The Larch Garden comprises 122 homes and it is the largest sustainable and climate friendly residential complex in Denmark. For the project  Large Garden 1 was developed which is a completely new energy and environment saving system. It includes the widespread use of LED lighting and Phase Change Materials (PCM) in the form of ceiling panels that absorb heat during the day and release it in the evening and at night.

New heating systems were introduced including wall heating converters, which heat the entire wall surface and cavity heating using un-insulated pipes in the intermediate floor. The buildings are constructed as draught free as possible with high levels of insulation and super low energy windows.

A solar cell facility was erected adjacent to the development’s communal building which delivers electricity to the communal building as well as outdoor lighting.

The houses are all constructed from wood. Wood is an excellent material for use in low energy construction and also makes for an excellent indoor climate. In addition, the building itself is a form of CO2 storage. Fifty of the houses feature floor to ceiling windows which absorb the sun’s heat and provide high levels of natural light. All buildings meet Low Energy Class Standard 1 or 2.

The development is part of the Sustainable Housing in Europe Project (SHE) – http://www.she.coop. The project architects are Herzog + Partner, Munich – www.herzog-und-partner.de

M.HAUS 2010

In Europe oil consumption peaked in 2005. There is a strong push towards renewable energy and this will also affect petrol stations. They will have to develop into charging stations for vehicles powered by gas, electricity and fuel cells and become part of an energy supply system based on smart grids.

Since 1999 the Munich based practice Haack + Höpfner Architekten und Stadtplaner BDA have been working with Allguth, a regional company running petrol stations. The project started as a competition with the brief to find an innovative way of construction which allowed for business growth in the short as well as the long term. The design had to support the brand values and avoid the aesthetic of the ubiquitous industrial shed architecture on fringes of our cities.

The architects proposed a contruction system which is open for future developments and can be adapted to different building sites and local business demands. The system should be based on standards which allow for economic and material efficiencies as well as future growth. At the same time the design should have a positive effect on the visibility of the brand and the company.

Haack + Höpfner . Architekten und Stadtplaner  BDA won the competition and their design integrates  the use of natural light and natural ventilation, modular layouts, energy efficient building automation, standardised construction elements, change of use and re-use of the building as well as recycling and sorting of (so called waste) materials. Another key aspect was the integration of the buildings into the urban environment allowing for plants and green spaces.

The modularity of the system and the high standards of design allow for appreciation by the users, low maintenance costs, easy upgrading and longevity. The introduction of renewable energies will demand more flexible and adaptable quiet design solutions like this.

 © M.HAUS 2009, all right reserved

Solar collectors transform solar radiation into heat and transfer the heat into water, solar fluid or air. The solar heat can be used for heating water for bathrooms, kitchens, swimming pools or heating the house.

At the heart of a solar collector is an absorber, which is normally  made of several narrow metal strips painted black. The black paint absorbs the short wave solar radiation, the absorber heats up and transmits the accumulated solar energy in the form of longwave heat rays to a fluid inside the absorber.

Basic absorbers are often used in outdoor swimming pools. The water is pumped through the absorber and water temperatures up to 20⁰C higher than outside temperatures can be achieved.

Glazed collectors achieve higher temperatures. In flat plate collectors absorber plates are connected to a pipe work system and fitted into a well insulated housing with a glass cover. A heat transfer medium such as a water-glycol mixture, to protect against frost, is pumped through the pipe work. This medium then gives off the heat to the water you can use in your bathroom, kitchen or central heating. Flat plate collectors can achieve temperatures of about 50⁰C and efficiencies of up to 60%.

Vacuum tube collectors offer improved efficiency and higher temperatures. They are made from evacuated glass tubes containing absorber strips. The vacuum provides ideal thermal separation and keeps convection heat losses at a minimum. Vacuum tube collectors can achieve temperatures of up to 70⁰C above the outside temperature and they are suitable to support your heating.

When using renewable energy systems, make sure that you introduce energy efficiency measures such as insulation first. This will prevent you from over sizing your systems and save on investment as well as running costs.          

© M.HAUS 2009, all right reserved

‘We cannot offer products which allow for maximum energy savings such as our window profiles and at the same time waste energy in our factories, says CEO Michael Glaw who heads up manufacturing and innovation. The management team at SIP believed that they were well ahead of the game when it came to energy efficiency until a team energy consultants proved them wrong.

