How green can I go...and is it cheaper in the long run..?

jendavnlillie

We have just submitted plans for our house to the county council. We are keen to go as green as possible for obvious reasons, however our architect has dismissed any ideas we had for geothermal, solar panels, pellet boilers etc. by basically saying 1. they're expensive to install initially and 2. they're expensive to maintain. I.E. the geothermal option, although energy efficient and will more than likely save us money via the fuel consumption side he reckons that after about 10 years alot of the main components to the heating system would have to be replace - at quiet a large price!!

I know the whole point in going green in just that but if in 10 or 12 years down the line we have to fork out 20 grand to replace/fix the heating ...is it really worth it?

I would be interested to hear some of your views and maybe some suggestions on how we can do it without the xtra expensive further down the line.
Cheers

sinnerboy

insulate to the max- walls / floor / roofs

give serious consideration to HRV ( heat recovery and ventilation unit ) and avoid open fires

Buy the best glazing spec you can afford . Triple glazing may add + 25% . Alu clad gives best of both worlds - good on thermal good on maintenance . Small opes to north , larger to S/E/W

fit a zoned heating control system

buy the most efficent boiler possible

The above will give optimal cost/benefit

Most important - retain professional to guide your choices . Your architect sounds like he knows what he is talking about

Mellor

Agree with everything sinnerboy has said.


The argument that they are expensive to install doesn't hold much weight I think, maybe in a retrofit, but in a new build, installation is not a whole lot different. Solar systems can be quite beneficial, retrofiting these adds huge costs so installation at new build is a huge saver.
Re: Geothermal, it isn't great at the moment, due to the way electricity is produced, it is about on par with a normal boiler. In cost and emmissions. Alot of are led to believe they are great because they move from a 1980s house with a gas boiler to a 2008 house with Geothermal, heating load/bills drop significantly. Not because the Geo is very efficent, but because the house is in comparisment to the old one, and the old boiler was going to be less effcient than a new one.


The biggest problem with your situation is that you are looking at it too late. You have already submitted to the council, so all the simple (and free) energy options are not available to you, such as glazing ratios, orientation etc