We as a family of four live here in an incredibly energy efficient setup energy/carbon neutral whilst still living in comfort using dishwasher, washing machine etc.
It’s remarkable that our 3.34kw pv system produces in 7-9 months of the year more electricity that a family of four uses, even on cold sunny winter days the system produces enough to cook and heat. Over the year the system produces some 3000kw/h and that is pretty much what we use.
Because we buy our energy from a small renewable only electricity supplier we live truly energy/carbon neutral.
Before converting this house, we lived on numerous boats and barges for over 15 years and cruised extensively the British canal system. My wife got me into boating as she had been living on various boats for a few years before we met. During our time living on the canal we bought and restored several boats and cruised the canals and rivers. The most memorable experience was cruising a narrow boat we bought in Llangollen all the way via Chester to London over many weekends, mooring here and there.
Over 10 years ago we designed and fitted out a beautiful wide-beam barge but because of ongoing uncertainties concerning many aspects of our lives we very reluctantly sold the boat and moved onto dry land. Moving into this terrace house came as quite a shock, everything seemed dark and depressing, we missed our old boat and canal life in particular the space and light.
The practical experience I had gained previously of altering, fitting out, and designing boats/barges such as ‘l’aube et crépuscule’, ‘bauhausbarge’ and the contacts I had made, helped a great deal in converting this house. I have also a ‘Meister’ in cabinetmaking and have in the past supervised the building of high quality prefabricated energy efficient homes on the continent. Being involved from the early nineties with friends in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors helped further
I have been working now for many years in the heritage sector and as part of my 9-5 job I advise also on energy efficiency and sustainability so it is not surprising that I find myself sometimes advising boaters and friends. I hope, by having converted this house on a very small budget to energy/carbon neutral I can convince others to follow suit.
We spend as little as £4k and a couple of hundred hours work to increase energy efficiency by nearly 70% while the bank financed a PV solar system. We had our gas connection and meter removed (fracking not in my name) and the combination of very good insulation, energy efficient appliances a PV system and last but not least and AIR to AIR source heat pump make this house energy/carbon neutral.
It’s beyond me that set ups similar to mine and PV solar on roofs are not more promoted as it would help to clean up London’s air!!! There are thousands of m2 suitable roof space along Du Cane Road and West Way combined with more electric car charging point to balance the surplus of electricity during day we will get pollution down. People will get free fuel… free charging during day and pay at night. Install a CHP in the nearby hospital or prison and we can balance the grid locally without costing the earth. We need electric car charging points to convince people to dump their fossil one.
Cooking/heating with electricity may seem at first wrong and is certainly wasteful if it has been produced conventionally but if the electricity comes from genuine renewable sources such as wind and solar there is no problem. Often nuclear power or fracking are portrait as bridging technologies but that’s not true and many countries have proven that decarbonisation using genuine renewables is possible within years not decades.
The future is here renewables such as wind and solar deliver now!
I sincerely hope that press, public and politicians will start nourishing a more meaningful factual and less emotional debate regarding energy generation and supply, have a 2022 evidence/facts based debate not debating current or past projections/estimates.
Data from around the globe show that wind and solar in fact complement each other, (no storage issue) and all we need for the near future is more of both and importantly a grid which can distribute the electricity efficiently. While the running (free fuel) and installation cost of genuine renewables have steadily declined the running, maintenance and disposal cost of nuclear and fossil have steadily increased. Now we have not even applied the ‘polluter pays principle’… The cost of storing nuclear waste is enormous and there is not one successful decommissioning of a nuclear plant in the world, neither a permanent long term resting place for any of the waste.
Measures:
- 20m2 and 3.34kw peak PV solar system facing south east
- 5kw/h battery bank
- LED filament lighting
- Voltage optimiser/insulation transformer to optimise my incoming electricity supply, increasing the lifespan of all my electronic devices.
- Internal insulation
- Double glazed windows
- Conservatory
- Air to air source heat pump
- Electric underfloor heating
- Induction hob
- Roof and ceiling insulation
- Energy efficient appliances throughout
Benefits:
Having a nice 21st century property which can be quickly heated or cooled at very little cost but maintains the 1920s character.