SIP employs around 1000 staff and in 2008 generated a turn-over of around € 200 million. In a painstakingly diligent process the energy consulting team spent almost one year analysing the three production plants on site. The current energy costs are € 5.2 million per year and the indentified potential for savings is around € 2 million. The findings were compiled in a 650 page report covering the 13 key areas which the business will have to address. ‘With this red book we gave SIP energy management and energy efficiency guidelines and tools for the next decade’, says Matthias Voigtmann who advices the company.  

Michael Glaw believes that the energy consulting project has seriously sharpened their awareness in energy matters. Manfred Knoll, the Technical Director of SIP, adds: ‘With the project we made a leap from energy administration to energy efficiency.’

The management team fully supports all energy efficiency measures. Investments with a payback period of less than two years such as low energy lighting and motion detectors have already been implemented. SIP is now moving to long-term investments and will also start to integrate their suppliers into the initiatives. The plan is to cause a ripple effect across the supply chain and the wider community.

Initiatives to save 25% of energy are in the pipeline. Michael Glaw and his team at every project holistically. Energy savings cannot have negative side effects such as lowering productivity. The goal is to grow the business whilst lowering energy use and consumption. SIP is well on the way to achieve this goal.

If you want to learn more about SIP, please visit www.sip.de

The energy consultants advising SIP are www.energy-consulting-allgaeu.de

M.HAUS 2009

Automatic taps have one disadvantage however: the integrated sensors need electric power and very often this power is provided by batteries, which needs servicing and are difficult to recycle.

The Japanese bathroom brand Toto has solved this problem: Their Self Power product range incorporates two technologies for public facilities. They work together to ensure optimum power- and water-saving performance.

The first is an automatic micro-sensor – one of the world’s smallest – positioned at the tip of the spout. Accurate hand detection means only the minimum necessary amount of water is used. Located inside the unit is the second technology, a generator that harnesses the energy from water flowing through the tap to make the micro-sensor energy-self-sufficient. External power supply is therefore cut out.

The high design quality of the Toto product speaks for itself.

www.eu.toto.com

Textile structures have enormous potential in lightweight construction because of their low weight. Whilst the commercial aviation industry has recently started to use fibre-reinforced plastics, coated fabrics and laminates are finding more and more smart applications in paragliders, kites and hot air balloons.

The Berlin based company aeroix focuses on the development of  innovative products in the field of applied aeronautical sciences and technical textiles. The inter-disciplinary team recently developed and successfully introduced an insulation  system  for hot air balloons called Aerofabrix. The material is a lightweight multilayer fabric and it has the lowest density currently available on the global market.

An air gap within the fabric is required to achieve the insulation properties. Flocked filaments create this air gap whilst being super light. Through this integrated flocked insulation material fuel consumption for ballooning can be reduced by more than 50% or alternatively, larger passengers groups can be transported.

The aeroíx team is currently experimenting with applications in architecture. Other applications could be in the field of protective clothing or outdoor equipment for extreme conditions. The material could also be used in light building structures. aeroix is also working with another Berlin based company called Zendome on lightweight, well insulated and mobile structures,building on Buckminster Fuller’s early groundbreaking structures..

Text by Dr. Sascha Peters, CEO haute innovation – translation by M.HAUS, © all rights reserved

Take your time and explore the two websites – www.aeroix.de and www.zendome.com .

In environmental terms the collective number of miles travelled to achieve this process really does not stack up.  A typical UK research programme might comprise 6 focus groups in 3 different locations, and assuming up to 8 respondents, 3 clients and the moderator attend each one, the mileage (by whatever form of transport) quickly adds up to high hundreds if not more.  Even more extreme, international studies involve people travelling thousands of miles, sometimes just for a single interview, which really is not responsible or sustainable.

Fortunately nowadays there are some excellent online alternatives to face-to-face research, ranging from ‘thinking space’ forums where people post their opinions in writing to ‘talkie’ online focus groups run through web conferencing software.

The software is slick, results are just as robust as face-to-face interviewing, the process is much more time and resource efficient and, crucially, nobody needs to go anywhere.  The carbon expenditure of the research project is thus reduced simply to people powering their PC, which as well as all the obvious environmental benefits represents significant plus points not only in terms of ethical CSR policy, but also travel costs.

At Mindspace we are extremely committed to online as a responsible method of research and achieving really good results as well as significant travel cost savings and CO2 reductions.  

©2009 Clare Wade, Market Research Consultant, Mindspace

To discuss the opportunities for online research in design contact Clare Wade, Mindspace, 01337 810494, 07715 60880, info@q-mindspace.co.uk,   www.q-mindspace.co.uk   www.onlinefocusgroups.co.uk