Lenny Antonelli is deputy editor of Passive House Plus. He also writes regularly for the Irish Times, and has contributed to a variety of other publications including the Sunday Times, the CS Monitor, Village, the Sunday Tribune amd the Dubliner. He is currently working on a radio documentary on Ireland's oceans.
Construct Ireland nominated for 7 Irish Magazine Awards
Construct Ireland has received seven nominations for this year's Irish Magazine Awards, the most nominations of any business magazine. Only Hot Press received more nominations across all categories.
Green building & energy links, November 10
After the madness of the last issue deadline and Plan Expo, everything is getting back to normal here in the Construct Ireland offices. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the last issue, so feel free to leave your comments below or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Here's a few interesting green links worth gawking at:
Students at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales are starting to blog about their experiences studying there: Cat
Attic insulation upgrades - historic homes require compromise: Green Building Advisor
Could encasing cities in giant domes be an energy solution for the future (sounds a bit mad I know, but iit was actually considered for a US town in the 70s): Inhabitat
Sweden is burning biofuel made from bunnies: Inhabitat
A bright nuclear future for Britain: true or false? Guardian
The economic establishment accepts the world soon won't be able to meet energy demands, but wants to keep quiet about it: Guardian
Live blog of speech by engineer Niels-Ulrik Kofoed on retrofitting
Niels-Ulrik Kofoed is speaking about Danish experience of building energy upgrades:
My laptop battery is on the way out so I probably won't make it through all of this - thanks for reading, and please leave your comments on Rebuilding Ireland or Plan Expo below.
12.39pm: Payback period of energy upgrade measures should be less than two thirds of the lifetime of the measures to be economically feasible
12.41pm: New 2010 Danish building regs will aim to reduce energy consumption of new buildings by 25%, with 50% and 75% reductions on current standards to follow in 2015 and 2020
12.44pm: Apartment blocks and houses built post-1930 are ideal for energy upgrades in Denmark
12.46pm: Kofoed is referring to a housing retrofit project in Denmark that was able to reduce the building's energy consumption by 25% through passive design principles - changing the configuration and location of windows to let solar light and heat in in the right areas
12.49pm: Pre-fabrication in controlled factory conditions is the way to build low-energy, air-tight houses
12.51pm: In Denmark buildings from the 1930-50s and 60s-70s are ideal for retrofitting as there are no conservation restrictions on these time periods
12.52pm: Insulation of hot water pipes is an important but sometimes overlooked aspect of retrofitting, particularly in large buildings
One minute of battery left - that's all from me folks. Seeing as this was our first live blogging attempt it went okay-ish. Would love to read your comments below.
Live blog of speech by architect Joseph Little
Leading green architect Joseph Little speaking on "ensuring robustness, health and value when retrofitting":
12.04pm: Everything in Irish architecture in the past was about keeping water out and maintaining building strength - now we need to think about energy, air tightness, humidity and climate change too
12.07pm: Single biggest heat loss point in a house is the chimney - an air balloon for just €30 can solve this
12.10pm: It could be much more cost effective to energy-upgrade old buildings than houses from the 70s and 80s - insulation measures pay back quicker
12.14pm: Our "hole in the wall" ventilation method is dreadful - government seems reluctant to ban it, but now is the time to get rid of it. It's draughty, it loses too much heat, doesn't ventilate where it's needed, and only works if the wind is blowing the right direction
12.15pm: Heat recovery ventilation can be a good alternative, but it must be designed properly. Many systems installed are not actually meeting the building regulations (Part F)
12.17pm: Passive stack ventilation is another option - it's cheaper than HRV and doesn't require power, but isn't suitable for every building
12.20pm: Like Padraic Davis, Little is impressed by the potential of calcium silicate boards for internal insulation - he has a sample of one example of the material, the Calcitherm product from Ecological Building Systems
12.29: Little's conclusions: holes-in-the-wall should be banned as a method of ventilation, all whole-building ventilation systems should be certified to meet the building regs, the government should launch a public information campaign on the most effective energy upgrade measures, and the government needs to issue guidelines on upgrading common types of buildings, and these guidelines should consider different moisture conditions in different areas around the country.
Little is finished now - click 'Blogs' up the top for the next live blog.
Live blog of speech by Padraic Davis of MCO Projects
Padraic Davis is speaking about retrofitting of historic buildings in Ireland and Germany:
11.30am: Study that compared Irish and Norweigan buildings between the mid eighties and mid nineties found an avg indoor temperature of 15C in Ireland and 21C in Norway
11.31am: Applying any substances to the walls of historic buildings that block moisture can cause mould, moisture and cracking. Materials used when upgrading historic buildings need to be hygroscopic
11.34am: Padraic is talking about fairly significant grants that were available for energy retrofitting & renewables in Berlin - in 1993
11.38am: Davis is talking about Booterstown convent now, profiled recently in Construct Ireland. He's pointing out that conservation concerns meant no insulation could be applied to the walls of the historic building during the retrofit
11.43am: Sand-lime (calcium silicate) board is an ideal material for insulating historic buildings - has good hygroscopic properties
11.48am: Studies in Germany have indicated that sand-lime boards (lime mixed with sand and then baked) performed well in terms of water management and thermal performance. Heat loss through the walls was reduced by more than 50 per cent
11.50am: Properties of lime cause water to be drawn out of the wall
11.51am: Internal insulation requires the use of a vapour-permeable material
11.53am: The government should set up a state bank to fund building energy renovations
Q&A
11.54am: Audience member asks Padraic of potential for mechanical ventilation in historic buildings, and whether this would allow for more insulation to be installed as it would remove moisture from the air and help to prevent condensation. Davis says he has issues with mechanical ventilation in residential buildings because there is no culture of building maintenance in Ireland and these systems need to be checked every few months, he says. He has installed mechanical ventilation in historic buildings but isn't sure he'd recommend it all the time.
