Does insulating your walls have to be an expensive process only professionals can do?

Not if this NASA based paint product has anything to do with it. Simple apply it to your paint and it will create an insulated layer between the paint and the wall enabling up to 25% reduction in your energy bills.

Sounds easier than other options like plaster boarding, anyway only just stumbled upon it myself so not sure how great it really is but below is what the company say about there own product..

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Thermilate is made up of Insulating microspheres - What are these?

Insulating microspheres were developed by NASA to combat the high temperatures encountered by the space shuttle on re-entry.

Each microsphere is a tiny hollow ceramic ball no longer than a piece of sand. They reflect and refract heat like the tiles on the space shuttle. The centre of the ball is not only hollow but has all the air removed and is a vacuum.

It is a known fact that NOTHING can travel via conduction through a vacuum, not even heat. The resulting microsphere is, in effect, a mini thermos flask.

On internal walls and ceilings this reduces heat loss, creating a warmer room.

On external walls and roofs, this reflects the heat from the sun, creating a cooler internal room.

How do they work when mixed in paint?

Conventional insulation products only work by slowing down the rate of heat loss through the actual wall.
However, the microspheres in Thermilate work by helping to prevent the heat getting through the wall in the first place, by reflecting the heat when it touches the wall.
Thermilate even gives excellent energy savings, even when used on well insulated walls.

Thermilate has ceramic micro-spheres which create a thermal barrier. They refract, reflect and dissipate heat.

SAVING ENERGY, SAVING MONEY & SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT.

http://www.thermilate.co.uk/

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Here’s some chat from people who have used it

http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/forum

Much of Britain’s new housing stock is being made more environmentally friendly but what about older properties?

	Russell Smith outside his Victorian eco-house in Sutton, Surrey

Can similar high standards and specifications be applied when renovating existing and older houses and flats?

The trouble is not many people have the know how or the inclination to take such projects on.

But turning a 19th Century end of terrace £200,000 house into an ecohome of the future was a labour of love for Russell Smith.

As Director of Parity Projects, which specialises in delivering sustainable development in the home, Russell a qualified engineer, set about purchasing and renovating his dream house.

In January, he deliberately chose a house in Carshalton Grove, Sutton, Surrey that he knew would be difficult to convert.

No south facing roofs to easily harness solar power and no cavity walls to easily insulate.

The result? He has proven beyond doubt the renovation can be done and eco-friendly does not have to be that expensive either.

It boasts solar thermal panels on a flat roof, extensive insulation, special windows, under floor heating, no central heating, rainwater recycling and unique thermocouple monitoring for each room to test the effectiveness of the environmental measures.

The extensive renovation, cost £80,000 but the environmentally friendly features cost between 15 -20 per cent of that sum. Hundreds of visitors descended on his house when he decided to hold Open Days recently. It was possible to see the bare walls and floors as the job won’t be finished until Christmas.

Among the interested visitors, Mr Chit Chong from Camden Council’s Housing section, who said after his tour:

“Russell Smith has shown that converting old houses into low energy, environmentally friendly homes can be done. It is not so much household appliances that matter but the structure and fabric of the building itself.

“Energy prices are going up so his experiment will be a real eye opener to see how much it costs to heat his home in the coming months. I was particularly interested in the recycled newspaper, wool and other materials he used for insulation and draught proofing.

“The fact is old and existing housing stock needs to be upgraded to safeguard the heritage for future generations. What may seem expensive now will in fact prove money well spent for the future.

	Top and Middle: the different stages of wall-insulation and, bottom: a cross section of materials

“We hope to engage on a similar project in Camden. If houses are not renovated like this we risk hanging on to 60 year old environmental burdens. Of course every council has its budget constraints but money needs to be found for this sort of venture.”

Similarly, Andrew Beedham, Head of Urban Design at Croydon Council’s Planning and Transport Department says all councils could do with having a role model like Russell’s house to use as a blueprint for the future.

He said: ” We have 120,000 dwellings in Croydon and it was fascinating to see this house. I did wonder how much floor space is lost because of insulation but guess that will depend on the kind of property renovated. The key thing for me is how to go about retro-fitting existing and older housing stock at an affordable price.”

