Energy Efficiency Dolls House

 OK.  I've just finished adding most of the insulation.  Now I'm going to try to pull together the essential info to go with the exhibit: how much each thing costs, what it saves financially, what it saves environmentally and a few quick notes.  Here goes:

• Insulation
  • cavity wall insulation
    • If the house was built after 1920 is probably has cavities
    • Uninsulated = U-value 1.1W/m2/k
    • U-value = 0.55 or better
    • Good details on the EST website
  • solid walls
    • 45% of the heatloss from an uninsulated solid walled home is through the walls
    • see good EST doc
    • internal solid wall insulation
      • Pros compared to external
        • Probably cheaper
        • No alteration to external appearance; no planning issues; no neighbour issues
        • Easier to DIY
  • • external solid wall insulation
      • Pros compared to internal
        • No loss of internal floor area
        • No need to re-decorate internally
        • Almost completely eliminates cold bridging 
        • Maintain thermal mass of the wall
  • floor insulation (divide the floor into 3 sections)
    • blank on the left
      • U-value of 20mm wood floor board = 20W/m2/K (!)
    • glass wool suspended by chicken wire in the middle
      • if you have joists 150mm or deeper then wool is cheaper and easier than foam. 150mm wool = 0.25W/m2/K. 200mm = 0,19W/m2/K
    • rigid foam wedged between joists and supported by struts on the right
      • if you have joists shallower than 150mm then rigid foam is needed to achieve best practice performance.
        • 150mm foam = 0.15 W/m2/K
        • 100mm foam = 0.23 W/m2/K
  • loft insulation (divide into multiple sections)
    • just glass wool filling the joists
      • £325 (empty loft) £265 (top-up from 75 mm)
      • Saving
        • from empty to 270mm = £85-295 per year
      • see the excellent table on the EST
      • Performance
        • empty (U=5.56) to 270mm (U=0.16) = 35-fold reduction in heat loss:
        • 80mm (U=0.48) to 270mm (U=0.16) = 3-fold reduction in heat loss
    • wool between joists + wool over the joists, perpendicular
    • wool between joists + rigid foam over joists
      • 80mm wool +100mm foam = 0.16
    • rigid foam between joists
      • 150mm foam = 0.16
• PV panels on the roof connected to LED lamps in the rooms (should actually work!)
• Hot water talk with jacket in bathroom
  • See good EST doc
• Cold water tank in loft with insulation over it
• Doll's house models

 And here's the (almost) finished doll's house complete with explanations:

And here it is without any explanations:  (the house is usually presented with model furniture and people in each room)

 Hello,

That house looks very impressive. I am looking for a house to use for explaining energy efficiency to children, would it be possible to purchase one of these?

Many thanks,

Julia 

 Hi Julia,

I'm really glad you like the doll's house! I love your plan to explain energy efficiency to children using a doll's house. I'm afraid we just made a single house and don't have the facilities to produce another one.

If you're interested then I expect we can find the contact details for the wonderful guy who made the doll's house for us (although we installed the energy efficiency measures).

Thanks,

Jack