11.58am: Davis recommends using lime-sand boards for upgrading historic buildings as it can halve the U-value of the walls, though he stresses such products are new to Ireland
That's all from Padraic Davis, next speech to be live-blogged here :
Highlights of this morning's session at Rebuilding Ireland
I blogged the pre-lunch session at Rebuilding Ireland live this morning, but was interrupted for a while by some wi-fi problems. So here's a not-so-live blog of the bits I didn't cover at the time.
Speech by energy minister Eamon Ryan:
9.26am: Government aims to introduce pay-as-you-save type scheme next year, allowing householders to pay for energy upgrades over time on their energy bills
9.25am: Ryan says bureaucracy associated with government energy grant programmes has been drastically reduced through web-based applications so far
9.23am: About 30,000 applications so far for Home Energy Saving Scheme
9.20am: Ryan says he's energy-upgraded his own house recently and that he now realises the value of undertaking insulation measures.
9.28am Energy upgrades mean keeping money in the country by paying for work done here and preventing money going to oil and gas producers outside of Ireland
9.30am: Ryan says US energy secretary Steven Chu told him retrofitting of buildings is the most important thing US can do to reduce its carbon emissions
9.32am: Ireland will be one of the leading countries in the world in the roll out of electric vehicles, Ryan says. Cars can become energy storage systems.
9.33am: Ryan - our first goal is to insulate our homes and public buildings
9.34am: Minister says that once consumer fear abates people will start spending, and that he wants people to spend on energy-saving measures and green technology
Speech by Martin Colreavy, chief architect at the Dept of the Environment
9.47am: 15 key objectives in new national architecture policy backed up by 45 specific actions
9.53am: Colreavy mentions the need for sustainability indicators for whole communities and urban areas, not just for buildings
9.54am: It's not just about the buildings, it's about the space between too: we need to consider amenities and social infrastructure in creating sustainable communities
9.56am: Colreavy praises the Open House programme, which enables people to explore architecturally interesting private and buildings around Dublin (and for the first time this year, Galway) for one weekend each year
9.58am: Department needs to work more with other institutions - local authorities and academia are given examples - in implementing the national architecture policy
10:01am: New government policy on architecture fits within framework for sustainable economic recovery. The sort of decisions we make now about energy efficiency and retrofitting are an investment in the future
Speech by Declan Hughes, head of competitiveness at Forfas, Ireland's competitiveness and building a green economy:
10.06am: We need to reduce costs right across the economy, enhance education and training for the unemployed, and restore our international reputation
10.08am: Ireland is ideally positioned to be a leading green economy: we have excellent natural wind and ocean resources, expanding R&D in green sectors, and great opportunities for energy efficiency and resource efficiency as businesses seek to reduce costs
10.09: EU has mandated that 50% of government procurement be green by 2010
10.10: Our strong reputation as a "green island" is another advantage in positioning Ireland as a pioneering green economy
10.12 Hughes shows a graph comparing government expenditure versus income as a % of GNP - the rapid divergence in the last few years is just a bit frightening
10.13: Ireland's exports have held up relatively well despite the economic decline
10.14: A carbon tax will incentivise "eco efficiency" and broaden the tax base, while a value-based property tax will help to get the property sector moving
10.15am: Forfas have been looking at the potential of changes to stamp duty for energy efficient homes
10.16am: High electricity and energy costs have provided incentives to Irish companies to reduce consumption and introduce efficiencies
10.18am: Global green good & services market to be worth €800 billion by 2015. 90% of this is in OECD countries
10:20am: The green goods and services market in Ireland, excluding eco-construction, is worth €2.8 billion
10.21am: Discussion of various green stimulus plants now - China's seems the largest at €221 billion
10.22am: Key green sectors for export and jobs in Ireland: eco-construction, renewable energy, energy efficiency for new build and retrofit, waste resource recovery, water and wastewater
10.24am: 40 per cent of treated drinking water still leaks from the system in Ireland
10.25am: From an enterprise development perspective, government capital investment should focus on energy infrastructure and grid re-enforcement, advanced broadband access and bringing fibre-optic cables to homes, water and waste, completing specific road upgrades and public transport
10.28am: Public sector should lead by example in terms of the energy efficiency of its buildings
Live blog of speech by architect Elizabeth Francis
Highlights of speech by Elizabeth Francis of renowned architects Mario Cucinella (MCA) at Rebuilding Ireland conference:
12.07pm: In Italy, peak demand for electricity is starting to exceed supply at times
12.09pm: We can't put off sustainability any longer, our precarious energy situation demands we consider it now
12.16pm: Now telling the story of how the firm set about designing an evaporative cooling system
