Personal story:

My wife Lucy and I are passionate about living sustainably, and have made a number of life choices to enable us to do so, including not flying, converting my car to run on Used Cooking oil Biodiesel and buying used/sustainable clothing and furnishings. Our last house was a Victorian terrace that we managed to bring up to an EPC rating of C with combined energy bills of under £600 per year.  I want to use this retrofit to show what is possible using techniques and technologies that are available to the masses, whilst ensuring I make the environmentally sound choice for materials and decoration.

Motivations:

My motivations to reduce energy use and live sustainably are that we obviously have one planet available to live on, and that Humans are having an increasingly negative impact on the world around them. I do whatever I can to reduce the environmental impact of myself my family and my friends, and believe that the first step towards sustainability is made at home.

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Property background:

The property is a 1960’s detached house of cavity construction, with a single storey rear extension.  It had been in the same ownership since the 1970’s and has already had limited energy efficiency upgrading, including 100mm loft insulation, aluminium framed double glazing and cavity wall insulation in 1982.

Key changes made:

• Energy efficient lighting fitted to all fittings
• Replacement of TV with A+ LED TV
• Painting of internal walls with Earthborn Claypaint, installation of reused Slate hearth
• Installation of tap aerator and save-a-flush devices
• Installation of Hive Active heating
• Radflek radiator panels fitted behind all radiators
• Loft insulation increased to 400mm with loft hatch draughtproofed and insulated
• Draughtproofing of all exterior doors
• Installation of 4kWp of Solar PV on East-South-East facing roof, with Solaredge inverter to mitigate shading
• Installation of Solar iBoost system and secondary tank jacket to provide renewable domestic hot water
• Installation of new front door and quadruple glazed side panel – U value 1.6

Full details of measures installed

• Energy efficient lighting fitted to all fittings – LED and CFL lighting to existing fittings. New LED security light on PIR and front CFL lighting on timers
• Replacement of TV with A+ LED TV – Blaupunkt 40 inch TV
• Installation of tap aerator and save-a-flush devices
• Installation of Hive Active heating – replacing room thermostat
• Radflek radiator panels fitted behind all radiators
• Loft insulation increased to 400mm with loft hatch draughtproofed and insulated – use Knauf Ekoroll, with high recycled glass content – readily available at DIY stores
• Draughtproofing of all exterior doors – utilised E profile draught strips
• Installation of 4kWp of Solar PV on East-South-East facing roof, with Solaredge inverter to mitigate shading – 16 panel Solarworld system with Solar Edge inverter
• Installation of Solar iBoost system and secondary tank jacket to provide renewable domestic hot water
• Installation of new front door and quadruple glazed side panel – U value 1.6

Measures installed in detail:

• Solar PV
• Log burner
• Smart heating controls
• 400mm loft insulation
• Solar iBoost
• Draught proofing
• CFL and LED lighting
• Radflek radiator panels
• New Part L front door and quadruple glazing
• Cavity wall insulation
• Low flow tap and cistern devices
• Floor insulation
• Super-insulated flat roof
• Triple glazing
• Low energy (A+++) appliances
• Flat roof insulation

Pending measures:

• Quadruple glazing
• Sedum/wildflower roof

Benefits of work carried out:

The most significant improvement in thermal comfort we have seen so far are the Loft insulation and draughtproofing/replacement of all exterior doors,  This has improved the thermal comfort of both the upstairs bedrooms (allowing us to significantly reduce the TRV settings) and also of our kitchen and downstairs family room.

The log burner has also been a good feature, allowing us to turn down/off the central heating and stay in the living room until bedtime.  This, coupled with the improved loft insulation means that we can then go to bed with the upstairs at a comfortable temperature for sleeping having renewably heated our living space.

Favourite feature:

Has to be the Solar PV with iBoost!  I have wanted PV for years and, although the site isn’t ideal, the East facing array deals with our morning electrical loads, and puts any surplus energy into the Hot water cylinder, giving us renewably heated water for washing.  Next step is to remove the electric shower and install a larger cylinder to make our showers renewably heated too.  

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