EcoHat adorns energy-efficient tract homes
Tract homes are turning eco-chic, at least in a small town outside of London. British architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners has designed a 145-unit housing development in England that could be a future model for efficient housing around the world. The two-story homes, which are between 700 and 1,400 square feet, feature a modern twist on the English chimney: the Ecohat.
Sounds like something a hippie would put on in winter, but the EcoHat is an aluminum structure (painted bright red) that contains powerful solar panels and an airflow system to optimize energy consumption inside the home. Sitting on the spine of the house like a chimney and angled toward the sun, the Ecohat filters fresh air coming into the building for natural air-conditioning and reuses hot air circulating through the stack to power a hot water system.
The result can be a 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the house, compared with a traditional new home of the same size, according to Rogers Stirk.
The company built the homes as part of a government competition that asked entrants to construct an energy-efficient residence for less $121,000. The frame of the house had to be erected on the site within two days. In a nod to the innovation of EcoHat, Rogers Stirk won the design competition. Let that set a standard for new, low-cost home developments around the globe.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:49 am
These “eco hats” are not all they’re cracked up to be in our experience so far.
We’ve had several problems with ours, and the “solar” hot water doesn’t really seem to work. The technology is designed for “in roof” installation, and having a water tank a couple of stories away from the eco hat doesn’t seem to be very efficient or effective.
We live in one of the Oxley Woods eco houses and are sharing our (mixed) experiences on our blog: http://oxleywoodsliving.co.uk/tag/eco-hat
July 25th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I found your blog on Bing, I am very excited about this subject, I am also very excited about green construction tech., I will be checking on your blog very soon