A family from Fife is set to put one of Scotland's greenest social housing experiments to the test as they move into their new home in Lochgelly.
Their house at Lomond Homes' New Farm Vale development is the focus of a three month pilot project, as it features cutting-edge 'green' insulation in its walls. The unique type of insulation is designed to save energy, cut carbon emissions, improve air quality and provide long-term cost savings for home owners.
The home built by Lomond, as part of the Fife Housing Association Alliance programme, was officially handed over this week signalling the start of the trial. The new insulation is the result of a partnership between Energyflo Construction Technologies, the producers of the insulation panels, and Lomond Homes' sister company Lomond Timber Frame, who designed the frames for the houses.
In total, three houses will be monitored at the site, for three months, using electronic devices to measure energy savings in relation to the prevailing weather conditions. Two of the houses have been fitted with 'Dynamic Breathing Building' technology with the third being fitted with conventional insulation.
Stuart Rennie, managing director of Lomond Timber Frame, said: “We are confident that the trial will demonstrate that the two houses fitted with the 'Dynamic Breathing Building' technology show greatly reduced rates of heat loss in comparison with the third conventionally insulated home.
“Insulation panels designed by Energyflo Construction Technologies have been inserted into our open-panel frames for the first time, in what I hope will be a successful pilot scheme and become a continuing partnership.
“If this is the case then it will result in a minimising of energy costs for the occupants and also a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions. The potential for our Dynamic Breathing Building system is huge and in just three months we will have a far greater understanding of its full potential."
The Dynamic Breathing Building system is ideally suited to both winter and summer temperatures. In winter it can warm ventilation air using heat from the home which would otherwise be lost, and in summer months the versatile system allows cool air to circulate. The air is also filtered providing further benefits to house occupiers in the form of improved indoor air quality.
Dr Andrew Peacock, CEO of Energyflo, said: "We believe this system could mean significant reductions in energy consumption compared with conventional thermal insulation. We are looking forward to the trial and if our hypothesis is correct it will revolutionise the house building industry.”
The houses were built as part of the Fife Alliance Affordable Housing programme through a contract between Kingdom Housing Association and Lomond Homes. Kingdom Housing Association is the lead development association for the Alliance.
Bill Banks, Depute Chief Executive with Kingdom, said: “Our objectives for the affordable housing programme include sustainability targets which will improve energy efficiency and address issues associated with fuel affordability and it will be interesting to monitor the results of the new technology, which can hopefully be rolled out to other projects in the future”
Kingdom developed the new houses for Ore Valley Housing Association who now own and manage the houses as part of a larger project at New Farm. Andrew Saunders, Director, with Ore Valley, said “The new homes have all been allocated to families and the potential of this new type of insulation is very exciting. If the results are what we expect, then the benefits to tenants will be significant.”