Episode Information Trade Secrets Cumbria

Date Published:

18/06/2008

For any aspiring Grand Designer, being eco friendly comes very high on the agenda. But how far should you go? We look at some inspiring homes that just might challenge your preconceptions about going green.

For most of us, being eco friendly means fitting insulation and remembering to turn the lights off. For a few of us it means turning one's back on many of life's luxuries to live an isolated, self-sufficient life off grid. But there is a halfway house that will challenge your way of thinking.

It's big, it's glass and it's in the city. It's also a totally emissions free and energy self-sufficient minimalist home for a family of four. This type of zero carbon home sets new standards of efficiency. So how does it work? Rooftop solar panels provide electricity for the house and more. The surplus is sold to the grid and then bought back when it's needed - at night and in the winter.

The triple glazed, highly insulated glass walls let the sun's energy be absorbed into water-filled ceiling pipes. A clever heat storage and conversion system then allows the pipes to act like natural radiators - heating the house in winter and cooling it in summer. Of course, living in a fishbowl - albeit a very glamorous one - may not be for everyone. There are no curtains and few walls. This is one eco home for the very open minded.

If that isn't self-sufficient enough, then you'll have to get out of the city. But once you've got the space, it's possible to become invisible to the rest of the world. Take this award-winning kit house prototype. Built in 2005 in California, it's a cool update on West Coast modernism. But it's also a model for contemporary off grid living.

Electricity is provided by the solar panels hidden on the flat roof, and the vast expanses of triple glazing combined with concrete floors allow for natural thermal gain. Think of the floor like a giant storage heater - absorbing and storing heat by day and releasing it by night when it's needed.

The environmental benefits of this house don't just stop at recycled materials and reduced running costs, but in the manufacturing process too. Being a kit house, it's made off site in controlled conditions, minimising waste and it takes just one day to install. If you have a plot of land, plenty of sunshine and £300,000 this could be the off grid home to make your friends green with envy.