Green inspiration from Bournville home

Chris and Harriet Martin live in Bournville, in a semi detached house built in 1932. It looks like any other house of its era from the outside, but hides a wealth of sustainable measures that keep the house cool in summer and cosy in winter, at a fraction of the cost. And on September 9th, 10th and 11th, they are opening their doors to others, to inspire them into making similar changes in their homes.

The house is very well insulated - the cavity walls, loft and floor have been done to the highest standards, and all windows are double glazed. Heat is provided by a condensing gas boiler, a smokeless wood-burning stove and solar hot water panels. Solar photovoltaic panels cover the remaining electricity consumption, which is lowered thanks to a combination of low energy lighting and low energy appliances.

Their iMeasure readings from the past year demonstrate how much of a difference these changes have made. The average person living in the UK will use around 7665kWh per year on energy in the home*. In the case of Harriet and Chris, the photovoltaic panels should cover the electricity used over the year. This just leaves their gas consumption - as such, Harriet and Chris' household emissions are just 7,485kWh between them, or 3742.5kWh each - over 50% less than average.

Ideally, everyone in the UK should have comparable household emissions - and open days like these help to demonstrate that this is within the reach of many, and hopefully many, many more once the Green Deal is launched next year. So if you would like to visit, the details are as follows:

39 Hawthorne Road
Bournville
Birmingham
B30 1EQ

harrietmartin@btinternet.com

Tours take place on:

Friday September 9th - 4pm; 5:30pm
Saturday September 10th - 10:30am; 5pm
Sunday September 11th - 2pm; 3:30pm; 5pm

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about Chris and Harriet's 'superhome', please leave a comment below, or visit their website.

*based on national estimates of home energy consumption, taken from David Mackay's 'Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air'.