Eco Lodge Design | Glen Finglas, Scotland
The Ecolodge at Glen Finglas is an all electric, Net Zero retreat and consists of five individual lodges and a common building. The individual lodges are positioned on the site to provide views of the Loch and surrounding landscape, and to provide privacy for each unit. On site food will be prepared at the common building by a chef. The kitchen will use vegetables, fruit and herbs grown on site as well as from neighboring farms, eggs from the on site chickens and honey from the bee hives. Local food production cultivates equitable access to healthy, sustainably grown food and raises awareness around health and nutrition.
The lodges are rectangular in form and are oriented east /west to take advantage of passive solar energy. The sleeping porch on the west end provides a buffer from the western sun, as well as the wind. The frequently used rooms are located along the south facing side, which will provide solar warmth in the winter, as well as provide light during the day to reduce electricity demand for lighting. The bedrooms are placed on the east wing and as guests awake and exit their rooms they will be greeted with the morning light from the hallway. The hallway will provide the energy from the morning light, however also provide a buffer to those whom would like to sleep in. The southern windows in the living area and porch are protected from the harsher summer sun with an architectural sun shade/light shelve. This light shelf, located along the south facade, will shade the interior during the summer and will also bounce light all year long deep into the space, reflected up onto the ceiling.
The lodges all have solar panels connected to a battery backup system within each lodge to provide the power they need. The main lodge contains a larger array of batteries that can dispatch power as needed to each building.
A wide range of sustainable, resilient, wellness and equitable community aspects are integrated holistically into this project.
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Ducted, zoned high efficiency all electric air source heat pump system for the heating and cooling, connected to a programmable thermostat and controlled remotely by mobile devices.
Each lodge will have two zones; living area and sleeping area that would be separately thermally controlled.
An ultra high-efficiency CERV (Conditioning Energy Recovery Ventilator) system will provide controlled ventilation and air filtering. HEPA air filters will be used.
ll light fixtures have LED fixtures and be fully dimmable.
There are no combustion appliances in the house. A heat pump water heater, heat pump dryer and the induction cooktop are all electric. This will eliminate CO2 emissions within the lodges.
A ’steam fireplace’ is used in the interior. It has no carbon emissions and creates an amazingly accurate looking fire by illuminating steam vapor with colored LED lighting.
Operable skylights, located in the loft up at the high point of the ceiling, provide perfect natural daylighting and ventilation.
High efficiency ‘Haiku’ ceiling fans in the bedrooms, living area and breezeway. These are motion activated and take into account the room temperature and humidity.
A light shelf along the south facade will shade the interior during the summer and will also bounce light year long deep into the space, reflected up onto the ceiling. The light shelf will also house operable shades, integrated LED lights (inside and out) and potentially a portion of the HVAC system. LED strip lights can be placed on top of the interior of the light shelf to provide accent lighting at night.
The exterior siding will be locally-sourced Scottish Larch, reclaimed if possible.
The roof will be a 50 year standing seam metal roof with recycled content.
The insulation is natural wool, which sequesters carbon, is completely renewable and comes from local sheep!
Kitchen and bathroom counters, and tile, will be specified with a high level of recycled content.
Wood flooring, built-ins and custom furniture will use locally sourced wood, be FSC certified from sustainably managed forests and will have low or no VOC’s and no added urea-formaldehyde.
The concrete mix will contain injected carbon dioxide to permanently capture recycled carbon dioxide into concrete. CarbonCure, CO2Concrete, or a similar company would be used.
The kitchen will have a built-in recycling center. Composting will be available for each unit.
Dual flush toilets and low flow plumbing fixtures will be installed. Water efficient Energy Star dishwasher and washing machine will be used.
The wood roof structure will be fabricated from engineered roof trusses, which use less material than solid wood framing members.
Paints, sealants and adhesives will have no VOC’s.
Certainteed AIRRENEW drywall, manufactured in Europe, will be used which actively removes formaldehyde from the air, converting it into a safe, inert compound, to help improve indoor air quality.
This development will have properly sized solar photovoltaic panels on the south slope of the lodge roofs and common building.
A battery backup system from Sonnen will be incorporated to provide energy storage for the solar photovoltaic system as well as providing electricity if the power goes out. Integrating a battery backup system with the photovoltaic system greatly enhances the systems efficiency
