Energy World
Encyclopedia
Low-energy house
A low-energy house is any type of house that from design, technologies and building products uses less energy, from any source, than a traditional or average contemporary house...
s constructed in the Shenley Lodge area of Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The project was promoted by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation
Milton Keynes Development Corporation
Milton Keynes Development Corporation was established on 23 January 1967 to provide the vision and execution of a "new city", Milton Keynes, that would be the modern interpretation of the Garden city movement concepts first expressed by Ebenezer Howard 60 years earlier...
and culminated in a public exhibition in August and October 1986 that attracted international interest. It was a significant landmark in the design and construction of low-energy housing, and in the development of energy efficiency evaluation tools. It has had a long-term impact on Government policy and within the national house-building industry, insofar as the progressive 'tightening up' of the energy section of the Building Regulations has largely been founded on this pioneering work.
The houses were designed to be at least 30% more efficient than the Building Regulations then in force. The architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and technologies used was very varied, and included designs from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(the first R-2000
R-2000 program
R-2000 is a Natural Resources Canada program that was developed in partnership with the Canadian Home Builders' Association in 1981, and formalized as a standard in 1982...
house in the UK), Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Although it was later removed, the exhibition also featured a wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
, then an uncommon sight.
As of 2004 the houses were continuing to sell for 3% above the price of other housing in the area http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmenvaud/135/135ii.pdf.
Energy World was one of several low-energy projects built in the Milton Keynes area. These included trials on a number of individual houses and the construction of 177 houses in the 1970s Pennyland project
Pennyland project
The Pennyland project was one of a series of low-energy building experiments sparked by the 1973 oil crisis. It involved the construction of an estate of 177 houses in the Pennyland area of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom...
. Following the success of Energy World, 1,200 dwellings were built to the same (or better) energy standard in the rest of Shenley Lodge (known as 'the Energy Park')http://www.shenleybrookend.net/backup/shenleylodge/index.htm, and the same standard was subsequently applied City-wide. The concept of the Energy Park was extended into non-residential buildings built across Watling Street
Watling Street
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
in Knowlhill.
Home energy efficiency rating schemes
Another area where Energy World continues to have an impact derives from the Milton Keynes Energy Cost Index (MKECI) http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/haslett01/MKECI.html, which was used to calculate the energy efficiency of the Energy World houses. Based on the results and feedback from Energy World, this was to evolve into the UK's first national energy efficiency rating scheme for buildings, with the launch in 1990 of the National Home Energy RatingNational Home Energy Rating
The National Home Energy Rating Scheme is both a UK accreditation scheme for energy assessors and a rating scale for the energy efficiency of housing.The NHER is owned and operated by National Energy Services...
scheme (NHER) http://www.natenergy.org.uk/news-005.htm. This, in turn, gave rise to the introduction in 1995 of the Standard Assessment Procedure
Standard Assessment Procedure
The Standard Assessment Procedure is the UK Government's recommended method system for measuring the energy rating of residential dwellings. The first version was published in 1995, to be replaced by newer versions in 1998, 2001 and 2005. It calculates the typical annual energy costs for space...
(SAP) rating system used in the national Building Regulations and in home Energy Performance Certificate
Energy Performance Certificate
Energy Performance Certificates were introduced in England and Wales on 1 August 2007 as part of Home Information Packs for domestic properties with four or more bedrooms . When the requirement for HIPs was removed in May 2010, the requirement for EPCs continued. The scheme for HIPs was extended...
s (originally introduced in 2007 as part of the Home Information Pack
Home information pack
Under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004 a Home Information Pack , sometimes called a Seller's Pack, was to be provided before a property in England and Wales could be put on the open market for sale with vacant possession. There is separate legislation for Scotland that requires anyone selling a...
).
See also
- Energy efficiency in British housingEnergy efficiency in British housingDomestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK carbon dioxide emissions targeted by the Government for 2010...
- BedZED Zero energy housing developmentBedZEDBeddington Zero Energy Development is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton. It was designed by the architect Bill Dunster to support a more sustainable lifestyle...
- :Category:Low-energy building
- World energy resources and consumptionWorld energy resources and consumption]World energy consumption in 2010: over 5% growthEnergy markets have combined crisis recovery and strong industry dynamism. Energy consumption in the G20 soared by more than 5% in 2010, after the slight decrease of 2009. This strong increase is the result of two converging trends...