www.crossway.tumblr.com
Designed by Richard Hawkes, founder of Hawkes architecture, Crossway is one of the first zero carbon houses in the UK. The building explores the uniqueness of 'place' as well as harnessing solar energy to generate all its own electricity and thermal energy.
The building demonstrates how contemporary design can celebrate local materials and crafts and integrate new technologies to produce a highly sustainable building that sits lightly on the Earth
Visit www.hawkesarchitecture.co.uk for more information.
December 23, 2009
December 17, 2009
Frost - on the outside of our windows ! This is a great demonstration of how well insulated our house is - so little heat is lost through the triple glazed windows that the outer pane stays below zero and causes moisture from the outside air to condense and freeze. Photo taken on 15th December 2009
1 week ago • 0 notes
December 2, 2009
This graph shows National grid consumption and PV generation. The PV system isn’t yet generating the levels expected. This appears to be due to the location of the inverters and the fact that we’re not cooling the panels as much as we should be due to the main PCM store currently being filled with water instead of paraffin wax. It’ll be interesting to see how these changes will affect the graphs. We’re about to fit a voltage optimisation unit which should reduce electricity consumption by up to 10%. Watch this space …
3 weeks ago • 0 notes
This graph records how much biomass we’re using to supplement the house. To put this in context, an average 3 bed house uses 57 KWh of energy for heating & hot water per day - that’s pro rata ! Anticipating the rest of winter useage we’re looking at a pro rata daily consumption of 5 KWh / day - that’s less than 10% of the energy a normal house half the size of Crossway uses ! I’m chuffed with that !
3 weeks ago • 0 notes
Pro rata Mains cold water consumption per person per day. Note that Code 6 ‘Zero Carbon’ should use less than 80 litres PPPD, which we are easily achieving. Even better is the fact that we’re not using our rainwater yet as i can’t afford the pump i’d like to get to draw the rainwater from the underground tank. I can’t wait to see how this will improve the graph further ! Note that the peaks represent watering plants, laying paving and a huge washing stint !
3 weeks ago • 0 notes
Pro rata daily electricity consumption on lighting. Note that the peaks are when we had evening tours round the house !
3 weeks ago • 0 notes
December 1, 2009
Taken on 1st December 2009. Autumn germination is greening the sides of the roof nicely. Hopefully Spring 2010 should see the roof blossom, literally !
3 weeks ago • 0 notes