Personal story:

I live in the house with my wife and we decided that as we had already begun to downsize it seemed the most logical next step was to increase our energy efficiency.

We began by considering building work to allow more sunlight into our new house.  The back faces South, yet was in use as a toilet and coal shed. Then we decided to take the opportunity to eco-refit the property.  We began by investigating similar schemes which were hard to find. Eventually we found the precedents and contacts and had all of the necessary information to get the ball rolling. Even as we progressed we found methods that had seemed straightforward, were not!  And experts disagreed!  So we have lots of learning.

We have also established Energy Efficient Widcombe – an energy saving Champions project to go door to door to offer advice.

Motivations:

For us it was the ever-present and clear threat of climate change, particularly in the developing world that was the driving force behind the decision to reduce our carbon footprint. 300,000 deaths per year are attributed to Climate Change. For example, floods related to climate change have a devastating impact particularly in developing countries.  In parts of Africa the failure of rains and withering of crops reflects the changing weather patterns which most climate scientist are 90% sure are the result of human behaviour.  Moreover, the rich 20% of the world have already used up a third of the world’s resources. What positive action could we take?

As we explored the processes we realised there are a great many attractive incentives such as the prospect of greater self reliance and reduced fuel bills. As time goes by the price of fuel will go up.  We are now on fixed incomes so the proportion of our spending money required for fuel will increase and our spending money will go down.

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Property background:

We downsized, from our home in Birmingham and brought this late Victorian, solid walled, 3 bedroom, mid terrace house and have worked on it to substantially reduce our carbon emissions. Overall we hope for an improved quality of living, for ourselves and, ideally, globally!

Like most terraced properties in Bath, the house has solid walls. The rear walls are constructed from Bath stone while the front walls are made of a combination of brick and rough stone with Bath stone edging.  Originally the walls were lime plastered internally but were in a poor state of repair.

The original suspended timber floor, typical of a property of this type, offered little by way of thermal resistance, and due to the necessary ventilation of the floor space below provided an easy path for cold air to leak into the building, causing uncomfortable draughts.

Key changes made:

So in our house we have attempted to do all that we can and have realised that it is a simple formulae:

Revise the house layout to maximise solar gain and space available, facing south

 Insulation of roof  and walls and Underfloor to 110 mm

    Draught exclusion and Double and Triple glazing

New Heating system with A+ Gas fire,  A+ gas boiler, detailed controls, and underfloor heating

Solar Hot Water

This all adds up to a calculated reduction of 68% carbon emissions.

Measures installed in detail:

• A-rated Vaillant ecoTEC plus 630 condensing gas boiler. New controls and TRVs on radiators throughout. New radiators upstairs and new efficient gas fire in living room for secondary heating
• Draught-proofing
• Original suspended timber ground floor replaced throughout with concrete slab, 100mm celotex insulation, followed by underfloor heating
• Internal wall insulation 110mm phenolic including returns
• Loft conversion was fully insulated
• Low energy appliances – A++ fridge freezer
• Low energy lighting throughout including 12 x 5W compact fluorescent spot lights in kitchen area
• Roof insulation  – 110mm phenolic insulation applied between and over rafters and all joints taped
• Kingspan Thermomax evacuated tube solar panels, total area 3m2, with 250 litre twin coil tank
• Triple glazed windows/patio doors at rear. Velux U value 1.0. bifold patio doors U value 1.1. Double glazing retained in rest of house.
• Underfloor heating on ground floor
• Dual flush WCs installed

Benefits of work carried out:

The internal wall insulation is great because it retains the heat we produce while space loss in the room has been minimal and feels unnoticeable now the work has been completed.

The solar thermal panels give hot water with no cost at all between March and November which has led to a substantial reduction in our gas use.

We now have the delight of living in a warm and comfortable space, and of knowing that we are making a tiny grain of difference.

Favourite feature:

One of the features we are really proud of is the triple glazed windows – we did a lot of hunting for them.

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