Here’s my stepdaughter Hannah helping with the festivities at International Hobbit Day 2019 on 22nd September. She appears at 0:52 for about a second:
UK developers Ssassy Property [ https://ssassyproperty.com/ ] are building Springfield Meadows in Abingdon, Oxfordshire — 25 net zero houses that will be powered entirely by solar energy. Ssassy’s partner, Greencore, is building the Springfield Meadows properties. Greencore builds each net zero house to Passivhaus [ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house ] energy efficiency standards. According to the Passivhaus Trust, the definition of a Passivhaus is: A building in which thermal comfort can be achieved solely by post-heating or post-cooling the fresh air flow required for a good indoor air quality, without the need for additional recirculation of air. In addition to being powered entirely by solar, having energy storage batteries, and featuring green heating, Springfield Meadows net zero houses have further renewable energy features such as: Low carbon heat from heat pumps serving under-floor heating and domestic hot water Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR) system, which provides fresh, warm air by capturing the heat from the exhaust air from the house A dedicated circuit to allow for future installation of a car-charging pod Biond — a low-carbon, closed panel, timber frame construction system insulated with Lime-Hemp and natural fibre insulation to achieve equivalent of Passivhaus Air-tightness below 1 air change per hour Use of high quality Kebony timber cladding — the Kebony technology is an environmentally friendly, patented process that enhances the properties of sustainable softwood. The first time I saw a passive house was in the mid-nineties, when we'd returned from NZ, were living in Kent, and we went to the Alternative Energy Centre in Machynlleth, Wales. It was a real eye opener, and it made me realise that these things were possible. It just needed the will.