So the saga begins at last and it has been a long time coming. It has been an ambition of ours to create a modern, energy efficient comfortable home and for many good reasons. We bought the house about 12 years ago and to be honest didn’t think we would stay in it for too long but circumstances changed with the arrival of our son. We soon realised that its unique position and proximity to schools, work and amenities was ideal. This was coupled with the fact that we had been talking of finding a slightly run down house in about half an acre of land which we could do up and then realising that we had been living in it all along.

The motivation was driven by a desire to restore a property under our own criteria and to include practical energy and water saving measures. I have always been an environmentalist long before the current threat of global warming. My interest stems from a simple principle, look after the planet and the planet will look after you. My main concerns have been over things like pollution, intensive farming, GM etc. And then came the threat of global warming. whether or not you believe that global warming is happening mankind aided or not, changes are happening. And in addition to this the cost of fuel is going up and the availability of drinking water is decreasing. So our motivation became threefold.

1. To live in a technologically modern house
2. To generate as much of our energy as possible for environmental reasons
3. To generate as much of our energy as possible for financial reasons

27% is the amount housing contributes to our CO2 emissions. That’s twice as much as air travel

For some ten years now I have been a judge for the Green Apple Awards an independent, non-political, non-activist, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognising, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world. It is as a judge that I met Jerry Harrall of SEArch Architects and having been very impressed with his work asked him if he would put some ideas together for us.

Check out the blog here: The Comfort Home