Well my Dad a well educated man, not one to cause a fuss unless really upset, was incensed today, enough to write to the EDP a letter (see below) following reading an article promoting Passive Houses. What really makes him mad is a senseless waste of energy and money especially when it's attached to a government body or similar. I do hope it gets published - will wait and see..... it may stop someone else having such high fuel charges!!!
8 September 2015
Is the Passivhaus the way forward? (EDP Property supplement 4 September)
Passivhaus may be energy efficient, but there will not be any saving on energy costs unless total energy needs are properly considered by the developer (in this case Gt Yarmouth Borough Council).
Our daughter has lived for one year in an adapted-for-disability Passivhaus built for GYBC in Martham. It has the super-insulation and Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) but no heat pump, no solar panels and crucially, no heating system. The only means of heating it is with plug-in electric heaters, the thinking presumably being that since the house is energy efficient there will not be much need for them.
Last winter was not severe but heating was necessary, and hot water is needed for baths, showers, etc., all consuming full-price electricity. Compared with a traditionally built house with gas or oil fired heating, she is using only one third the amount of energy but paying three times as much per unit for it. The net result is no saving whatever; not what she was led to expect when GYBC first promoted the concept.
The Passivhaus may be good for the environment but if not sensibly equipped, provides little advantage to those living it.
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