I thought that the best way to start on a detailed design (or at least to make a start on what I’d expect to be one of many) was to come up with a title for the shed, after some thought (not much) this seemed like a good one:
Zero carbon renewable shed.
What’s that…?
This is a shed that steps lightly on the world. It’s is constructed as far as possible from renewables, tries to minimise its environmental impact then goes the extra mile in attempting to pay-back some of the carbon inevitably expended in its contruction.
Construction materials are available locally: The walls built from cob; wooden windows, doors and roof structure use indigenous species of timber; the living roof ensures renewability.
The basis of heating & lighting lies with the sun. Good passive solar design ensure that the building is best located & oriented in its landscape to maximise illumination and warmth from the sun. An over engineered, thick, darkly finished north wall provides a thermal mass heat store that allows the accumulation of thermal energy during the day, to be released overnight and help guard against the cold. A small wood burning stove augments the need for heat it the coldest months when heat from the sun is scarce.
For lighting and power it bears Photovoltaic cells, with a feed-in back to the grid for the export of unused electricity.
The shed sits in a crescent of trees, encircling it to the north, these incorporate the existing foliage, provide protection from the elements and a renewable source of wood for the wood burner. Established trees are pollarded and new trees introduced to replace any terminal casualities of the axe, weather or disease.
Rain-water is gathered from the roof and made palatable by combined carbon filtration and ultra-violet sterilisation.
….
So there you have it, the ‘gold standard’ version of the shed.
To reduce costs, the PV and rain-water ‘cleansing’ could be removed. To reduce the amount of space needed, plans for the crescent of trees could be discarded.
I don’t think this one will ever get built … too pricy, time consuming and ultimately over designed.
Design Inspiration ~ My ‘straw-man’ shed design #1
I thought that the best way to start on a detailed design (or at least to make a start on what I’d expect to be one of many) was to come up with a title for the shed, after some thought (not much) this seemed like a good one:
Zero carbon renewable shed.
What’s that…?
This is a shed that steps lightly on the world. It’s is constructed as far as possible from renewables, tries to minimise its environmental impact then goes the extra mile in attempting to pay-back some of the carbon inevitably expended in its contruction.
Construction materials are available locally: The walls built from cob; wooden windows, doors and roof structure use indigenous species of timber; the living roof ensures renewability.
The basis of heating & lighting lies with the sun. Good passive solar design ensure that the building is best located & oriented in its landscape to maximise illumination and warmth from the sun. An over engineered, thick, darkly finished north wall provides a thermal mass heat store that allows the accumulation of thermal energy during the day, to be released overnight and help guard against the cold. A small wood burning stove augments the need for heat it the coldest months when heat from the sun is scarce.
For lighting and power it bears Photovoltaic cells, with a feed-in back to the grid for the export of unused electricity.
The shed sits in a crescent of trees, encircling it to the north, these incorporate the existing foliage, provide protection from the elements and a renewable source of wood for the wood burner. Established trees are pollarded and new trees introduced to replace any terminal casualities of the axe, weather or disease.
Rain-water is gathered from the roof and made palatable by combined carbon filtration and ultra-violet sterilisation.
….
So there you have it, the ‘gold standard’ version of the shed.
To reduce costs, the PV and rain-water ‘cleansing’ could be removed. To reduce the amount of space needed, plans for the crescent of trees could be discarded.
I don’t think this one will ever get built … too pricy, time consuming and ultimately over designed.
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