, and it does heat up so much of the hot water.鈥�

On a practical living level, she also revealed that the equipment doesn鈥檛 really affect their daily lives.

鈥淣o, not really鈥� she said.

鈥淲e thought it would be really quirky but it鈥檚 not 鈥� it鈥檚 just like a normal house. One thing I did notice is the dual flush toilets [because] compared to my friend who hasn鈥檛 got them, we do notice the amount of water that you waste on a normal toilet. It鈥檚 just little things like that that you notice, but no, it鈥檚 not much different to living in a normal house really.

鈥淚n our bedroom there鈥檚 a monitor鈥� she continued, 鈥渁nd all the energy that we use is all transmitted and somebody works it all out, so technically we don鈥檛 have to do anything, it鈥檚 not an interference to us at all.鈥�

Teething problems

However, Debbie did say that there were a few teething problems at the beginning, the main one being with the underground water tank.

The recycling unit

鈥淎ll the rainwater from all the guttering from our house and from next door goes into this tank underground鈥� she explained.

鈥淭hat then goes into our toilets and washing machine, but if there's not enough water from the rain then it's topped up with mains water and unfortunately I think the pump broke so we had mains water ploughing into this tank for weeks on end.

鈥淲e kept saying I don't think it's right, but eventually my husband went out there and we actually shut the main valve off ourselves, hence we got a 拢700 water bill! And going from 拢100 to 拢700 was a bit of a shock!鈥�

And that feature, although now fixed, has still not proved to be economical yet. Debbie has just received another water bill and it鈥檚 slightly higher than it was at their old house.

They have also had some problems with the vents opening with humidity but not shutting again and the wind turbine had a manufacturing problem so was taken down and they are not sure if it will be replaced.

鈥淚 hope that these are just teething problems鈥� said Debbie, 鈥渉opefully, once the people come round it will be sorted but at least we don鈥檛 have condensation or damp anywhere in the house!鈥�

鈥淏ut the Council have been great in that the minute something goes wrong I ring up and there鈥檚 someone at the house within 24 hours trying to sort it all out.鈥�

Savings

The key question of course is 鈥� are they saving money? As a family of six, Debbie said that the main reason for trying out this house was to save some money. They are always conscious that they don鈥檛 want their bills to be extortionate and try to budget all the time, but so far, they haven鈥檛 noticed a lot of savings.

鈥淚 actually think that my bills have gone up鈥� revealed Debbie, 鈥渃ompared to us in our previous house.

鈥淭hat was a three-bedroomed newer build house and I think in new builds they have a lot more insulation so therefore you don鈥檛 need the heating on so much. You come into an older property and it hasn鈥檛 been insulated, the roof has but the cavity walls haven鈥檛, therefore I am using my heating a lot more, so my bills have slightly increased I feel.

鈥淭hey are comparing us to a house down the road that hasn鈥檛 got this equipment and so their [bills] could be higher but I鈥檓 just comparing myself to our previous property. It鈥檚 a bit of a disappointment really, I don鈥檛 know what I was expecting but I thought I was going to save a lot.鈥�

However, she did say that she thinks they have saved slightly on electricity, what with the sun pipes and energy efficient light bulbs, and they are also quite conscious about not having televisions or computers on standby.

The family are hopeful though, that a bit more time will see them making more savings.

鈥淔or me, from an average person鈥檚 point of view, it hasn鈥檛 done what I expected it to do which was save some money but we鈥檙e getting there slowly, all the equipment works and eventually it will happen.鈥�

Compare

So the jury seems to be out on the bills. Debbie feels that she is paying more, but the house does need to be compared to a similar one in the same road as David Bennett, a Building Services Surveyor from St Albans District Council explained.

鈥淭he intention at the outset was to compare the results with a house down the road, so that we had something that was already working and then we could compare the two鈥� he said.

鈥淯ntil the 12 months is up it鈥檚 not something we can readily look to, but the important thing is that we鈥檝e got all the information on this property, everything that provides heat and water has already been monitored so we鈥檝e got all the records.

鈥淸This property] is in a different location and obviously has different usage [from their previous house], so you鈥檝e really got to look at this house as a one off and say 鈥極K, what鈥檚 the general usage for this property?鈥�

Economical

Nevertheless, even though the year of monitoring isn鈥檛 quite up, the Council鈥檚 aim of looking at new technologies and seeing what works so that they can be used in other Council houses seems to be coming to fruition.

4,700-litre rainwater-recycling tank

They were disappointed with the wind turbine but feel that the sun pipes are doing very well with not much electricity being used in the bathroom, and the sedum roof on the extension is saving water and it鈥檚 also insulating. And the solar panels have definitely been a success!

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a case so much of what鈥檚 working and what hasn鈥檛 worked, it鈥檚 really what鈥檚 economical鈥� continued David.

鈥淎s a Council we have to watch what we鈥檙e spending and whatever we do spend must be worthwhile. We鈥檝e moved the solar panels onto another estate now because we know that鈥檚 one technology that has definitely worked. We鈥檝e certainly got good results from the solar panel.鈥�

And what about the future?

鈥淚 would like to see any of the technologies that work adopted by the Council but as a Council we do need to make sure that money which is spent is well spent and the solar panels have certainly proven that鈥� he added.

Insight

And of course, while the Council is trying out these new technologies, they must not forget that families are living in these houses. David says that it is something that they are always mindful of.

鈥淎gain we鈥檙e having to be very careful because we鈥檙e dealing with people鈥檚 homes鈥� he said.

鈥淭hey might be our houses but they are people鈥檚 homes and we don鈥檛 want to put in something that obviously causes grief and we鈥檙e very, very careful and mindful of that before we make decisions.

鈥淎t St Albans we realise that if we do a project like this then we need to have the back up and support to residents. If something goes wrong we need to deal with it very quickly.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just given us a great insight into ground breaking technology and that things aren鈥檛 always as easy as they appear to be鈥� he concluded.

鈥淚t鈥檚 given us an opportunity now to see how things go and put into practice what we found has worked.鈥