12.18pm: Unlike in conventionally air conditioned buildings which use mechanical systems, we decided to design a building form that uses cooling towers with evaporative cooling to cool air and distribute it through natural buoyancy
12.21pm: Such a system can allow for natural cooling in deep plan areas of office buildings
12.22pm: Computer-based visualisation was crucial to tweaking the system before it was finalised. The system can save up to 80% energy consumption compared to a conventional air conditioned building
12.24pm: MCA wanted to build an experimental home for €100,000 that had a low environmental impact and was appealing to the Italian lifestyle
12.26pm: The cost is €1,000 per square metre
12.27pm: Basic model is a concrete framed building with different cladding and glazing options. It's a "zero carbon" home. Wind energy and PV are optional
12.28pm: It may be a modular home but it's also context and climate specific, the typology can be applied to many different contexts and locations
12.29pm: With a feed in tariff for home renewable electricity production the house starts to become cheaper over time, as it produces more energy than it consumes
12.30pm: MCA examined whether the 100k building would work in Ireland. They found that choosing the right components can create an "energy plus" building - one that produces more energy than it consumes - even in the Irish climate
12.35pm: Now talking about a retrofit project in the historical centre of Cremona in Italy
12.36pm: Aim was to be sensitive to context of historic centre of the town. Contemporary interpretation of historic shutters common to the area was central to the design
12.38pm: For the retrofit of a building complex in Milan, MCA reduced solar heat gain using a double-glass skin, and designed a glass canopy roof in the courtyard between four buildings to create a unifying space between them
12.44pm: Now showing an MCA-designed passive house with a much higher budget than the 100k house, in this case €2,500 per square meter. It's an apartment building in Paris.
12.48pm: Interesting architectural forms are still possible when working to the passive house standard
12.51pm: Now showing MCA-designed Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, previously featured in Construct Ireland.
Elizabeth is finished now. Later on today I'll post highlights of this morning's speeches which weren't live-blogged due to wi-fi problems.
Live blog of architect Jay Stuart's speech at Rebuilding Ireland
Highlights of speech by Jay Stuart on repositioning Ireland as a green construction hub. Stuart is an architect and sustainable design consultant with DW Ecoco & Durkan Ecofix.
11.45am: Green building doesn't cost that much more with good design. Return on investment is generally over 10% for the extra costs involved.
11.47am: Stewart says he has implemented the principles of The Natural Step in his own business
11.50am: It's crucial we use existing sustainable building experience to market ourselves outside Ireland
11.53am: Plants can be used in innovative ways to cool, clean and oxygenise air inside building
11.54am: We don't need many new houses so the focus will be on retrofitting. US experience indicates that we should have efficiency portfolio managers working towards specific reductions in energy consumption
11.56am: Spirt of Ireland can provide jobs, greatly improve our energy independence and boost balance of trade
11.59am: We need a set of principles for greening the building industry that we all agree to work to. Stewart proposes The Natural Step
12.00am: Spirit of Ireland should be supported and built, transition towns should be applied to communities across the country
12:01am: Building industry needs to upskill for green building. Stewart proposes a centre of excellence for sustainable building.
12.03am: Stewart's finished now, Donegal-born Elizabeth Francis of renowned architects Mario Cucinella is about to speak. Go here for the live blog: http://constructireland.ie/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=107⟨=en
Live blog of Eamon Ryan's speech at Rebuilding Ireland
Apologies - we had major wi-fi problems this morning when attempting to live blog from the Rebuilding Ireland conference at Plan Expo. Rebuilding Ireland is examining ways to create a sustainable construction sector in Ireland. Wi fi is back now - blog posts on this morning's speeches by Eamon Ryan, Construct Ireland editor Jeff Colley, Dept of Environment chief architect Martin Colreavy and Forfas's Declan Hughes will appear online later today. Live blogging of speeches by Jay Stuart on "repositioning Ireland as a green construction sector", and by architect Elizabeth Francis, will appear here over the next hour and a half.
9.26am: Government aims to introduce pay-as-you-save type scheme next year
9.25am: Ryan says bureaucracy associated with government energy grant programmes has been drastically reduced through web-based applications so far
9.23am: About 30,000 applications so far for Home Energy Saving Scheme
9.20am: Ryan says he's energy-upgraded his own house recently and that he now realises the value of undertaking insulation measures.
Green building & energy links, Oct 15
Some random links worth browsing:
Bord Pleánala warns on relaxing planning rules: Irish Times
Profile of a British passivhaus: Green Building Advisor
Comparing the passivhaus standard to other low energy homes: Green Building Advistor
Solar Refract house leads solar decathlon: Jetson Green
New smart meter developed at Oxford: Guardian
High costs and brightness still a challenge for LEDs: Green Energy News