WHO AM I?

....and why have I been invited to speak?

I am Christine Shine, and I am a Member of the Cotswolds Conservation Board.

I am what's called a core-designer: one who goes to the nub of the problem and works outwards.

Over the past few years, the Board has investigated a wide variety of systems relating to renewable energy, from which I have picked a combination that I feel are right for my home, and, most importantly, are right for maintaining the integrity of The Cotswolds AONB and the fabric of my house.

What this talk is about

My personal experience in reducing my carbon footprint and achieving a warm home whilst cutting my oil use by 47% and generating all my own electricity.

The challenge : to do this without compromising the visual beauty of the AONB or the basic structure and design of the house.

My house

Characteristics and problems

Characteristics: Stone construction in AONB & conservation area This house is not listed. But in my head it is... I treat it as something I do no want to tamper with unnecessarily.

Heating problems: Stone walls, un-felted roofs.

Doors & windows constantly moving.

Fossil fuel consumption

Pre- renewables and the measures I am about to talk to you about.....

Electricity: 47,000 units per annum Oil: 30,000 litres p.a.

ALL

FROM FOSSIL FUELS

WHAT I HAD ALREADY IMPLEMENTED

Heat exchanger boiler Heat exchanger system for the pool

Sustainability and history

As a core-designer I look at what has gone before as well as what the future holds.

Historical buildings show me how they coped with cold. Untouched Cotehele in Cornwall hangs warm tapestries against stone walls. In every stately home, I see curtains draped beyond the floor. I remember great-aunts and grand-parents whose doors were swathed in heavy curtains to stop the draughts. Little sheepskin rugs blocked the draughts at every interior door in most houses.

How to do it!

Now we get to the nitty-gritty

ACTION

Part 1 = Insulation compatible with a listed building Part 2 = Renewables that are invisible

The Wind Chill Factor

Any draught/wind creates an

impression

the room is cold that Impression – not reality Remove the draught/wind-chill and you are back to core temperature

Start with doors: Hinges work best on this door

..... an old duvet works best on this door

WINDOWS Just as a radiator is a panel exuding heat , a window is a panel exuding 'ice' .

Double-glazing is not an option in historic houses.

Secondary glazing is the most effective, but looks awful, is very expensive, and tricky to maintain.....

I noticed how sunblinds on some of my windows cut out the 'sheet of ice' ~ but of course I couldn't see out!

Answer: see-through blinds!

Stone walls

Many years ago, Tomorrow's World featured a Magic Paint. It purported to provide the equivalent of between 4 and 6 inches of 'normal' insulation.

I heard about it from colleagues in FOE.

All I can say is that the whole house with the exception of two (cold) areas are now painted with this miracle.

How it works: Miniscule ceramic spheres stirred into the paint, bounce the temperature of the room back into the room.

If the room is warm – so it remains If it is cool – so it remains

Insulating the roof spaces

Houses like mine have good breathable roof spaces. No felt; plenty of driven snow and occasional rain dripping through. Lovely visible gaps where daylight peeps through. It's a whole 'other world' up there: you can feel the building ticking away, doing what it does best.

This of course makes that yellow stuff useless.

One hint of moisture and it is rendered ineffective.

BRING ON THE WOOL!

Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer comfort of this insulating material.

Think Guernsey seafarer's sweater. Think cashmere jumper.

Think woolly hat and woolly gloves.

Think sheep out in all weathers.

Think of wrapping your home in all this.

This is wool loft insulation.

It lasts atleast 25 years. Exudes warmth when wet and is a joy to handle.

Don't be shy with this wool. Stuff it into every nook and cranny. Create a curtain behind every access panel Go for it – it wants to keep your house warm

To sum up: Think back to Grandma's house: long curtains and draught excluders (sausage rolls) at the foot of doors Think medaeval – tapestries then – but magic paint and duvets now!

Put invisible rollerblinds behind the curtain track, or simply in front of curtainless stone-mullioned windows. You Can always add curtaining, but you will already have prevented the majority of the 'ice factor'.

Wrap your roof spaces in wool!

Now you are well and truly insulated, a couple of tips: Turn the heating on and leave it on 24/7. Don't let a stone house get cold.

Have thermostat valves on every radiator.

Once your stone house has warmed through, you will be turning 'off' several radiators and running the rest on a low number. This is known as the candle effect.

Always draw your curtains when the sun sets.

Part 2: Renewables

Now we start to 'make money' Whatever your concern for the planet, however altruistic you are, at this stage of the game, in 2010, the driving force is likely to be your wallet.

Organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage are well ahead of that game and for good reason.

A listed building should not exhibit any alteration to its integrity. And there is absolutely no need for that to happen.

Hard-pressed dairy farmers might (and I don't know the figures) well be able to install an anaerobic digester to recycle the slurry and earn enough to make it pay for itself in ten years or so.

An anaerobic digester is the most efficient generator of electricity alongside hydro – if you have moving water at hand.

If, like me, you don't have slurry or moving water...

do what I have done A huge PV Array generates the same amount of electricity I use at home. This means I have to pay for electricity during the night, but over the course of one year, I will have fed 53,000 units into the national grid and be paid about £17,000 (before tax). The difference between what I have to pay for and what I have been paid for generating will be the profit.

Remember the challenge ~invisible Don't destroy the landscape! Here's my PV Array...... let's move a bit closer........

And here is how it is done..................dig deep!

Geo-thermal

I went for vertical bore-holes Four of these, about 4/5 metres apart and 104 metres deep suck a renewable heat from the earth in a way I understand.

These now heat, via heat pumps, my indoor pool and have reduced my oil consumption by 47%

Once again – remember the 'invisible' challenge to protect the landscape Before After

Thank you for listening – and I hope I have stimulated your imagination!

Be creative. Go back to a time when central heating did not exist – then come forward to the present day where a mix of the two can seriously reduce your bills and your carbon footprint.

A list of sources can be found on the AONB website.