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News for Aug-Oct 2004
(1) Sustainable Resource Centre - Progress
(2) Second wind turbine - New wind turbine from Iskra - on its way up
(3) From Flying Elephants to Heaven & Earth - HHP on your TV soon
(4) Tours & Workshops - A continuous programme of opportunities to visit HHP
(5) Sustainable Developer Guide - New publication
(6) Other HHP News - In summary
(7) Non-HHP news ('Grown up Green' & 'Eco-Teams')
(1) SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE CENTRE – Progress
Reminder (Feb 04)
The
project members of HHP are currently constructing a new community
building which will enable them to provide better facilities and to more
effectively demonstrate the key sustainability principles of the
project. The plan is to develop the new amenities focused around a low
profile ‘eco-community building’ situated near and complimenting the
houses, including an earth covered roof. The functional space will
include a dedicated audio-visual room, seminar facilities and permanent
exhibitions. This building has been designed to meet the same high
standards as the homes, ‘Zero CO2’ and ‘Zero
heated’ standards’
Well
we are nearly there – be a bit slower than we had anticipated –
mainly due to HHP members doing a large proportion of the building work
to reduce costs. The key actions completed include:
·
Floor with 200mm
insulation (winter 03)
·
Walls (facing bricks
fired from waste methane) with 250 mm insulation (winter 03)
·
Earth-covered roof
with 500mm insulation (late spring 04)
·
Installed high spec
doors and windows - Triple glazed/argon-fill/low E coating (Sept 04)
·
Plastered, tiled and
painted (Sept -04)
To
be completed by end Nov 04:
·
Install compost
toilets
·
Wall of services
exhibition to demonstrate potable water treatment and wind turbine
inverter control/output
·
Connection to new
renewable energy supply (see item
below)
·
Installation of
Solartwin solar thermal system and integration with HHP novel thermal
store (‘Hotsi’)
·
Set up
office/visitor areas using primarily recycled furniture from Greenworks
(Green-Works
collect quality furniture from business for redistribution to charities,
community groups and small businesses
– for more information, visit http://www.green-works.co.uk/
)
·
Set up of new
exhibition materials, including:
o
Archive video &
audio material of construction and development of HHP
o
Live wind turbine
performance compared to wind speed
o
Technical &
education interpretation boards
And now for some pictures:
· Insulation delivery by bike!
(MED).JPG)
· Insulating roof
(2)(MED).JPG)
· Putting earth on roof
(MED).JPG)
· Partially tiled
(MED).JPG)
GO
BACK TO TOP OF PAGE(2)
SECOND
WIND TURBINE – New wind turbine from Iskra
Reminder
(Feb 04)
To meet the ‘Zero
CO2’ requirements of the new community building,
HHP is planning to install a second wind turbine. Planning permission
has just been granted for a 5kW rated turbine supplied by a new and
locally based manufacturer, Iskra (www.iskrawind.com). The turbine will be placed on a 26m tower
and is estimated to produce over 12,000kWhrs per annum.
The
occupants of the five homes at the HHP currently receive most of their
energy from on site renewables in order to meet the project aims of
achieving ‘Zero CO2’ and ‘Autonomous’
standards. A Proven 5kW wind turbine was erected in 2002 (part funded by
Scottish Power Green Energy Trust) and more recently complimented with a
7.6kW photovoltaic array (part of a DTI field trial programme).
Iskra have been very busy in the last few months in the Nottinghamshire area installing their new wind turbine, including two in Rushcliffe Country Park and one at HHP. The tower has now been raised at HHP and the turbine due to be added and commissioned in the next few weeks.
Second wind turbine tower with Proven wind turbine in background
(3)
FROM
FLYING ELEPHANTS TO HEAVEN & EARTH
HHP
has been busy over the summer doing filming for both Channel 5 and BBC
programmes – they are due to be broadcast this month.
Luke Tilley (11), one of the children at HHP, was filmed by ‘Flying Elephant Films’ for a children’s documentary on Channel 5 - ‘A Different Life’.
Broadcast Time – 11:30-12.00 on Sunday 17th October
Description
(Channel
5)
- Documentary
series examining the lives of children who live in unusual
circumstances. Luke is 11 and lives in an ecological commune: an
earth-sheltered house which uses solar and wind power. Most of his food
is grown in his back yard. He is learning to grow his own food and to
keep bees. His favourite pastime is learning survival tactics. We follow
him as he spends a night surviving in the woods.
Later in the year we were filmed by BBC1 for the ‘Heaven and Earth show’….
Broadcast Time – 10:30-11.30 on Sunday 10th October
Description (BBC1) - 'The Good Life' Over the course of five films, Mel (from comedian duo ‘Mel & Sue’) will be attempting to transform her life to minimise her 'eco footprint' on the world looking at consumer choices, travel, transport and even where we should take our holiday. This week, Mel's home audit was completed by Jo Taylor, a Consultant for BioRegional Consulting. Jo seeks out the potential problem areas in Mel's home and discovers that the chemicals underneath her sink are not the only toxins lurking in her home. With a wealth of green know-how Mel's mission takes her to Nottingham to meet residents of the Hockerton Housing Project, the UK's first earth sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development, to learn more about living in harmony with the environment. For more info visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/heavenandearth/programme.shtmlMel being filmed before swimming in lake with HHP kids!
