Green roofs in Spain: How they benefit the environment and your health
Green roofs in Spain not only look incredible, but they can also go a long way to keeping your energy-efficient home comfortable. It’s why building a living roof garden is becoming an increasingly popular practice for eco-conscious homeowners – especially in Spain. Here are Eco Vida Homes’ eight persuasive reasons why green roofs in SpainContinue reading
Container homes Spain: Can you build with recycled shipping containers in Spain?
Shipping container homes come in all shapes and sizes, from luxury villas made up of several containers, to single units for those looking for a way to get off-grid. But is it really a good idea to build container homes in Spain? While it’s entirely possible and there are a few good examples, there areContinue reading
Off Site Construction Spain: Is it Green?
Modern timber frames, kit houses, prefab buildings and modular homes in Spain have a number of advantages but are they particularly green? Not necessarily. The thing is you generally have more control so they lend themselves to energy efficiency. The question of embodied transport related energy needs to be asked. This needs to include transportContinue reading
What Makes a Home “Green”?
What makes a home green, eco, or sustainable? Here are the main features: 1. A green home doesn’t use fossil fuels. Fossil fuels contribute to climate change, are expensive, and can be dirty and smelly. 2. An eco home is energy efficient: i.e. they use less energy whether its fossil fuel energy or renewable energy.Continue reading
Green Building Accreditation Systems Explained
There are many different organisations around the world who offer green building accreditations. These are independent rating systems that measure the building’s “green” credentials against closely defined criteria. The mains ones are Breeam (UK), Leed (USA), DGNB (Germany) and CASBEE (Japan). In Spain we use the Spanish version of the Green Building Council which isContinue reading
It’s hot hot hot! Cool your building with no electricity, no moving parts and no noise
Conventional air conditioning burns a hole in your wallet and if the electricity is generated from fossil fuels it contributes to climate change. So cool your building with no electricity, no moving parts and no noise. Solar Cooling Spain Solar Cooling with Salts It’s a brilliantly conceived system. It just uses the energy from theContinue reading
Air Source Heat Pump: Is this Just Hot Air? How Does it Work?
Intuitively we can understand how a log fire works, electric radiator or an oil fired boiler but heat from the air seems counter intuitive so how does it actually work and is it reliable? Well you already own a heat pump. Your fridge is a heat pump. Heat is extracted from the fridge and expelledContinue reading
How Much Money Can You Save With an Energy Efficient Home in Spain?
If you live in a typical energy inefficient home in Spain constructed say 5 years ago to the minimum standards required by the building regulations then it’s possible that 70% or more of your energy consumption is on space heating (and maybe cooling) and another 20% is on hot water. And the rest could goContinue reading
