British Researchers Building Trial "Energy House" With Artificial Weather

I like how it's only "thought" to be the first of it's kind in Europe. Little did they know, Evil McSpankensmire had built his own home in a snow globe many years before this!

The real problem with all these great ideas is that they are not for the masses.

Like I saw a show where a woman built a very efficient home for about just about it would cost for a conventional home. But the problem is how many people really live in a "custom" built house? The rest of us buy what the builder makes for the most part (with cosmetic changes), or buy existing houses. Until you can convince the builders to change their ways the point is mute.

@tcolguin Every idea has to start somewhere, if anything you should be angry at the builders who probably wouldnt adopt any new ideas because they would have to go back to learn all the new techniques and such.

Actually I'm not angry at anyone, and no I don't want these people to stop looking for good ideas. I think what they are doing is great. I was just pointing out, that if their ideas are going to amount to anything it has to be picked up by the masses. And the reason it currently isn't is certain partly the builders fault, and also the consumers, for not demanding better, or wanting to get the cheapest priced house at the cost showing up in the future.

I trust they are using energy efficient snowmakers and recycled water for this boondoggle.

And why are there no windows in the structure for solar effects? What kind of energy efficiency is that!? Are they going to use artificial solar lamps to generate the heating cycles?

And who gets to live there? Al Gore and Bjorn Lomborg?

Kermudjin, it helps if you read the article; or at least skim the first paragraph or two. This isn't an energy efficient house, it was never intended to be an energy efficient house; it is a fairly typical british house in an controlled, artificial environment where its performance can be studied.

This isn't about building an energy efficient house. It's about building a common 1920s style house inside a controlled environment. Scientists will study the house's energy consumption under different weather conditions to try and discover cheap and efficient ways to make *regular* houses more energy efficient.

Reading is a great way to get information, folks.

Interesting project, many things can be studied with that. Traditional houses were built in specific times and conditions, with limited technology and common materials to what can be built today. People are using new tools and technology for adaptation, since it's getting harder to get old materials, but problems are the same, weather, water, ground movement and biological organisms causes various problems and energy losses. Perhaps those solutions shouldn't be so simple and compact but classical materials interconnected with new composites and biology, similar to clothes, like natural shell and skin interface with nature. House could be a home to various plants that would support structure by strengthening foundations, protecting walls and driving moisture away, allowing clean air to flow trough it, resist fire or even connect buildings in the area to be more earthquake proof. Today we have knowledge, technology and materials, that can be tested in time capsules instead trough centuries of adaptation to natural environment, energy house could simulate some changes in living environment that is also rapidly responding and influence structure efficiency. Instead of constantly fighting those problems, adaptation to living environment would help adapting to weather, seasons and steer those physical forces away to harness their energy, like entropy speed reduction shell and energy collector for house residents.