Installed Measures:
Personal Story:
My name is Rob Veck, and I am a qualified project manager by profession. At the beginning of 2008, I had finished a major project at my company, and more of the same was on the horizon. A number of key personal events impact our lives and I asked the question “What is the compelling reason to give another year of my life at work?” The pension fund was still in good shape, and at that time I finished Richard Heinberg’s book “The Party’s Over” (a scary book relating energy to human population growth – what goes up…). It was time for a change, so I took early retirement. I decided to undertake a new challenge to reduce the carbon emissions and energy footprint of our house as close to zero as possible, and document the whole experience (which is still ongoing). Additionally, I joined the village Greening Campaign and Winchester Action on Climate Change. Hopefully, we have succeeded in significantly reducing our CO2 footprint and energy consumption of the house – the journey continues!
In 2018 we suffered a major leak from our water tank located on the second floor, which required the inside to be completely gutted, dried and rebuild. We suspect the leak was due to the solar hot water providing too much heat to the tank causing the cold water feed to come off.
The water tank is now on the ground floor.
Motivations:
Our goal was to reduce our CO2 and Energy consumption by 80% and our motivation comes from the following:
The Kyoto agreement is to reduce emissions by 80% in 2050.
Heating accounts for 47% of the UK’s CO2 emissions and 60% of average domestic energy bills
The Heat and Energy Saving Strategy consultation document proposed the following goals :-
2015 – all lofts and cavity walls insulated
2020 – seven million homes to take up a “whole house” package going beyond simple insulation.
2030 – all buildings to have received such a package
I purchased this 1979 modern 4 bed house in 1984.
Measures:
Benefits:
Heating is provided by wood burning stove and is sufficient to fully heat the whole house.
Only requires 1 delivery of wood per year (£150).
Central heating was on for 1 day in 2012/13 winter.
Low energy costs (surplus income when taking into account feed in tariff.)
Approx 5% ROI index link.
Carbon footprint significantly reduce (80%+) and even lower with renewable energy supplier (all energy produced is at 0g per kWhr).
Favourite Feature:
Wood burning stove.
Extension that opens onto the back garden.
