Historic homes are already 'green'
Historic homes are already 'green', warn experts, as fears grow that insulation could be damaging old buildings
Home owners are in danger of harming historic buildings to make them more ‘green’ because of failure to understand how traditional building techniques already make houses energy efficient.
All homes now have to display an 'Energy Performance Certificate’ to show how energy efficient the building is before it can be rented out or sold.
However the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) has shown that the techniques for assessing the efficiency of buildings are underestimating the energy efficiency of older homes.
The system for measuring heat loss from walls known as the “U-Value” fails to calculate the energy efficiency value of traditional materials like wattle and daub, cob or wood. It only accounts for more modern materials like concrete or bricks.
The SPAB calculated that 79 per cent of ancient buildings are more efficient than originally thought....
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Home owners are in danger of harming historic buildings to make them more ‘green’ because of failure to understand how traditional building techniques already make houses energy efficient.
All homes now have to display an 'Energy Performance Certificate’ to show how energy efficient the building is before it can be rented out or sold.
However the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) has shown that the techniques for assessing the efficiency of buildings are underestimating the energy efficiency of older homes.
The system for measuring heat loss from walls known as the “U-Value” fails to calculate the energy efficiency value of traditional materials like wattle and daub, cob or wood. It only accounts for more modern materials like concrete or bricks.
The SPAB calculated that 79 per cent of ancient buildings are more efficient than originally thought....