Take a tour of our energy saving house and the discover how you can save
energy in your home.
Presenter
Climate change is causing the record books to be ripped up as eleven of the twelve hottest years ever recorded have taken place in just the last thirteen years. The impact of these changing weather patterns is huge with predicted floods, heat waves and droughts beyond anything we’ve ever experienced. The government has set a target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the main greenhouse gas causing climate change, by 60% by 2050 based on 1990 levels.
It may sound like an impossible task but by making a few simple changes to the way we use energy in our homes, we can help improve the quality of all our lives as well as protecting our environment, and at a time when we’re tightening our belts, it could save us thousands of pounds too.
Some people are meeting these challenges head on.
Welcome to the future of energy saving. This is the uber eco-home of joiner Bill Bradley. It’s a monument to one man’s vision and a sustainable haven for him and his family. I’m here to find out what makes his home so energy-efficient.So tell me about this lovely sparkly worktop, Bill.
Bill
These are made from seventy-five to eighty percent recycled glass. We take glass directly from the waste stream and we crush it, we wash it, we put it into a mould. We pour it, polish it using recycled water, very very low energy use right the way through to provide a product back to the market and we end up with this lovely solid surface.
Presenter
I love these little lights you’ve got everywhere. Why are they so small?
Bill
Well these are all LED so they could be quite small because you’ve got little diodes so each individual light, there’s two hundred in the house but we only use two hundred watts of energy. Each one is only one watt. They last for ever, twenty-five years.
Presenter
Obviously Bill, one of the fundamental materials in this house is the use of wood, and a generous use of wood as well.
Bill
Right throughout the construction, from the beams, from the engineered timber to everything you see is all sustainably sourced material. It’s been around for a long time. It’s a re-growable resource. So every time there’s a tree coming down, there’s a whole lot more going up. It’s as simple as that.
Presenter
Of course you haven’t just implemented sustainable features inside but outside as well.
Bill
You get the whole package here, I mean right down to the sedum roofs which is a fantastic little solution. A living roof system we’ve got here. You just plant the sedum. Again it takes the rain so it reduces the amount of waste water flowing off down the drains. We harvest some down into our rainwater harvesting collection and then flush the loos with it. But it also gives me acoustic insulation and of course it gives us a bit more thermal protection as well.
Presenter
It’s important to remember that while this new build is a futuristic wonderland, 80% of the homes we’ll be living in in 2050 have already been built so improving our existing housing stock is critical if we’re to reduce our carbon dioxide missions by up to 60% by 2050. It’s a big task but making even small changes can help to flight climate change and substantially reduce your energy bills too.
