Cardiff University has designed and constructed the sort of house recently described by chancellor George Osborne as “impossible”. The house actually exceeds previously scrapped standards that were considered “too high” by not only being carbon  neutral but actually carbon negative.

The Solcer House uses integrated solar PV in the roof

The SOLCER house, will actually export more energy back to the grid than it needs to take in over the course of a year. The house was constructed in just 16 weeks and most importantly is in line with budget figures for social housing at £1000 per square metre.

The south facing roof aspect,rather than traditional tiles, is made up of Solar Photo voltaic (PV) cells encased in glass that still allows natural light through to the room below. A combination of Solar PV and battery power storage keep the House powered round the clock. Like any house powered by solar, there will be requirements to import energy through the winter, but come summer the house will be producing and storing more energy than it needs. Excess energy will be exported back to the grid, offsetting the energy imported during the winter.

Coupled with many new energy saving technologies such as LED lighting and a air source heat pump, the solar house is at the forefront of energy savings.

With more research ensuring the house is fully viable as predicted by designers, this could be a new level for low carbon housing, particularly seeing at it falls within current government guidelines for social housing.

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