Russell said: ” There are probably no other houses like this in the country and to be honest there should be. Why can’t people see that existing houses need to be brought up to date with environmental features?

“This property is a single-skinned (non cavity-walled) house built in 1870 and was in need of renovation throughout. Due to its ubiquitous design and decorative standard it was a prime candidate for applying and testing eco-principles for future reproduction.

“Clearly, if we can achieve significant reductions in energy consumption with this house, we can do it anywhere. I am expecting the insulations for example to pay for themselves between 5 and 8 years.

There is underfloor heating in every room. This requires hot water at a lower temperature than a radiator system and therefore can reduce heating energy by up to 60 per cent. Supplied by Invisible Heating Systems, this will pay for itself in around 8 years from energy savings.

“Insulation is such that we believe that in mid-winter when it is -4 degrees outside, we will only need around 1.5kW to heat the house. i.e. by going downstairs in the morning I can heat the whole of the downstairs by turning the kettle on!”

So what is the detailed breakdown of this Surrey ecohouse?

Energy efficiency - Insulation

Walls - can lose 35 per cent of all heat without treatment
All insulations are internally applied. All have varied speed of install and varied cost of materials, but total costs are expected to be relatively similar.
Living room - 175mm modern blown plastic materials (Celotex and Kingspan) on a metal stud framework - installed by a dry-lining contractor - very quick.
Dining room - 200mm sheep wool insulation (Thermafleece) on timber stud framework - carpenter installed.
Kitchen and extension - to be insulated externally with wood-fibre board then rendered with timber - DIY.
Bedroom 2 - 150mm Blown plastic materials (Celotex) fixed hard up against the wall - 2 hours for installation of the whole wall.
Office - 175mm Recycled news paper insulation (Warmcel) sprayed wet into a timber framework by specialist contractor.
Bathroom - recycled cotton and hemp insulation on timber stud framework - DIY installed.
Loft - Mineral Wool insulation (Rockwool) within a timber framework - DIY.
Multi-foil insulation (Tri-Iso Super 10) on a loft party wall.
Ground Floors - can lose 15 per cent of all heat without treatment.
Dining Room - 150mm recycled newspaper insulation (Warmcel) on suspended under timber flooring.
Living Room - 200mm Expanded Polystyrene insulation (Vencil Resil) under and to the side of a 125mm concrete slab. Underfloor heating is inside the slab. The slab will act as a large night storage heater. Concrete has recycled glass instead of sand and this will be polished to save on any further flooring materials.
Kitchen -Screed floor over the underfloor heating.
Roofs - can lose 15 per cent of all heat without treatment
Office - 300mm recycled news paper insulation (Warmcel) pumped into a timber framework by specialist contractor
Loft -400mm recycled news paper insulation (Warmcel) pumped into a flat roof by specialist contractor. This was done with a ‘complete’ roof, holes drilled, and repaired afterwards to prove that this is possible for all roofs.

Hot Water System

Solar Thermal systems manufactured by Solaron and supplied by Capital Solar warm to heat approximately 70 per cent of water through the year. These panels lie totally flat on new flat roof.

Lighting

Low energy bulbs throughout, in particular, direct replacements for conventional halogen bulbs with mini fluorescents. All energy saving bulbs pay for themselves in approximately one year.

Water Efficiency

Low flow toilet - 4 and 2 litre flush as opposed to the 6 and 3 in regular toilets.
Taps - Retrofit spray nozzles on taps to reduce water use.
Shower - High spray shower head.

Water Recycling

This system has the capability to store 1200 litres of rainwater collected from the various roofs of the house.

The system has been built from fittings bought from local hardware stores and some more inventive thinking to provide a system that will provide approximately 50 per cent of the home’s water needs for a total cost of £250. This pays for itself in 5 years. Rainwater is used to flush the toilets and for washing machine.

By William Mach -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/06/18/nosplit/eahouse17.xml

http://www.transitiontownbrixton.org/

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Fantastic article, which may go along way in helping me and Anne if we’re lucky enough to get our flat!

Pity I never saw this early as he had a show day there today! Doh!!

