Eco Homes are Spreading all Over the UK
Have you seen petrol prices recently? With the cost of electricity and gas also continuing to rise, living in an eco home is becoming ever more appealing. In response, eco home developments are sprouting all over the country as the desire for a low carbon, low energy consumption style of living grows in popularity.
Would you like to pay only £33 in energy bills per month?
Earlier this month the Architectural Heritage Week in Dorset opened up seven eco homes to the public for an event entitled Greendar 2012. The aim was to enable people with an interest in eco living to see real life examples of eco homes and to speak to their owners to get ideas on eco improvements they could make to lower their energy bills.
The homes on show varied from an innovative modern eco home to houses built in the 1970s and even a historic listed building dating back to the 1700s. What they all had in common was that they used green building technology, like electricity monitors, solar panels and rainwater recycling, along with eco materials, like recycled plastics, mineral fibre and sheeps-wool, to reduce their carbon footprint. These changes enable the homes’ owners to vastly reduce their energy bills, with one resident paying only £33 per month in gas and electricity.
Greendar 2012 was a huge success, with 260 people visiting the seven eco homes over two days. The event demonstrated the enormous interest and appetite for a more environmentally way of living which can reduce our reliance on gas and electricity.
Dorset’s Olympic Village of eco homes goes on sale
Visitors to Greendar might have been interested to know that just down the road in Portland, south of Weymouth, a whole development of eco homes is now up for sale. What’s more, the eco homes’ previous residents were Olympic and Paralympic athletes competing in sailing events on Dorset’s coast.
Among the residents was Team GB’s Ben Ainslie, who won gold in the Finn Sailing Class, leading to a central area being named Ben Ainslie Square. At the time of writing, half of the 77 eco homes in Dorset’s Olympic Village have now been sold. Now doubt buyers were attracted by the developments’ Olympic links and their communal wood-pellet boilers, rainwater harvesting and low energy lighting.
Gary Neville’s ‘Teletubby’ eco home gets the green light
Ex-Manchester United footballer and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has now received clearance to build his controversial eco home. After agreeing not to install a 100 foot wind turbine, his plans to construct the Northwest’s first carbon neutral home have been approved.
Harnessing the latest eco design technology, such as ground source heat pumps, sustainable rainwater harvesting and solar panels, Neville’s home will be a ‘Code 6’ eco home, which is the highest available score on the government’s energy rating system. Many people might have booed Gary during his career, but I think his dedication to environmentally friendly eco home design deserves a round of applause.
