Ecohouse [Paperback]

'Ecohouses are not luxuries, but necessities, critical to the survival of the biosphere. This book will help you make the transition.'
George Monbiot, author and columnist

'ecohouse is an invaluable and in depth resource for anybody wishing to get to grips with the issues of sustainability and domestic design. If you plan to build homes for the future, you really should be reading this book.'
Oliver Heath,
Blustin Heath Design

"Sue Roaf never fails to impress with her inexhaustible energy, forthright opinion and attention to detail. Ecohouse has become a classic in the green building genre. This book, the third edition, builds on the strengths of the two previous issues and keeps the subjects covered pretty well all up-to-date. Ecohouse is an all-encompassing tome so sit back and don't be prepared to dash through every subject that green building embraces. Don't expect to be short changed either. It has been written as an 'international' book, with a quarter of the book dedicated to case studies, mostly from abroad, although the underlying philosophy from them all could be usefully adapted to UK buildings. However, Roaf has ensured a formulaic methodology to string them all together. This ensures that the book has appeal to an international audience and reflects Roaf's background in academia, which naturally sees the whole world as a shared space.

The book deals with the design and building pf actual houses. The new edition has been expanded to include advise on powering ecohouses using various forms of renewable energy (PV, wind, micro hydro, biomass, and ground source heat pumps. It also includes more on water conservation plus an introduction to low impact-materials, such as lime, hemp and earth, with construction approaches. There are several case studies from across the globe that demonstrate sustainable design action in practice.

In the introduction to the third edition Roaf sets the scene by outlining the changes across the world since the second edition was published in 2003. A lot has happened to prove that climate change is a reality and now taken seriously by politicians around the world. She refers to four events, in particular, and the consequences of these; the European Heat wave of 2003; the power failures in the USA in 2003; the New Orleans flooding in 2005 caused by Hurricane Katrina; and the inexorable rise of oil and gas prices.

A vital read or update for anyone who wants to get to grips with the issues of sustainability and domestic design." - Green Buildings Magazine - Autumn 2007

Sue Roaf is Professor of Architectural Engineering at Heriot Watt University and Visiting Professor at the Open University. She publishes widely on traditional; technologies, sustainable buildings, ecohouse design and adapting buildings and cities for climate change. She designed and lives in the Oxford Ecohouse, the first UK building with a photovoltaic roof and does much to promote resilient low impact buildings through the conferences she organises on Solar Cities, Carbon Counting, Architectural Education, Thermal Comfort and Post Occupancy Evaluation. She is currently co-chairing the Westminster and Scottish Carbon Accounting Groups with Colin Challen MP and Sarah Boyak MSP.