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Designing the 'Green' Conservatory Part 2
Wednesday, December 3, 2008As we mentioned in Part I, we were in the process of creating a "green" conservatory for a client.
A laundry list of issues had to be explored and dealt with for the final design.
Glass was the first big subject. Tremendous research and technology has been introduced to the glass industry in the last few years. More strict energy codes and consumer demands have resulted in the consumer being able to achieve nearly anything they want the glass to do.
In this case, efficient glass but plant loving glass was the challenge. Living plants thrive on certain spectrums of light. The trick was to design the glass to hit the necessary light spectrums. Once done, the necessary thermal glass was specified and added to the design. More information on plant loving, thermally efficient glass can be obtained by chatting with your ConservatoryCraftsmen representative.
We all knew that on any sunny day in the winter, the conservatory would heat itself. How is this heat going to be retained, to be re-distributed during the night time hours.
'Plants are like People' Jerry Baker used to say. This is not always the case. Nighttime winter temperatures for plants that are in the 50's Fahrenheit are ideal. Too much heat without enough daylight makes plants long and stringy.
In-floor hydronic heat tubes are being installed, which in the future, will hook up to solar collection panels and supplement with the high efficiency boiler to heat the floor. In the meantime, in-floor electric wires are to be installed to use the 'off grid' electricity to warm the floor and the plant roots. A base board heater is also installed in case of severe cold back-up.
The original stucco wall of the conservatory is to be retained to work as a'heat sink' and store energy. In addition, one foot diameter, floor to ceiling water tubes will be filled with colored water to hold heat and slowly radiate that energy at night and create the effect of a Trombe wall. Contact us for more information on this www.conservatorycraftsmen.com/green_conservatory
To see how these tubes work, and also how they can be used to make a solar chimney to cool your conservatory in the summer contact us at www.conservatorycraftsmen.com/contact
Finally, dark tile will be installed on the floor to further absorb and radiate heat through the winter.
Energy saving and efficient blinds will be installed on the windows, so in the winter they will work to hold heat into the room. In summer, during the day, they minimize heat build-up. Thermostatically controlled roof vents will also release heat through the roof, when heat builds up in summer months.
A ceiling fan will be installed to keep air circulating, and not allow stagnant air to condensate on the windows and sills.
How is Paula planning to raise her vegetables? Contact us at www.conservatorycraftsmen.com/contact and we will show you an innovative way to grow your plants with minimal maintenance required.
Framing of the conservatory by PioneerRenovations.com has been completed. Electrical is roughed in, brown coat of stucco is applied. We will provide photos on the bog as this phase of construction evolves.
The conservatory itself is in production queue. The extrusions are sent to powdercoating to be painted brown to match Paula's trim and once complete, sent to the fabrication shop for pre-construction.
We expect this portion of the project to be ready to install after Christmas, so stay tuned and we will keep you posted on our progress.
Labels: conservatory, Green Conservatories, Greenhouse Design
Building the 'Green' Conservatory
Saturday, November 8, 2008Last July, Paula (www.ecologicalgardens.com) and her design team of Jon and Ted at (www.designfortyfive.com) contacted us with a project we were excited to embrace.
Paula, a well known writer, speaker and active ecological gardener wanted to continue vegetable gardening in the off-season in her Minneapolis home.
She and her husband Marc wanted to add a conservatory space but not jeopardize their commitment to ‘zero footprint’ living. The conservatory would have to perform well in the peak energy loads brought about by the severity of a Minnesota winter.
Paula and Marc have been working on energy efficiency and independence long before it became fashionable (once again).
Simple improvements to their home like insulation, energy efficient appliances and lights were followed by installation of a high efficiency boiler, and solar water panels to pre-heat tap water.
They even participate in a program offered by their local power company to participate in electricity generated by renewable resources (primarily wind power). By electing to pay a few pennies more for their Kilowatts, Paula and Marc buy only renewable electricity from their power company. Well, we all know that the power company does not come out with a ‘special’ power line for renewable electricity only, but they are in their own way contributing to the intake of renewable electricity.
The house has a second floor with perfect southern exposure on the 80 year old stucco home, so they presented the challenges to Designfortyfive to help them come up with an energy efficient plan to maintain energy stability and grow fresh, vitamin rich vegetables in the winter.
The teams met with Jim and Mike at Conservatory Craftsmen and were pleased to learn the 'green' www.conservatorycraftsmen.com/green_conservatory duo-wall thermally broken aluminum met all international standards for energy code research. In addition, they were pleased that this material could be powdercoated brown to match the trim color that exists on the house.
So what details were employed in the design of this conservatory garden?
Look for the next blog entry as we discuss the details of the design.
Labels: Building the 'Green' Conservatory