Flyingfemme wrote:But the new homes are not being built to “good standards” and many do not have space available to make them better. Where are the PVs on every new roof? The rainwater harvesting and use? The underfloor heating fed by heat pumps?
Instead we get cheap Carp with small windows making interiors dingy and lights required all the time. Electric radiators or gas boilers feeding wet radiators. No space to extend, inadequate storage for growing families, totally inadequate parking with nowhere for delivery vans to park. Etc, etc.
Upgrades to existing stock are difficult, requiring planning permission, often refused. Inflated prices for no good reason and cowboy selling/installation. Listed buildings unable to meet current standards. Etc, etc
We need a total rethink but all we get is tinkering round the edges, confrontational planners and systems favouring big corporations and profit over “sustainable” homes for real people. What to do?
Can't agree with this sweeping statement:
We chose our builder and architect carefully (2015-6) to put 5 designer houses on the one acre footprint of our old heat sieve of a house which was demolished for this purpose.
It is our first and only brand new house
We are well into retirement and decided avoid expense of (untried and expensive) air heat pump technology, ugly solar panels etc, instead going for an ultra efficient gas boiler
We wanted to downsize (to 1/2-2/3 size previous house ) : We have underfloor heating, flash double glazing , cavity and loft insulation so thick you cant find the joists.
Our energy bill is half what it was.We didn't go for 'smart' Nest style controls as I'm never going to want to fiddle with the heating from Bradford, Bristol, Budapest: We just have heatmisers in every room.
This obsession with the latest systems, spreadsheets and eking out the latest fraction of a kilowatt to compare with last year frankly makes me smile.
I just want to sit in my lounge all year round in a Tee shirt, not a capok filled Parka with a hood................
We have four bedrooms , two upstairs with bathroom which we only use when family visit to the extent that we can turn upstairs heating off when unoccupied and still have warm bedrooms rooms from downstairs convection .
We have a double garage , extra parking space on our plot on a small private road 70 metres from the main road which is silent and secure.
Plenty of space for the (daily
) visit of Amazon-man. We are as happy as sandboys.
As I may have mentioned before; in our mid 70s, we were no longer interested in the expense of buying into saving the planet, instead using the float saved for heat pumps etc to fund an excellent lifestyle/help the kids . Selfish perhaps but with China belching out coal smoke, a clean planet in my (or, sadly even my kids) lifetime is a wishful fairytale,