Environmental Retrofitting

Last edited: Monday, 26th November 2007, 3:15 pm
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Solar Cities Scotland in partnership with Dundee City Council and energy efficiency agency SCARF is developing a demonstration house in the Whitfield area of Dundee.

The Sun City House will provide a focus for demonstration, education, advice and information about domestic scale renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable construction to households and the general public in Dundee and throughout central and north east Scotland.

Unlike most eco-house type demonstration projects, the Sun City House is not new build, but a major refurbishment and remodelling of a poorly constructed and thermally inefficient janitors house built in the 1960s. Dundee City Council's Architectural Services department plan to refurbish and extend the building and deliberately chose an existing property rather than a new build to show the ways in which current building stock can be improved to meet new environmental challenges.
 
As part of this redevelopment, the house will feature a wind turbine, geothermal underfloor heating which will draw on 100ft boreholes to draw heat from the earth, a timberframe complete with wood wall fibre insulation and plant based paints.

It aims to showcase technologies, materials and methods of construction that can be retrofitted to existing housing stock, where the major challenge lies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the domestic sector in the UK. It will act as a shop window to offers ideas to everyone, on every income, to help them reduce their home's impact on the environment, be it low energy lighting, a solar water heating system or a sun space extension.

The eco-house will be occupied for a period of 3 years by Solar Cities Scotland - a membership organisation, based in Dundee, which aims to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. During this time, the property and its eco-garden will also be open to the general public, schools, universities, colleges and construction industry professionals who will be able to discover more about the sustainable alternatives used and their benefits for the environment.

Funding for the Sun City House has come from Dundee City Council, Sust, and the DTI through the University of Strathclyde. The project would not be possible however without the overwhelming support from the private sector through donations of goods and services that has been received.


 

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