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Delivering Ultra-Low-Energy affordable homes for Wales

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Technology

Home Office

Real Change is in the air. The Pandemic has been a chance for people to examine their working lives and question the need to spend significant chunks of their waking lives travelling to and from a place of work. We have created the opportunity to fashion your own Home Office where you cancel out long commutes, improve your quality of life and develop a working environment on your own terms. With Cat5 cable connections, BT high speed fibre broadband and networked WiFi throughout your home you will have every technology option available. And perhaps most importantly you will be living in a community of other people working from home allowing you to create those ‘water cooler’ moments you once enjoyed with other colleagues.

Reduce carbon footprint

Homes made of wood.

Clean Energy

The construction and building industry is responsible for 38% of the carbon emitted globally. Our homes are made primarily from wood and most of it is sourced locally, just a walk away from a 500-acre forest outside Boncath village. Welsh wood is our raw material and we have become expert at converting trees into warm comfortable solar-powered homes.

renewable building material

Responsibly sourced wood is the only renewable building material available; it is naturally grown and removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Wood products then store the carbon that the growing trees have removed from the air (about 50% of the dry weight of wood is carbon).

clean tech

Responsibly sourced wood

The production and processing of wood uses much less energy – called embodied energy – than most other building materials, giving wood products a significantly lower carbon footprint. Wood can be used to substitute for materials that require larger amounts of fossil fuels to be produced.

Making a TY Solar Home

Lifespan

Carbon Reduction

Over its life span, it is expected a Ty Solar building will avoid 254 tonnes of CO2 compared to the average or standard buildings. 

Willow the mules is especially trained to help with logging trees from nearby Boncath Woods using traditional low impact hauling techniques.
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guaranteed for 80 years

External doors and windows made of Accoya wood are guaranteed for 80 years.

Our external doors and windows are made of Accoya wood. Accoya wood is produced through a modification system that enhances the durability and dimensional stability of timber. This enables it to be used in situations where previously we may have relied upon durable tropical hardwoods or plastics such as uPVC.
An acetylation process alters the cell structure by transforming free hydroxyl groups (containing oxygen and hydrogen) within the wood cell walls into acetyl groups (containing oxygen, hydrogen and carbon). This is achieved through a patented system involving vacuum treatment of kiln dried timber with acetic acid – essentially just vinegar. Transforming these free hydroxyl groups is key to improved durability and stability as it is to these sites within the cell wall that water can be absorbed and released as climatic conditions change thus leading to expansion and contraction of the timber. Acetylation improves stability by 80%. Increased stability of Accoya wood not only means that warping, bending and twisting are reduced or eliminated it also has benefits for surface treatments as cracks and fissures are smaller so paint finishes are not disrupted thus increasing their life span and reducing maintenance cycles. The modification process also ensures that timber is treated right the way to the centre – so there is no need to treat cut ends on site.

Energy Efficiency

The energy efficiency rating of your Ty Solar home is 105, way above the upper A range of energy efficiency. Bearing in mind that the average rating for homes in England and Wales is D, these homes are designed with the highest energy efficiency rating.
Recycled paper insulation pumped into 11 inch thick walls to achieve high energy efficiency ratings.

Permeable materials

Whilst the frame is insulated using nearly 11 inches of recycled paper, the use of modern permeable materials ensures that the walls remain fully breathable. A further benefit is that the use of carcinogenic chemicals – commonly used elsewhere in construction materials – has been eliminated in the design of Tŷ Solar®. Injecting the walls with fibrous paper insulation

Energy Efficiency

Passive solar design refers to the use of the sun’s energy for the heating and cooling of living spaces by exposure to the sun. When sunlight strikes a building, the building materials can reflect, transmit, or absorb the solar radiation. In addition, the heat produced by the sun causes air movement that can be predictable in designed spaces. 

These basic responses to solar heat lead to design elements, material choices and placements that can provide heating and cooling effects in a home. Our homes point to the south to maximise the input of the sun’s energy and we have carefully designed canopies to provide shade in the summer months. Our homes are therefore naturally warm in winter and cool in the summer.

Unlike active solar heating systems, passive systems are simple and do not involve substantial use of mechanical and electrical devices, such as pumps, fans, or electrical controls to move the solar energy. The homes are therefore virtually maintenance free.
The home is a mini power station.

Solar panels

15,000 KwH per year

A Ty Solar house is built with a monopitched roof incorporating 54 solar panels which will generate 15,000 KwH per annum. Bearing in mind that energy is produced during the daylight hours, the use of the Tesla Powerwall battery provides the capability to store surplus energy in the day for use at night. Your home is a mini power station generating electricity right at the point of consumption. 

Any surplus energy can be exported into the grid. In the winter months when the days are short and sunlight can be obscured by cloud it is possible to draw down cheap electricity at night and store it in the Tesla Powerwall for use in the day. The Powerwall has its own AI systems to get to know the patters of usage and to regulate the storage and release of energy accordingly.

 

energy on demand

Tesla Powerwall

Your self-powered home combines solar energy and Powerwall to independently power your home day and night. During the day, solar panels may produce more energy than your home uses. Powerwall stores that excess solar energy and makes it available on demand, even after the sun has set. Through the Tesla app, you will have full visibility into your self-powered home. Powerwall can detect an outage, disconnect from the grid, and automatically restore power to your home in a fraction of a second. You will not even notice that the power went out. Your lights and appliances will continue to run without interruption.

Volatile Organic Compounds

The Painting System

Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs, are carbon-containing substances that easily become vapours or gases. They can be present in paints, coatings and cleaning products and are harmful to humans. Our painting system is very low in VOCs and has been created by Tikkulila the Swedish paint manufacturer. You can choose your colours once you have selected your home.

The painting system we have chosen

  • Does not emit toxic compounds into the air
  • Contain only naturally occurring trace amounts of VOC
  • Have been independently tested to ensure they are not sensitising to asthma and allergy sufferers.
  • Currently hold the most stringent certifications available, in most cases beyond those held by widely marketed “Eco Paint” brands
  • Interior products do not contain heavy metals.

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