In Nottingham we are very lucky, we have some great examples of innovative ideas, committed people and lots and lots of potential.
As you may already be aware Nottingham is the base of the lovely Penney Poyzer (of No Waste Like Home fame) and this is where she lives in her amazing eco home.
Now we have another famous eco-home to boast about, belonging to Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson and here he is to tell us more about it.
Mr Simpson, first of all thank you for your time and congratulations on completing your eco-house.
V - Can you tell us why you decided to build your home in this way and why you chose that particular house to convert?
A – I didn’t choose the house it chose me. I had been looking for a completely derelict shell to renovate in the City and a friend found the building that had been derelict for forty years.
I had wanted to do my own eco house for two reasons. The first was to show that politicians could actually do something themselves about climate change and just not tell others to do something. The second was to show that you could take the worst of existing structures and turn them into something that was both ecological and beautiful. We don’t always need to be thinking about new green field’s sites for anything ecological.
V - How long did it take to complete the house and what was the biggest challenge?
A – It took two years to complete the house and I suppose the biggest challenge was in that it was a completely landlocked site. This presented real problems about access to building equipment and materials.
V – Looking at the before, during and after pictures on your website the conversion of the house certainly seemed like a huge undertaking. Was there anything that you wanted to do and not willing to compromise on despite difficulty, stress and cost?
A – The building had to be able to generate more energy than it consumed, recycle its grey water and be turned into a three bed roomed house. These were the principles that we had to stick to.
V – Looking back is there anything you would have done differently?
A – Perhaps I should have expected that there would have been complications about getting the different technologies installed and working together. I would have just then planned for a longer period of renovation work.
V – As well as being green, the house is aesthetically beautiful. Are the fixtures and fittings, furniture and décor also from environmentally friendly sources?
A – One of the most rewarding things is the knowledge that about 80% of anything that has gone into the home has come from recycled or sustainable sources. It has been a remarkable learning curve for me to discover how much is available from such sources once we started to look. Making this something that is beautiful rather than just functional is then a matter of imagination.
V – Have you been able to measure the difference that this house has made (in terms of your carbon footprint) compared to your previous home?
A – I haven’t done a comparison with my previous home partly because in the preceding two years I had been staying with friends. What I do know is that we now have a house that generates more energy than it consumes and supplies this (green) energy in to the grid for others to use. Its difficult to come up with a carbon footprint figure for the use of existing or recycled materials, but it does feel comforting to know that so much of the ‘embedded energy’ that had gone into the materials originally used on the site were able to be retained. It was also nice that the installer of the solar roof took some of the surplus timber for an eco project himself that he was involved in.
V – Since I decided to live a greener life and made changes at home I have definitely felt happier about my day to day activities. How does it make you feel knowing that your house is having less of a negative impact on the environment?
A – It is a lovely house to live in and it’s nice to feel virtuous as well as comfortable. The real value however, is that it has given me an enormous excitement about what could be done on a much wider scale if we were to turn this process into a community venture rather than an individual one. I would really like the house to be part of a community energy network rather than a stand alone project. That is what we are trying to do next in relation to the development of a zero energy zone in the Meadows. V – I’ve not heard about that but would love to know more!
V – Aside from all of the regular things that most of us are trying to do to make our homes greener (recycling, using low energy light bulbs and appliances, composting, creating less waste) what other practical solutions can you suggest for those of us who don’t have eco-homes (yet)!
A – There are two very easy starting points that don’t require people to do through the same upheavals that we did. The first to raise the insulation standards in your home to as high a level as you can. This can cut your energy consumption by around 15%. You couldn’t get a better return on your money. It’s just that people think of the reduction of Bills as being the same as the rate of interest. The second thing we could all do is to change or energy supplier to a green energy source.
V – Recently Gordon Brown announced his latest tax plans which included the possibility of scrapping stamp duty on “carbon neutral homes” and providing free insulation to a further 300,000 homes. What more do you think the government could be doing to help people live greener lives, starting with their homes?
A – It’s funny really. I proposed an amendment to the last budget that would have scrapped stamp duty on carbon neutral or low energy homes. But the chancellor opposed it. The truth is that we have a very poor framework of incentives to promote greener homes.
The most successful approach has been in Germany where the government told the energy industry that it had to pay people more for renewable energy generated in their own home than for energy supplied to them by the company. In the case of photovoltaics people get paid four times the market price for every unit of electricity they generate. The result has been a cavalry charge of households wanting to install their own renewable energy systems…and get paid for it.
The second big shift would be in promoting local energy systems. The National Grid is incredibly inefficient. Some 80% of the energy that goes into it, either goes up in smoke at the power station or is lost in transmission. In the Netherlands and Denmark, their decentralised energy systems convert 90-95% of the energy inputs into available energy in the home. The British government need to change energy market rates to promote de-centralised energy and to support new types of local energy companies that would sell energy services rather than energy consumption. It would mean having our own companies that could offer longer term contracts that would include home insulation and energy generating options rather than just selling energy consumption. There are some really exciting energy possibilities if we go down this path.
V – Finally, you make no secret of the fact that climate change and the environment are important issues to you. What is the single most motivating factor to keep you thinking about these things?
A – I have a baby daughter Elie who is now a year old. When I think of her and my three older children I wonder what sort of world they will inherit.
I believe that we only have perhaps ten years in which to make profound changes to the way we live in order to extent some limiting constraint on the scale of climate change. If we act now it is possible to come up with changes that will give us energy and community security for the future. If we don’t, life will be bleak and scary. This isn’t the future I want to bequeath to my kids or yours. That’s what motivates me.
Totally agree with you there. I can’t see how anyone would want that kind of future for their children. Additionally, it seems like our government has a lot to learn from other countries about how to make realistic and practical changes which will really motivate people into making a difference.
We’d love to hear more about your zero energy zone plans for The Meadows and if you’d like to drop in, add comments or ask questions then feel free any time.
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