When planning your holiday this year why not consider an eco-lodge?  They are less harmful to the environment than most holiday homes and they are beautiful in their simplicity.  After writing a blog on the Pembrokeshire eco village I was interested to look at other buildings and projects catering for environmentally aware people.  During my search I came across news of a set of eco lodges which have been constructed in Spain and was delighted to discover that these idyllic buildings had little impact on the environment.  The building materials used most in the construction is European oak, which makes up the walls, floors and ceiling.  The oak, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, is tougher and more resistant than soft wood timber and was chosen because of the high levels of insulation offered to shelter inhabitants from the harsh winter weather.  Due to the remote location of the building, the timber was carried by hand down existing paths on the hillside. 

 Additionally, the lodge is not connected to mains and is run on solar power alone with a back up generator for emergencies.  The water is gained through water catchment and a purification system and there is a composting toilet.  Even the interior was designed around specifications to remain as sustainable as possible.  Simon Payne, director of the company Blue Forest who designed and constructed the lodge, has said that “The owner specifically wanted to minimise environmental impact by renewable power and rainwater rather than mains supplies.”

 Great attention was paid in order to cause no distress to the surrounding trees, the location itself was chosen so that no trees would have to be felled to make way for the building and when it came to supporting the freestanding building, cement was poured into hand dug holes for the support posts, preventing any roots of nearby trees being damaged.

The lodges themselves look out from the Andalucian Hills with spectacular views across the Straight of Gibraltor.  The natural surroundings coupled with simple yet beautiful buildings make these eco lodges the perfect holiday destination, not to mention their small impact on the environment.  It is safe to say the BuilderScrap team have found their next location for a relaxing and sustainable retreat!

I’m sure that many of the Eco-Warriors out there have been following news of the eco-villages popping up in the world.  I for one find it fascinating to watch how plans become reality when it comes to sustainable living.  It is important to recognise the environmental issues and problems caused by existing dwellings and try to overcome these in eco-friendly ways.  However it is also important to develop the way new buildings are constructed.  BuilderScrap promote the reuse of building materials and this in itself is one big step toward a more sustainable future, but what else can be done?  I have been following the progression of the Lammas project in Pembrokeshire and am excited that this month sees the first tours of the project.  The site will be open for viewing to local people on the 5^th of May and 6^th June and to any others on 8^th of May and 5^th June. 

There are currently seven families working on their plots on the Lammas project, you can read their bios and interests in sustainable living on the official website.  Each family has their own plans to lead a sustainable and self sufficient life in Pembrokeshire providing much of their own food and products whilst also selling their stock and produce to the local community.  These plans stretch from selling willow products grown on their land to selling cured meats at local farmers markets.  The families will each be working in jobs they love and feel passionate about whilst also living in a sustainable and beautiful environment, how many people in the big cities can say that? 

All of the houses are designed using low-impact architecture which uses a combination of recycled and natural materials.  The different dwellings will use diverse building styles including straw bale, earth sheltered, timber frame and cob and each will blend into the local landscape.  The Ecovillage will be separated from mains services meaning they will have to source their own electricity and water, something that has already been planned.  Using renewables the inhabitants of the village will be provided with electricity and there is an existing spring for drinking water, additionally there is a water turbine system already on the site and this is going to be restored and renovated, all this alongside rainwater harvesting on the roofs of buildings will mean the village will have plenty of water!  Compost toilets, wormeries and compost heaps will be used to compost all organic waste and finally, elephant grass and coppiced willow grown on site will act as fuel for those living in this sustainable village. 

I think it’s great that more “eco-villages” are being planned and on some occasions, developed and I both hope and look forward to seeing more in the future.  The village in Pembrokeshire is set to be an idyllic and eco-friendly place for the dedicated families who are developing their land there and, once completed, will hopefully persuade more people to follow their example and start looking to similar buildings for their own homes.

Since new sustainable standards were released by the Scottish Government builders and contractors have been left panicking during what is already a critical time for the industry.  Homes for Scotland (an industry group) are worried that the new plans will increase the cost of building a house by £8,000 by adding a ‘carbon premium’.  If this is the case then house prices are sure to rise to meet the new construction costs.  Jonathon Fair, the chief executive of Homes for Scotland believes that the future of sustainable construction lies with the refurbishment of existing properties.  BuilderScrap tends to agree with Fair as our agenda is all about reusing building materials.  Surely it is more sustainable and cost effective to salvage properties, renovating and restoring them rather than building a new one from scratch? 

