Roderic Bunn

  • Thin-film PV solar wall at Technium’s research facility in St Asaph, Wales, by Percy Thomas Partnership.
    Technical

    New ways to catch some rays

    2008-09-12T00:00:00

    Photovoltaics may generate clean electricity, but they’re expensive and difficult to integrate with a building’s fabric. Will the next generation of PV technologies tackle these problems?

  • A farmer inspects eight-year-old willow fuelwood in Clanfield.
    Technical

    Adding biofuel to the fire

    2007-08-10T00:00:00

    The government says biomass could provide a sustainable means of heating UK homes, but is this remotely practical?

  • Hemp insulation on a housing project in Elmswell, Suffolk, produces a highly breathable and sustainable building.
    Technical

    Grow your own insulation

    2007-05-10T00:00:00

    In the search for zero-carbon construction, architects are rediscovering the virtues of natural fibre insulation. An emerging favourite is hemp, a material not only able to match synthetic fibres, but also believed to absorb CO2 during its life.

  • The finished Rivergreen Business Centre.
    Technical

    Friends of the earth

    2006-05-12T00:00:00

    Rammed earth is going mainstream as a result of its insulation and sustainability properties

  • Model of Donald Insall Associates’ proposed student accommodation building.
    Technical

    Tubes with a twist

    2005-10-28T00:00:00

    A technical breakthrough makes earth tubes a more viable method of heating.

  • A borehole being drilled in a previous project at the Building Research Establishment’s BRE’s environmental building at Garston.
    Technical

    Deep impact

    2005-05-13T00:00:00

    Roderic Bunn explains the benefits of using borehole cooling at the refurbished Royal Festival Hall

  • Wilkinson Eyre's architectural model of the proposed Alpine House at Kew Gardens.
    Technical

    Termite tutors

    2004-10-29T00:00:00

    Insect ingenuity and the power of the earth have inspired low-energy ventilation

  • Technical

    Zero hero

    2004-05-28T00:00:00

    Studio E and Max Fordham create a zero-carbon showcase at a farm conversion in Hertfordshire.