1930s semi with extensions:
- Heating: heat pump now replaced with a smaller model - 11kw air source heat pump. The house is now off gas;
- Renewables: 16 PV panels (4kW peak) on roof and 13.5 kWh battery. These mean we use little or no grid power in summer, and will allow us to heat the house using cheap night rate electricity in winter. The battery will also keep our house powered during outages. We also have a solar thermal hot water system on roof, so we use almost no electricity to heat water in the summer. We also use our battery to help support the grid at times of high demand. Currently we earn an extra £1 per kWh exported, which we put towards our winter heating bill;
- Insulation: Warm loft with both rafters and loft floor insulated. Cavity wall insulation. Underfloor insulation;
- Glazing: Double glazed throughout house;
- Lighting systems and electrical appliances: LED bulbs and induction hob;
- Water management: water butts and solar-powered timers;
- Sustainable building materials: rock wool insulation, timber windows;
- Lifestyle changes: smart meter, e-bike, petrol car replaced with EV, EV charger installed. We recently completed the Homewise tool and hope to use the results to plan further measures especially ways to keep our home cooler in heatwaves.
