October 2002

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Zero Emission Network on the Net

The Zero Emission Network was launched on the Internet on 14^th October 2002 by the Hockerton Housing Project in collaboration with innovationONLINE -A website that hosts virtual 'communities' for special interest groups of small businesses with an interest in innovation and new technologies.

It is expected that the network will build links between building professionals who are enthusiastic about learning from each other, and who also wish to incorporate more substantial energy efficient technologies and materials into housing developments.

The community based structure of ZEN will compliment the swift, peer reviewed, spread of information and good practice between members that will be supported and stimulated by the website editorial team. The discussion board will allow debate over the pros and cons of different materials by like-minded building professionals across the country, which will speed up the uptake of new techniques and materials. The zero emission network is expected to attract many more individuals and organisations over the coming months

More specifically the website has the following features focused on sustainable/low energy construction:

·        An on-line Company Directory (including member profiles)

·        Members Skills area

·        News items and detailed information about forthcoming Events

·        Challenging Articles from other ZEN members (more will be added soon)

·        Carefully selected & reviewed websites, including ‘deeplinks’ to the most useful content

·        A Discussion forum

Content is being added on a continual basis

If you are not already a member you will need to follow a simple registration process.

You can however preview sample material first.

NOTES

1.      Background – over two years ago members of the Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) initiated the concept of a Zero Emission Network (ZEN). This was due to increasingly being asked how the principles of ultra low energy or ‘Zero-emission’ design could be translated and replicated into mainstream construction. The aim of the ZEN is to reduce the commercial risks for SMEs in the construction industry by establishing a working group of organisations interested in the development of zero emission housing. An earlier phase of the ZEN project database identified over 100 professionals associated with the building industry that were interested in sustainable, zero emission construction.

2.      The Hockerton Housing Project is an example of a ‘Zero Emission Development’. It is the UK's first earth-sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development. The residents of the five houses generate their own clean energy, harvest their own water and recycle waste materials, causing minimal pollution or CO₂ emissions. The houses are amongst the most energy efficient, purpose built dwellings in Europe. This is a self-build experiment in sustainable building. There is no central heating, for example. The five houses in the project make use of the thermal mass of the buildings, passive solar heating, and the thermal gains from appliances and body heat. The activities of the business part of the project, Hockerton Housing Project Trading Ltd, include the promotion of autonomous and low energy homes through direct experience.

3.      InnovationONLINE is a website for small businesses with an interest in innovation and/or new technologies. The site is divided into communities of special interest that provide a gateway for easy access to specially filtered information about relevant expertise and key business issues. Access to content is through membership of these communities (everyone joins the 'Innovation' community as the most basic level of membership) and registration is currently free of charge. The innovationONLINE website is part of a larger project, which is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and managed by the University of Nottingham. Due to the nature of the funding for the project, some facilities (e.g. Grantfinder in the 'Tools' section) are only available to SMEs in the East Midlands Objective 2 area. This will not affect the functioning of the ZEN community.

The members of ZEN, the ‘ZEN Community’ will be a self-contained group within a much larger membership of businesses and organisations on the IOL website. This means that businesses can benefit both by being part of a defined group, whilst being able to tap into a wider network of companies who may be interested in their products and services.

4.      The ZEN project is funded by Biffaward & The Pilkington Energy Efficiency Trust. Biffaward supports many worthwhile environmental projects involving local communities, education, biodiversity, heritage and research into sustainable waste management. The Pilkington Energy Efficiency Trust (PEET) was established to give financial support for research, testing or demonstration projects in the UK, which are designed to improve the knowledge or practice of energy efficiency in buildings. Pilkington provides the income to the Trust, by donating a proportion of the revenue from its sales of Pilkington K Glass. PEET is however run by a Board of Trustees who are independent of Pilkington who consider applications for funding and decide which projects to support.

To find out more about Biffaward visit the website www.biffaward.org.

If you would like more information about funding provided by ‘The Pilkington Energy Efficiency Trust’ please contact the secretary, Rick Wilberforce on 01744 692914 or by email - rick.wilberforce@pilkington.com.

For further information about this story please contact Nick White by email, hhp@hockerton.demon.co.uk, or by telephone on 01636 816902.

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