Solar hot water system in Spain: Is it the best investment?
With an average of 320 days of sunshine a year in the south, it’s not surprising that solar hot water systems in Spain are a common feature of many homes. Solar hot water systems in Spain are reliable, durable and quite straightforward to install. But while there’s certainly no shortage of sunshine to produce domesticContinue reading
Passive Solar Design: Harness the Energy of the Spanish Sun for Heating and Cooling Your Home
An appreciation of how best to manipulate natural energy resources is fundamental to successful energy efficient design. Daylight, sunlight, and solar heating should be embraced early in the design stage of a project in what is now called passive solar design. It is important to understand that all the factors that underlie the successful applicationContinue reading
Design Your Home in Spain for Airtightness
Expensive heated air or cooled air is constantly escaping from our homes in Spain giving rise to discomfort, high energy bills, and speeding up climate change. Regardless of how much or what type of insulation you put into your home if you fail to ensure that the fabric is airtight your comfort and energy efficientContinue reading
Energy Efficient Homes in Spain – Less Is More
The misconception that energy efficient buildings will cost more to build is almost impossible to shift. Most people in this area seem to miss the point. For the most part energy efficiency in the home isn’t about technical solutions such as wind turbines, photovoltaic, heat pumps and the like. There’s a danger that these gadgetsContinue reading
Europe’s Buildings: Energy Performance Today and Tomorrow
As a part of the European Sustainable Energy week, April 13th the conference ‘Europe’s Buildings: Energy Performance Today and Tomorrow‘ takes place in Brussels. Here members of the European Commission’s Concerted Action will discuss with the European stakeholders the plans and challenges lying ahead as Europe moves towards a greater obtaining a greater stock ofContinue reading
Cost Effective Energy Efficiency Villa Construction
The Institute for Building Efficiency has recently issued a brief called; European Union: Cost Effective Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Among other things, the brief addresses an interesting issue between the implementation of energy efficiency at micro and macro level. In the executive summery it says: “what is cost-optimal in terms of achieving energy and climateContinue reading
The Energy Efficient Buildings of the future
According to the EU directive amended in 2010, member States shall ensure that: (a) by 31 December 2020, all new buildings are nearly zero- energy buildings; and (b) after 31 December 2018, new buildings occupied and owned by public authorities are nearly zero-energy buildings. The directives states that: “Buildings account for 40 % of totalContinue reading
The Comfortable Eco-lifestyle
Living the eco-lifestyle seems like an unachievable task for many of us. We know we should do more, and we’re constantly reminded that by doing little things and taking simple steps we can help reduce our carbon footprint to the benefit of the environment and our wallets. According to the UK Energy Saving trust, £160Continue reading
