HANSE HAUS TO HOLD A CYCLE CHALLENGE – with 5,000 EUROS prize money - TO DEMONSTRATE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY IT TAKES TO RUN THEIR PASSIVE HOUSE Sat 3rd – Sun 4th July
Experts in energy-efficient housing, Hanse Haus, came up with the ultimate low-energy Passive house in Germany last year. Now, to demonstrate it’s energy efficiency, they are holding a ‘cycle challenge’ event (sponsored and promoted by well-known German beer, Paulander) at the Hanse Haus headquarters in Germany.
The aim of the ‘cycle challenge’ is to demonstrate the energy efficiency of the Hanse Haus Passive house. 10 teams of 5 people, including a team from Hanse Haus UK, will compete against one another in a 24-hour cycling contest using indoor static bikes. Each of the 10 bikes will be linked to a monitor showing how much energy each team are producing in relation to the energy consumption of the Passive house. The winning team will be the ones that cycle the furthest over the 24-hour period.
A home for the future -
Homeowners, Rachel and Richard Stent are due to build their new Passive house on a 3320 sqm plot of land in West Quantoxhead, Somerset, which is an area of outstanding natural beauty and enjoying views across to Exmoor National Park. “We’ve lived in the area for the past 25 years, and on deciding to knock down our existing house and rebuild, we got in touch with a few UK architects and build companies. Then we came across Hanse Haus. Immediately, the turn-key service they provide, as well as the short build time, was very appealing. And, when we went to Germany, the quality of build and efficiency of the off-site factory setting made it clear to us that Hanse Haus were a good choice of build partner.
With the building of the first Hanse Haus Passive house in Germany last May and through our own research, we learnt more about the benefits of passive standards. Although energy efficiency and associated low running costs hadn’t been a primary objective when setting out to build our own house, it became more apparent that these factors did make long-term economic sense. In the end, the fact that we’re building the house we wanted, which is also going to meet Passive standards is the icing on the cake”, says Richard Stent.
The house will be delivered to West Quantoxhead on Tuesday 8th June when, by kind permission from Mr and Mrs Stent, Hanse Haus are pleased to offer a site open day for the public to come and view the first day of construction of the 149.8 sqm passive house. A second open day will be held on Sunday 11th July.
The UK cycle team entering the cycle challenge in Germany will replicate the energy challenge to demonstrate how long it takes to produce the same KW’s of energy to run the new passive house, at the open day on Sunday 11th July.
Self builders are invited to come along to the open days for further information about the Passive house and to bring along and discuss their own plans.
Hanse Haus are also holding their annual Garden Party (on Exmoor) on Saturday 10th July - for more information or to make an appointment, please contact Giles Hirst on 07968 117160 or giles.hirst(at)hanse-haus.com
For further press information and high resolution pictures contact: Sarah Stanbury on 07971 957461, or sarahjstanbury(at)googlemail.com
