BRE Trip

A few weeks ago I went to the BRE (Building Research Establishment), which is a essentially a large scale science lab that specialises in the built environment.

To simplify they try as hard as they can to build houses that adhere to the Code for Sustainable Homes regulations with the top level being zero Carbon Level 6.

There are several houses there all different in shape size and level of sustainability, at first their main objective was to see how and what they could achieve without money being an object but slowly they have been able to try and find ways to make buildings more environmentally friendly without the heavy price tag.

You may ask why so much money and research spent on such a thing, but the government is aiming to be zero carbon by 2016 which is not exactly an easy job. However this world leading establishment is more than environmentally friendly they also research methods of allowing residents of a house hold to make use and recycle their energy or water.

Projects such as recycling "grey water" which is used water from washing dishes, bathwater to flush toilets that dispense up to 9 litres of water in flush which ads up to at least 120 litres per day, and this is also going to be reduced by the government to 80 litres per day this aims to lower water bills as well as saving energy.

Other features include Triple Glazed argon filled windows which is a feature on all the houses, this is said to reduce air leakage and reduce the need to use heating as much hoping to save energy bills.

All these clever innovations have showed successful and of course once these ideas are implemented it will be a little difficult to follow with some people claiming that the argon filled windows may not hold up long enough to span the life of the house itself, others saying that the new amount of water to be allowed at 80 litres is too little ans will be rather frustrating since to achieve this number taps will have to run at a lower rate than they do now.

However Graham Hardcastle of the BRE is visitor liason officer and he told us upon our visit at his presentation that he did not find the new flow rate of the taps that annoying as he had one fitted in to his shower.

Whether you believe in climate change and that CO2 Omissions are affecting the globe or not, I'm sure a few people if not most will appreciate the use of triple glazed windows and save a few ££'s on their energy bills every three months.

Here are a few photos of my visit to the BRE:

What do you think of the Government saying they want all new buildings built in 2016 to be"zero carbon"?