Why Zero Carbon House Retrofit and what impact can it bring?

Manchester has committed to the following:
- Becoming a zero carbon city by 2038 at the latest
- Emitting only 15 million tonnes of CO2 during 2018-2100 (‘carbon budget’) - Reduce emissions by at least 13% year on year - Housing will need to play a part in achieving this goal.
-Thousands of retrofits will be required every year in order to achieve this goal.
- Around 61,000 retrofits will be required in Greater Manchester year on year, averaging at reducing heat loss by 57%.

Improving the energy efficiency and comfort of the Manchester’s existing housing stock can combat fuel poverty, reducing the amount of energy used and carbon emissions in Greater Manchester’s existing buildings.

Zero Carbon Retrofit Design Principle-

The three categories of ZCB Measures are: Passive, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Systems; these are shown as concentric circles in the poster.

The first principle in any ZCB design should be reducing the amount of required energy through passive approaches (Passive Solar Heat Gain & advanced glazing for heating; Sunshading & Natural ventilation for cooling; Skylights & Solar Tubes for lighting, etc.). With the needs for artificial lighting and possible heating and/ or cooling, the second principle aims at implementing energy efficient measures. (Heat Pump and Radiant Heating; Evaporative Cooling & Radiant Cooling; Advanced Lighting Control & Energy Efficient Lighting, etc.). Renewable energy systems are needed to offset the energy demand required for lighting, heating and cooling. (Solar Thermal & Biomass Powered Systems; Geothermal; Building Applied Photovoltaic Panels & Building Integrated Photovoltaics Panels; Wind Turbine, etc.).

Design with the Passivhaus standard-

The Passivhaus standard has been recognized as the highest standard for energy efficiency in a building, it reduces the building's ecological footprint, resulting in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. A lot of the Zero Carbon building designs aim at complying this standard to achieve their Zero Carbon statuses.

Simplified Steps to a Zero Carbon House Retrofit.

Step 1. Find an architect or builder with experience of Passivhaus design and construction.

Step 2. Get planning permission- Passivhaus retrofit projects will probably need planning permission as they might require external insulation or changes to the roof etc. The commissioned architect can help with this – low energy Passivhaus projects should be looked on favourably by planning departments .

Step 3. Design the retrofit using Passive House Planning Package Software (PHPP)- it is important that a retrofit project is modelled using PHPP, PHPP modelling needs to go parallel with architectural designs as it will allow the users to see what is and isn’t possible within the parameters of the Passivhaus methodology. Key criteria to reach EnerPHit standard: Space heating demand: 25 kWh/m2/ year; Primary energy demand: 120 kWh/m2/ year; Airtightness n50: 1.0 air changes/ hour.

Step 4. Find funding for the project-The Ecology Building Society offers mortgages at preferential rates for houses built to the Passivhaus standard.

Step 5. Find Passivhaus products- Passivhaus buildings can be built using many conventional building materials found in any builders’ merchant. For the specialist Passivhaus elements such as windows, MVHR systems (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery ) and airtightness products, Green Building Store, a UK based supplier, offers a specialist range of Passivhaus products.

The greenest Victorian house (Retrofit) in the UK!

Enerphit standard is the passive house benchmark for retrofit projects — Enerphit ‘Plus’ status is awarded to buildings that also generate at least 60 kilowatt hours in renewable energy each year per square metre of floor area.

The fabric of the Zetland Passive House contains practically no petrochemicals, all the materials and construction details are fully breathable, the dwellings still sit on their original footprints, and almost all 200 tonnes of brick in the property as well as all the original joists and rafters are still in place.

The finished houses are stunning to look at, inside and out. The front façade looks traditional, featuring what believes are the first stained glass external windows used in a passive house project.

Although our “Zero Carbon Empty house retrofit” project with the Manchester City Council focuses on social housings and has a significantly less budget for an intervention like the Zetland Passive House. Nonetheless, we are motivated to learn from their retrofit experience by arranging a CPD Technical tour of the house.

More information of the visit will be announced soon. Stay Tuned!

CPD Technical tour of Europe's first EnerPHit Plus Retrofit home.

We are visiting the Zetland Passive house on the 30th of April to get an insight of a successful retrofit project. The director of Ecospheric, Kit Knowles will guide the tour and give us a presentation about the design & construction process. They’re passionate about sharing their knowledge so that everyone in the building sector has the skills to reduce carbon in the built environment.

Ecospheric is a company focus on pioneering eco developments that save carbon and drive technological change. Their mission is to create valuable case studies to progress the field of sustainable construction.

Link to Ecospheric website:
https://www.ecospheric.co.uk/