 The plans dictate that all new homes built in Scotland as of 1^st October 2010 will have to have to be better insulated against sound and be more energy efficient.  Considering that the Scottish construction industry has “already reduced the carbon emissions of new homes by 60% from 1990 levels against the Scottish Government’s overall reduction target of 80% by 2050” (Jonathon Fair) it seems the government are focusing too much of their attention on driving that last 20% as soon as possible.  Whilst the BuilderScrap team are not against any form of sustainable building we have recognised that we are undeniably still in a recession and the construction industry is one of the hardest hit sectors.  However, whilst the recession is no excuse to ignore the need for more environmentally friendly buildings the Government need to focus more time and energy on trying to save costs whilst also saving the environment.  BuilderScrap is one way to do this and there are others out there (take a look at how we can help you now)!  The problem the Scottish Government and building industry are likely to find themselves in is that during the recession people simply can’t afford to pay up to an additional £8,000 for a house, so work is going to dry up and the houses which are built under the new rules may struggle to find a family who can afford to live in them.  However if Jonathon Fair’s advice is taken into account and more attention is paid to existing dwellings Scotland should still be able to reach its targets as long as, as many materials as possible are salvaged and houses already standing are restored.

This post from BuilderScrap.com concerns not just building materials but also the recycling of common waste.  Consistent with 2007, 83% of respondents said there was a bottle or recycling bank in their area. However, reported usage of these facilities had increased slightly compared with 2007 (see Table 18). Around three-quarters (71%) of respondents said they made use of recycling banks, an increase of six percentage points since 2007.

Respondents who said that they used their local recycling facilities were then asked what type of items they took there (see Table 19 for a full breakdown). People were most likely to take glass items to bottle banks or recycling centres – with nearly three quarters (70%) of respondents reporting taking these to be recycled. This is slightly less than the 76% who reported that they used their doorstep recycling collection for glass. Just under half (47%) took clothes to be recycled. Around a third of respondents reported that they took paper items, cardboard, shoes or tins and cans to their local recycling banks. It is likely that this is influenced by levels of doorstep collection for certain items, for example door-step collections for glass and clothes recycling are less widespread than paper.

In 2007, similar proportions of respondents were taking each of these items to recycling facilities. Where there had been changes in recycling, the largest increases were for tins, cans and foil, and paper items where the proportion of respondents who said they took these to be recycled had increased by eight percentage points.

This Defra survey looked at the types of actions that respondents said they were doing that directly reduce the amount of energy they were using in the home – for example, turning the heating down or boiling the kettle with a limited amount of water. Table 6 summarises the extent to which people had thought about, or tried each of these behaviours (using the stages of change response scale).  Here at BuilderScrap.com we look more at the reducing waste and energy on worldwide scale. Sharing, recycling and reclaiming building materials that otherwise would be sent to landfill…. therefore reducing costs.

Building Materials

The results show that most people said they were doing each of the five energy saving behaviours and intended to keep these up – few had tried the behaviours and later relapsed. Respondents were most likely to be doing and intending to keep doing the following behaviours:

• Only boiling the kettle with as much water as you need (84% said they had done this and intended to keep it up)
• Washing clothes at 40 degrees or less (77%)
• Cutting down on the use of gas and electricity at home (76%)

There had been a significant increase in those respondents who reported cutting down on the use of gas and electricity at home from 58% in the 2007 Defra survey to 76% in 2009. Fewer respondents reported turning down thermostats or cutting down on the use of hot water, though it was still a majority of respondents at 66% and 64% respectively.

For all five of the behaviours shown in Table 6, relatively small numbers of respondents reported relapsing (having tried the behaviour but stopped doing it) – 5% or less of respondents for each behaviour. Similarly, a relatively small proportion of respondents had rejected each behaviour before ever trying (between 3% and 9% of all respondents had rejected each of the five behaviours).

The majority of respondents had at least thought about adopting each of the five behaviours with only a small proportion being classified at the pre-contemplation stage (where they had either not heard of the behaviour or not thought about it). Just 6% of respondents were at the pre-contemplation stage for the first three behaviours shown (boiling the kettle with only as much water as you need, washing clothes at 40 degrees or less, and cutting down on the use of gas and electricity at home).

A larger proportion of respondents were either at the pre-contemplation stage (i.e. had either never heard of it or had not thought about doing it) or rejection stage (i.e. had thought about doing it but had dismissed the idea) for cutting down on the use of hot water at home (25% in total for both stages) and turning down thermostats (19% in total for both stages).

Here at BuilderScrap.com we’re looking at the actions people are taking to use less energy (primarily gas and electricity) in their homes and the extent to which saving energy in the home was seen as a priority. Any responsible building services company would be able to outline a plan that would detail energy saving in the home. Not only in the form of an energy efficiency rating but also the building materials and techniques used. Many of the questions covered in the previous post used the previously described stages of change response scales to assess willingness to adopt or adapt a behaviour.

Attitudes to saving energy in the home

All respondents were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement “I don’t really give much thought to saving energy in my home‟. As shown in Figure 5, a large majority (77%) of respondents disagreed with this statement. Around one in seven (14%) respondents agreed with the statement. This represents a significant shift in response since 2007, when 62% disagreed with this statement and just under a quarter (23%) agreed.