We are going for a solution with a number of ideas to reduce our environmental impact and cost.
Concrete floors on the ground floor as a heat sink (cool in summer and warm in winter).
The use of fans in every room upstairs to move air either up (summer) or down (winter).
Making sure we have a large amount of windows on the north face, minimal windows to the west and south.
We will build an open pergola with slats in the roof area at an angle to suit sun in winter and shade in summer on the rear windows.
The ability to open windows downstairs on the north side and upstairs on the south and using the stair case as a chiminey.
Using upgraded insulation 6.0 in the cealing and 2.5 on the outside walls and hebel on all walls. Double glazing on the large window space on the south size. (And no double glazing on the north side)
Using a system called odessey that uses retained heat and cool in your roof space. (This alone drops and increases tempreture by 5 deg and is a simple fan system)
And some efficient honeycombe blinds.
We will add to this a home control system.
All the above has basicly no running costs. The upgrades are not expensive with oddysey, control system and concrete being done post handover
We have 2 air conditioners from our KDRB so will install one in the lounge kitchen and one in the master.
I know this is a really long answer but by considering your site and the direction of your house plus some small upfront expense you can save alot of money and reduce your invironmental impact at the same time.
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This sounds great. You have obviously put a lot of thought into this which is great in the long run for saving $ as well as the planet. We have double glazed windows throughout the entire home which we are looking forward to seeing the difference it makes. We were forced to have all awning windows through the entire house so all sliding windows had to be changed. I find awning in our current house barely lets any breeze through. This is particularly annoying after a few hot days in a row and then a cool change comes and you want the breeze to flow through the whole house.
how much it costs to upgrade to double glazing ? Grange build has massive glass windows, must be huge cost. Was there any consideration from PD to meet their 6 * energy promise ? I believe double glazing only comes in Awning window hence you must have been asked to upgrade from sliding to awning as well.