2011年9月29日星期四

Irish eco-homes were expensive to run

The residents who moved into new 'eco-homes' built by Fingal County Council in Oldtown were promised lower energy bills but instead, in their first months in the homes their bills shot up leaving many residents unable to pay. Since then there has been a lot of back and forth between the council and the householders on the energy efficiency of the homes with residents claiming the houses were not as energy efficient as promised and the council claiming that the problem was that residents did not know how to use the system properly.

A study was commissioned and the results have been eagerly awaited by both sides for months now. The results of that study finally came before the Balbriggan/ Swords Area Committee recently and is currently being digested by the beleaguered residents. The consultants who prepared the report said it is 'clear' that the homes should cost an average of 25% less in energy bills than the average Irish home.

It said that the main lesson to be learned from the episode is that 'residents of low energy houses need additional training and assistance to achieve these lower running costs'. ' The earlier this training is received the fewer problems there will be when moving in,' the reports states.

The report goes on to detail the difficulties with the system, saying: ' The controls for the heating and ventilation systems are not easy to use and the residents have found them confusing and difficult to understand.There are zentai underneath mattresses, ' This has probably contributed to higher energy costs than necessary in some of the houses, at least in the early stages. A two page easy guide to operating the controls was developed,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, trialled and issued to all residents during the monitoring period to help people to use the system more efficiently.then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence.' The system also requires a high degree of maintenance by the council, according to the consultants, who said: ' The ventilation system needs regular maintenance to operate efficiently and the council is providing this maintenance service. '

The cleaning of the filters in the houses to remove the inevitable dust and dirt from the construction process did not happen immediately after handover and this undoubtedly had a negative effect on the initial performance of the systems. ' The attic space is locked so that residents do not interfere with the heat recovery ventilation and solar collector systems which effectively fill the attic space.If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards, ' This does mean the Council has the responsibility to service and maintain the systems in the house regularly or they will not perform efficiently, or worse, create unhealthy living conditions.

'The Council is implementing a more intensive regular maintenance system for cleaning and replacing the HRV filters.Our high risk merchant account was down for about an hour and a half,' Councillors have reserved judgement on the report for now until the residents of the estate have the time to digest its findings before a future debate on the whole episode in council chambers.

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