Solar PV House, Weymouth

Solar PV House is a conversion of a mid-terraced Victorian home, and the addition of a full width loft conversion and a three story extension at the back, clad in metal with flexible PV panels. The house was previously a cannabis factory and when Jason and Janne bought it the house was in semi-derelict condition. 

Jason writes: "the changes we made were:

•  Insulation to internal walls, new flat roofs, living room slab and the raised ground floor.
• Insulated wooden loft and rear bedroom structure clad in standing seam steel and rubber EPDM (Building Regs. 2016)
• Removed the gas supply.
• Installed double glazing including south facing glass 'curtain' for passive solar heating in winter and passive stack cooling in summer with electric skylight at top of stairwell.
• Installed a 350L thermal store heated by a 6.4KW building integrated PV system with east, south, west arrays. The PV is thin film CIGS ( copper indium gallium selenide) stuck to standing seam steel walls and EPDM (synthetic rubber) flat roof covering.
• Far infrared underfloor downstairs and ceiling mounted panels in upper floor rooms.
• Tesla Powerwall 2 battery.
• Small 5KW wood stove connected to the thermal store which burns primarily coffee logs and sawdust briquettes from a local joinery factory. Burning coffee logs gives off fewer emissions than wood, burns hotter and stops coffee grounds going to landfill where they give off methane which is twenty-five times more harmful than CO2.
• All LED lighting, AAA domestic devices and electric induction hob.
• Side return extension green roof.
• Rainwater irrigation of garden borders for growing.
• 98% recycled shed from leftover wood offcuts with rainwater capture to large butt.
• 6 large palms were already in place and were retained with the addition of a new wildflower meadow lawn and wildflower and sedum green roof over the living area.
• The demolition of the internal spaces and walls involved careful recycling and re-use of materials where possible (e.g. bricks).

The effect of this conversion, apart from the extra room, has been measured by Jason. Comparing it to other houses:

Energy Comparison
Victorian terraces 421.5 kWh/m2/year approx.
Passive retrofit in Kensal Rise London 15 kWh/m2/year
Superhomes (Energy Saving Trust) 104 kWh/m2/year
UK average according to Superhomes 177 kWh/m2/year
SolarPVHouse (predicted) 53 kWh/m2/year (recorded over period) 73-86 kWh/m2/year (likely adjusted actual) 65 kWh/m2/year

Carbon Comparison
Superhomes 60% reduction to qualify
SolarPVHouse Co2 Emissions Reduction Over 75% (maybe just under 100% as all electric renewable and as mentioned the stove burns 50% coffee logs which reduce methane emissions from landfill)

SolarPVHouse Co2 Emissions Rate 7.51 Kg/Co2/m2/year 

 Website: https://solarpvhouse.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/solarpvhouse

Published Papers: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/36190/html/

Fun Timelapse Video (which could be shared where you need it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjvfRIW2mj8

Additional information

(PDF, 80kB)