Renewables -the good the bad and the ugly

View the Article: http://www.mistergreen.co.uk/news/renweableenergy-34.htm

Went to a seminar yesterday on renewables-"the good the bad and the ugly" by MES (www.mesenergyservices.co.uk) -excellent overview of the relative merits of solar PV, chp, wind power etc, but also discussed MVHR-mechanical ventilation and heat recovery.. Not really a 'renewable' but a measure to avoid wasting precious energy. mitigating poor air quality and excessive humidity resulting from improved airtightness. But to have a system of ducts and an electric fan running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year seems to be flying in the face of reason. Do we really need mechanical means to counter the consequences of airtightness? Surely we should be designing stack ventilation passive measures in new build housing. In the exiting housing stock, the principle in dealing with humidity has always been to deal with this at source-why not in new build? A bathroom or kitchen extract with a humidistat control will extract just when needed and the same control could be fitted to a kitchen extract. Add an air quality sensor and the extract will deal with air quality.Add heat recovery and the recovered heat will help offset the cost of running the fan. Use a fan with maglev bearings and the annoying sound of worn out bearings will be eliminated; and there is no need for user intervention; and it would be a simplemeasure for homeowners to retrofit in the existing housing stock;