Interventions

There are practical measures that you can implement to improve a building’s sustainable development performance from the early stages of design. The following list of design topics can be relevant to all new build or refurbishments:

• Integrated passive design orientation, glazing etc.
• CO2 targetting in buildings
• Insulation / thermal bridging
• Air permeability
• Climate change
• Materials
• Drainage
• Ecology / biodiversity
• Transport
• Recycling and waste management
• Construction waste
• Post completion (post occupancy evaluation).

You should look at the range of voluntary standards and tools given earlier to help you. You can also complete a table something similar to the one below to help you determine whole life costings of certain measures. The table below gives an example of costing renewable energy technologies and is an approach that can be used for a number of projects across all of the topics in this and other sections.

Renewable Energy Options

	ACTIVE SOLAR	WIND	HYDRO	BIOMASS
TYPE OF INSTALLATION	Photovoltaic (PV) panels for electricity or water/evacuated air panels for heating/ hot water	Wind turbines providing electricity from small diameter 50w to large commercial turbines providing 0.5mw or more	Ranges from small microhydro turbine running off constant stream with a drop to large commercial dams and river installations	Straw, wood or various fast growing crops can be harvested for burning to create energy.
EASE OF INSTALLATION	Can be installed as part of roof (new build) or retrofitted Replumbing required for existing water tank only appropriate for south facing roofs with minimum pitch of 30º	Depends on size Larger installations require large foundations and should be sited at a distance from any dwellings	Easiest with small stream and high head of water requires pipework and concrete work to house turbine	Requires large amount of land sited near to fuel burning facility. 300500m² of coppice for space heating one dwelling
HEATING REGIME REQUIREMENTS	Solar panels most effective in summer (up to 80% of hot water supply). Best with low constant heating. PVs not effective for heating.	Provides renewable energy for electrical heating most effective in winter heating demand should be relatively Constant as there is an energy storage limitation.	Provides renewable energy for electrical heating most effective in winter. Energy storage limitations. More reliable than either wind or sun.	Best for hot water only rather than space heating. PVs not effective for heating. Effective all year round, but requires storage space (5m³ per dwelling per year for wood)
EMBODIED ENERGY PAYBACK	712 years	0.5 years	N/a (?)	Minimal
AESTHETICS	Problems of integrating panels on existing stock in urban/conservation areas	Needs careful siting in rural areas. Does not affect dwelling	Pipe work should be underground ideally turbine house and dams need integration with landscape	Monoculture cropping can look unsightly and out of place as well as restricting views . Fuel storage issues
FINANCIAL PAYBACK	10-15 years for water panels Photovoltaics do not payback over their lifetime yet	Depends on size larger installations pay back more quickly 7.5-12.5 years	Small scale systems can pay back within 7-8 years	8-10 years depending on size of scheme and species planted
LIFE CYCLE IMPACT AND HEALTH	Minimal health Impacts; Clean technology; Some environmental impact from products	Beating noise can be intrusive if sited to close to housing, otherwise clean technology; some environmental impacts from turbines	Minimal health impacts clean technology microhydro has minimal environmental impact larger schemes have more impact	Fuel must be burnt cleanly to avoid toxic emissions possible impact on biodiversity
MAINTENANCE	Life expectancy of panels 15-20 years; servicing required	Life expectancy of turbines can be 20 years or more; servicing required	Very long life expectancy turbines can run for 30-60 years; minimal maintenance	Requires intensive input for harvesting and maintenance of crops