A
continuous programme of opportunities to visit HHP
HHP continues to offer a range of opportunities to visit the Project and
take a tour of the
development with one of the residents. Different tours/visits are
designed for different levels of technical
content from a general appreciation of how HHP ‘works’ and lifestyle
aspects to a detailed technical focus. These visits can be extended to
include more of a workshop format (again with a focus on whatever aspect suits you)
& lunch. For building & other professionals
these visits may be able to contribute toward CPD credits. We already have visits planned by a range of building
professional groups and others, including local GP’s.
You can also make a more personal visit with 1:1 meetings with HHP
staff/residents to discuss in more detail your individual plans/ideas.
This ‘Ecoscope’ service
can be extended to more detailed consultancy to drive forward your
plans, be it for eco-construction, water/renewable energy system design,
or creating a sustainable community. Of course if you represent a larger
group, then bring along more or the whole team – we have also
facilitated team building days to develop ideas.
From November, visitors will also benefit from the improved facilities
with the new ‘Sustainable
Resource Centre’, including; an audio-visual room, seminar
facilities, dedicated toilets, new exhibitions, new information sheets
to take away, and improved refreshments. We will also be offering a
range of offers over the coming months for visitors, including
discounted publications and follow-up advice.
Alternatively you may just wish to use HHP as a venue – we offer a wonderfully tranquil setting overlooking ponds
(well subject to noise levels from wildlife and Project kids!) with the
backdrop of the environmentally friendly housing and landscape.
For more information about visiting HHP and booking
onto advertised tours see http://www.hockerton.demon.co.uk/guidedtour/index.html
or contact us direct to discuss. We are very flexible and open to
suggestions – so please don’t be afraid to ask! Costs for use of HHP
as a venue will be subject to level of use, HHP input, etc.
(5)
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPER GUIDE – New publication
Over
the last couple of years HHP has been involved with helping to draft a
publication for Nottinghamshire County Council’s environment
department:
‘Sustainable
Developer Guide for Nottinghamshire’
The
Guide has emerged over the past 18 months from the work of a partnership
of Nottinghamshire local authorities and the Environment Agency
(Lower-Trent Area) led by officers of the sustainability team. It is
primarily a signposting document intended to assist developers and their
agents in exploring and delivering more sustainable solutions on the
ground. Whilst it has no formal planning status, it will shortly be
endorsed by the County Council, notably as a key source document for
in-house building projects. Hopefully, over time, it will be
instrumental in raising design and construction standards across the
county in line with increasing government expectations of both private
and public sectors.
The
guide is available from planning/ building control reception areas
across the County. It is in the process of being converted to a
web-based format, which is expected to be ready during October. It is
also to be featured/launched at a high profile Conference on Climate
Change in Nottinghamshire
at Center Parcs on 15th October (see www.nottsagenda21.org.uk
for more information).
(6)
OTHER
HHP NEWS – In summary
·
The development of
HHP School educational services is now complete with detailed curriculum
based resource packs and activities based on HHP site. Visits are
currently planned for local schools and a group from France– for more
information see http://www.hockerton.demon.co.uk/productsservices/schools.html
·
HHP now has a large
marquee available for larger community events or to increase capacity of
site for visiting groups using HHP as a venue.
· Ongoing monitoring of how people arrive at HHP (baseline from research in 2002/03) – a significant reduction in people arriving in cars from baseline of 66% to 37% (of which only 6% on their own) and a big increase in visitors coming in coaches/mini-buses from 18% to 55%. The proportion of people arriving by public transport or cycling was 7%.
· In July HHP ran two Nottinghamshire ‘Rural Rides’ events, including tours and demonstration of innovative cycles – 31 attendees (all came by bike)
-
Newark Water Festival – HHP ran a joint stand for 2 days with Newark & Sherwood District Council promoting HHP and sustainability – About 100 visitors and over 20 follow up enquiries
(a) Grown
up Green (http://www.grownupgreen.org/)
This is an excellent website that HHP has been very happy to contribute
towards with three articles to date….
grownupgreen is aimed at encouraging and supporting households to think and act more sustainably in a lively, interactive and interesting way. It is for people who want to make more informed choices on issues such as renewable energy, management of household waste, purchasing of consumer goods and much more.
Well
worth a visit!
(b) Eco-teams
Do you live in the Nottinghamshire area – are you struggling to be
greener? Would you like some help and possibly to work as a team with
others?
Then you may well be interested in Eco-teams, a pioneering approach
started in Holland, transferred to Nottingham and now spreading more
widely in the UK.
What is an EcoTeam? An Eco Team is a group of 6-8 households who meet once a month for four months to share ideas and work together to learn simple yet effective lifestyle changes to become more environmentally friendly. The aim is that through measuring improvements each household can see its part in creating a cleaner, more sustainable future, as well as reducing household bills.
How does it work? An Eco Team is not simply a discussion group; it is a practical workshop where thoughts and ideas are translated into action. The team has an initial meeting to meet each other, go over the details of the programme and how to take the measurements that provide the team with tangible results of the changes they have made. Each member is given a guidebook, which outlines the programme and contains a wide range of practical advice for living in a more environmentally friendly way.
The next three meetings follow a different topic each month:
· Rubbish & Shopping
· Energy & Transport
· Water and ‘Next Steps’
To join or start an Eco Team in
Nottingham or to find out more please contact:
Julie Pescod or Cindi Miln, EcoTeams, Beeston Volunteer Centre, Cavendish Lodge, Devonshire Avenue, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1BS. Tel: 0115 917 8080 / 07905 534580 / 07717 870336
Email: julie.pescod@globalactionplan.org.uk or cindi.miln@globalactionplan.org.uk