Introduction:
Many people all over the planet know of Earthships. But few really know what they are and fewer still know what the effort is really all about. Some think they are just buildings made of old tires - “what a neat idea” - they think. Others think they are solar buildings made of recycled materials - “great”. Still others are aware of the fact that they are an attempt (getting quite successful) at making totally sustainable homes from by-products of our society. Even this is still an incomplete understanding.

Plants of various types and species once covered the planet. Their existence made the planet more. They contributed to - they were - the nature of the planet. Now, it is humanity that is becoming the nature of the planet. There is a major difference. Plants have a way of unconsciously and continuously making the planet better for themselves and other creatures. Humans have a way of consciously and continuously making the planet worse for themselves - and for plants and other creatures.

My reaction to this is that, the more we interact with and learn from plants and the Earth, the more we will learn about our own survival. Our life methods must evolve to be more like those of planets. Intelligence or not, plants have it together on the Earth - we don’t.

The Earthship concept is an effort to slowly evolve humanity in a direction - a method of life - that continuously improves that life by its very nature. This involves changing building methods, changing utility methods, changing living methods, and ultimately changing thinking and understanding methods. This is a journey, the destination of which cannot be perceived - only imagined.

The Earthship concept must be elastic enough to presently conform to existing dogma while strong enough to evolve that dogma in the future. It will cause some pain in terms of disruption of the “tried and true”. It will enter every arena that exists and grow like a virus as it effects the thinking of what happens tomorrow while flavoring the reality of what is happening today.

It is now only a seed being planted everywhere. As this seed grows, we will find that we are making homes and sanctuaries for plants instead of human leaders, kings and politicians, because it is plants that will truly be guiding us and nurturing us, not human leaders, kings and politicians. We have recreated the world - it doesn’t work. Now we must find the humility to follow and emulate other forces on this planet. The Earthship is the vessel toward that end.

- Michael Reynolds

New earth ship coffee table book is on sale now.

Click here for more info!!

• CAT Centre for Alternative Technolgy
• Lammas web site / Lammas Shares
• Big Green Gathering
• Supplementary Planning Guidance - Low Impact Development

http://www.good-energy.co.uk/

The only electricity supplier to provide 100% renewable energy.

The cost is a fraction more, on average £4.00 a month but consider this, for just £4 a month more you are probably halving your homes Co2 output.  Reducing it to only that used to heat your home and your water. Not bad?

Well all you need to do is make one phone call.

We switched a few months back and when the bill came in it was actually lower than we thought it might be.  It’s a nice feel good factor knowing our power now comes from renewables.

Whats stopping you ?

http://www.good-energy.co.uk/

University of Plymouth, School of Architecture
The Hoe Centre,
Notte Street
Plymouth
PL1 2AR

CEA undertakes research to better understand earth as a building material; offers courses on new earth buildings and repair; organises conferences and other events; and is a documentation centre for earthen architecture.

sustainable building; earthern architecture

Over the last five years the Centre for Earthen Architecture (CEA) has developed a unique focus for UK earth building activity with links to similar centres across the world.

The main focus of the current research to examine earth as a building material and testing its engineering qualities. This includes research of the role of moisture in the performance of cob (the regional earth building technique, the engineering performance of the local material and the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to quantify earth buildings, their historical, architectural and social development. There is a clear indication that the methodology developed will be applied on a national as well as international scale. Current research also include the prediction of the thermal performance of cob building using computer modelling, the investigation of decay mechanisms in cob, the investigation of surface finishes on cob, and the effectiveness of alternative repair techniques.

www.tech.plym.ac.uk/soa/arch/earth.htm

l2watson@plymouth.ac.uk

Possibly the most uninspiring website i’ve found in a while.

PlotSearch

Click the above link to access a massive database containing thousands of different plots all over the country.

Does cost £39.00 a year plus an £10.00 for extra countries - but never the less looks good. It also tells you what permissions the land is being sold with.

Earthship Homes Development Decision - permission granted April 2007

Brighton and Hove development is due to be the most densely populated earth project ever so far, and could it is hoped lead to many more such developments rather than just one off projects.

Could be the future…..