We all want to make the most of our homes. But rising energy prices are putting more stress and strain on families struggling to meet daily money demands. But could these new Eco homes be the answer?
Developers ZEDproject have proposed a 91 home Eco Village in Devon. The houses generate their own electricity, keeping energy uses as low as possible. The houses feature Solar panelled roofs. They are anticipated to create enough electricity to have no need for mains power, and will even produce extra energy, which can be sold back to the national grid. If you drive an electric car you will even receive free ‘fuel’, with stations on the development available to charge electric cars up.
The developers of the Eco-village are hoping that this village will show the way for other eco homes and villages to be built. Although these house do cost more than their traditional counterparts, the energy savings and eco capabilities of the homes outweigh the initial outlay.
If you want your home to be more eco friendly, with out having to partake in your own grand design project, there are a few simple things you can do to make your home greener. Install double glazing and ensure all windows are fully sealed. Single glazed windows are often inefficient and mean you will loose a massive amount of the heat in your home. Have your insulation upgraded, many older homes will have little insulation, and new techniques are around that will improve your insulation without a huge amount of work being involved. For example cavity wall insulation is a great way to help cut down your heating bills, and takes only a matter of hours to be installed.
Help cut down other bills at home by installing water saving fixtures to taps, these regulate the amount of water given out by the taps, so you waste less water, a great saving technique if your home is on a water meter. LED lighting is a great way to cut your electricity costs, their low power consumption means you use a fraction of the electricity compared to that of a halogen or incandescent bulb. Try installing an energy monitor in your home, these can let you see at what time of day and what devices are using the most electricity, so you can make a conscious effort to cut your power consumption.
Making your home more eco friendly not only helps the environment but helps your pocket as well. There are many ways you can improve your home from the big physical changes to small changes in your behaviour. One day hopefully all homes will be as eco friendly as these new homes, but for now we can do all that is possible to make our homes as energy efficient as possible.
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Date: April 15, 2013
Tags: eco environmental home
We all want to make the most of our homes. But rising energy prices are putting more stress and strain on families struggling to meet daily money demands. But could these new Eco homes be the answer?