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| Solar Showhome - Charles Church development in Wymondham Image courtesy Viridian Solar |
On a new housing development in Norfolk an experiment with
far-reaching implications for sustainable building is taking place. No engineers or technicians are in sight, no measuring
equipment or data-loggers. This
innovation is not some new building technology; this innovation is taking place
in the sales and marketing suite.
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| Every living room should have one |
Visitors to the site can see a show-home that is fitted not
only with the solar heating panel that helps it meet the latest green-building
code but also matching solar photovoltaic panels that customers can choose to add as a cost
upgrade to their new home.
Meanwhile, on a building site on the outskirts of Cambridge
another national housebuilder has constructed a new kind of show
home. Next door to the standard show
home, with its impeccably tasteful decor and à la mode furnishings stands the
“Eco-enhanced” show home. The decor in
this house is very different, the sitting room is filled with a sample section
of a brick wall showing the thickness of the insulation. Upstairs, a section of wall has been
removed to show the ducts for the heat-recovery ventilation system.
On the roof, solar PV panels join the solar heating panel
that comes as standard. A section of
the lawn is given over to an access hatch for the rain-water recycling system,
providing water to an outside tap and for flushing the lavatories in the house.
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| "Eco-enhanced" show home (left) |
Car manufacturers have long been the masters of selling the
upgrade. What's a few hundred extra for tinted windows or xenon headlights when
you're already spending tens of thousands on the car? Before you know it, you've racked up a much
larger bill.
Can house builders do the same for eco-features when we're
spending hundreds of thousands on a new home?
We should all be hoping that these experiments demonstrate to the building industry
that when marketed with energy and flair, people do see value in living in
homes that tread more lightly on the planet.
