Green Carbon focuses on low and zero carbon new-builds. Green Carbon is a group of companies that was formed in January 2007 as a spin-off of an established Eco-refurbishment specialist Oakwood Builders & Joinery Ltd. Its purpose is to benefit from the scheduled changes in future building regulations by designing and building new eco-houses that fulfill or exceed the new standards.

The Group consists of Green Carbon Homes PLC which acts as the main holding company and wholly owns three subsidiary companies, namely Green Carbon Construction Ltd, Green Carbon Products Ltd and Green Carbon Designs Ltd. The result is a group of companies that has its own unique building system (Zero System) using pre-manufactured timber “post and beam” frame, a team that has been fully trained to build houses and eco-office pods using this system and a supply chain able to manufacture and supply all the necessary components to create high performance eco-houses. The design team is able to create a whole range of building types using this system including houses, apartments, offices and office pods/garden rooms.

Green Carbon differentiates itself by offering a complete building package with its own in-house team thus ensuring continuity throughout the entire build and maximum air tightness

With links to Oxford Brookes and Sheffield Hallam universities, Green Carbon offers internships that guarantees a continual in-take of fresh new talent helping it remain at the forefront of the industry.

DESIGN

With a highly experienced design ream, Green Carbon is capable of designing and constructing low and zero carbon buildings reaching Levels 4 to 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

This is achieved through: -

Heavy-weight timber frame

• To create thermal mass to reduce dependence on air-conditioning in warmer temperatures

Greencarbon's heavy-weight thermal mass building system using glulam post & beams is designed to incorporate the additional weight required for thermal mass. Most of the present zero carbon prototype houses are centred around light-weight construction such as SIPS (Structural insulated panels) which are efficient at thermal energy conservation but are questionable regarding resistance to overheating in hot weather. This is one of the main reasons why timber-frame buildings are not prevalent in hot climates. In order to future proof buildings against climate change (hotter summers), buildings will require a thermal buffer to prevent overheating. This evidently reduces the need for air-conditioning.

Effective Insulation and Air-tighness & Ventilation

• To retain heat and decrease the need for heating
• Super-insulated walls, window, floors and ceilings

If buildings are built airtight, then they require some means to “Breath”. This is normally achieved with mechanical heat recovery ventilation (MHRV). MHRV usually comprises of a unit with two fans, one that extracts air from the building and another which extracts air from outside. Within the unit, cold fresh air from outside is heated by the outgoing stale warm air. The fans run constantly and provide a very high internal air quality without excessive loss of heat. Depending on the external air temperature, MHRV is often able to recover 60-95% of the heat. The ventilation system extracts all the internal moisture and thus helps prevent high humidity problems and maintains high air quality.

Renewable Energy

• Solar PV – to generate electricity
• Solar thermal – to heat water
• Passive solar orientation – for heating
• Biomass boilers – combined electricity and heat/heat
• Wind turbines – to generate electricity

Water Management

• Rainwater harvesting - collected in storage for household use
• Greywater recycling – treated household water for reuse.

Low Embodied-Energy Materials and FSC Timber

Embodied energy calculations in the building fabric such as concrete, steels, bricks, tiles etc will all have to be accounted for. The higher the embodied energy, the least points that will be obtained. This is not a problem if the material has a long life span because, in the case of bricks, they will last many hundreds of years. Upvc windows, with a life-span of less than 30 years will have a negative impact on the embodied energy calculations on the building.

TIME AND MONEY TO BE SAVED

It is very clear that in order to bring construction costs down in a market of skilled labour shortages, off-site or modern methods of construction (MMC) will have to be more widespread. MMC also gets rid of many of the 'Wet trades' which can hold up many projects. A big advantage of MMC is that people with lower skills can be used for the on-site assembly process thereby reducing the labour cost of the build.