The Solar House

[stella10026]

I love your house ...it adds more motivation to my idea of future living respecting nature. I dream about living in the countryside dedicated to live with these set of standards. GBY.

[doctorfuse007]

Nice home, Elaine. Thanks for the video.

[magicjoey69]

great video, really nicely done :D

[lasay365]

Good

[obeee030]

DONT READ THIS CAUSE IT ACTUALLY WORKS. YOU WILL GET KISSED ON THE NEAREST POSSIBLE FRIDAY BY THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE. TOMORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER IF YOU DO NOT POST THIS COMMENT TO AT LEAST 3 VIDEOS YOU WILL DIE WITHIN 2 DAYS. NOW UV STARTED READING THIS SO DUNT STOP. THIS IS SO SCARY. PUT THIS ON AT LEAST 5 VIDEOS IN 143 MINUTES WHEN UR DONE PRESS F6 AND UR LOVERS NAME WILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN IN BIG LETTERS. THIS IS SO SCARY CAUSE IT ACTUALLY WORK

[Flowreach]

fantastic! i want to live like this! im only 17 and im already inspired. my mums getting on a bit so she cant grow much food any more but she used too. I dont really have a green thumb but i sure do have a green future! :)

[bbagginz]

Excellent. Well done, very inspiring. Thanks Elaine :)

[cherd1971]

your home is beautiful i pay over 200 a month for my lights and its going to go up

[futurePROOFenergy]

Great video, we need more local examples like that (especially in Scotland)!

[linuxrules04]

Way to go. I have spent some "unfortunate" years in impoverished areas and I found that many ppl knew how to live similar to this video, growing their own food and producing zero waste simply because they could not afford to buy packaged stuff from a store. Although I live a "normal" life now it has taught me a lot and I expect to use that knowledge in the future. It would be great if we could teach this in schools as a real subject, and not just on the occasional excursion to a farm.

[tutor1006]

Wonderful video. Maybe one I will have a house and when I have it ...I will install all these.

[Pendor42]

excellent video and setup! wish i was as fulfilled as you. guess i'll jus stick to the beer an spliff in the meantime. still plenty of yours left to get it sussed ;)

[pukirocks]

you're my hero

[MrJayadeva108]

notice the Fleetwood Mac song being played in elevator musak style..?

[s0s0bad]

Great changes made to the old house, and some great ideas for the garden.

[MrEnergyCzar]

great video. It truely shows how happier you are....

[HomeWindTurbines7]

Hello, I like the "Solar House" video that you posted here. Recently I started reducing my carbon footprint by my install of rooftop wind turbines and solar panels at my house. I posted some good video of the systems and install process. Favorite my videos or Subscribe if you like. Thanks

[aaronready1]

Everything she did is awesome....but carbon taxes for supporting world government is the perversion behind duping well meaning women like this with guilt. But i'm all for this way of living! i'm trying it myself

[ikambor]

I do not believe in the global warming BS at all anymore,, the jerks like Al Gore and those fake scientists manipulating data for thier own one world government control and tax system scam

However,, I still think all of this is a good idea,, wars are fought over resources and and they are expensive and they do ruin the environment in other ways so I am in favor of laws requiring us to move into this direction

[theorcopark]

It is interesting that the notion of Global Warming is still considered to be a belief by so many people. However the subject is so complex that it is still really quite easy for the 'anti GW lobby to muddy the waters and steer the green initiative away from positive change towards a more sustainable future.

[aaronready1]

true. Both sides trying to steer away from sustainable living and healthy food, decentralized food supply and such...or for carbon tax and total control from world government. But this IS the way to live!

[bgreg55]

Elaine, great to see what your doing, I'm trying to make a step towards this way of living. Fair play and good luck !!!

[planetcoco]

This is very nice.

I currently live in Florida (USA) sunshine states but I have not seen anyone having solar powered house in my area. (Winter park) I wonder if we need to get permission from the state or city.

[angelinaYYZ]

yes, i like the house model. Growing food in your own backyard is amazing!

[BigManFromThe80s]

You say 'the solar panels offset their installation costs quite quickly' but everything I've ever read says it takes around 10 years for such things to break even.

Obviously this is still a good thing in the long run, and it depends on whether you can get a tax-funded subsidy, but it just doesn't quite square with your claim of 'quite quickly'

[elainebrook]

good point - I'm not good about meticulously measuring inputs / outputs every day! But hot water offsets quicker than PV. - depends on use - eg I got the habit of doing laundry when I knew there was solar hot water + passive solar for drying. Plus I get a rebate for having the panels. Going by most peoples energy bills you could say maybe 5 years rather than 10 -- compare with 20ish for PV ( I think that is optimistic) - BUT if feed-in PV tariffs start April it will improve a lot. (hooray!)

[proverb311031]

@elainebrook they need a solar water heater that will get their water from 90 to 140 degrees

[pegobuilders]

Before the Industrial Revolution house building involved the consumption of little or no fossil fuel. Translated into moder terms, old houses have been the absolute ultimate in sustainable dwellings

[Nyandra]

Thanks for this. I'm currently working on a unit plan for eco housing to teach to my future primary school classes- I'll be showing your video.

[Dreoilin]

what plant is that at the end of the vid. some type of sage or rosemary perhaps? btw, awesome vid! it be a dream to have a cob house set up a sim. way.

[yawakoben]

Beautiful home. Everything was really inspiring. I'm curious though. What exactly did you say the van ran on? I thought I heard you say "chickfat" but you said it is plant-based and not food. Was that "chipfat?" Either way could you clarify that a bit?

[elainebrook]

yes, chip-fat/cooking oil which has to be thrown out from restaurants and chip shops as its been heated many times and becomes carcinogenic. So doesn't take food or land from people who need it. Except - my supplier told me he's been at an auction for this stuff and was bidding against margarine manufacturers - so maybe its saving people from cancer as well!

[cabbaze]

very nice ,how much of your power needs does the pv meet?

[elainebrook]

With my system, theres no way to tell exactly - if I use appliances when sun is shining, it takes straight from PV, and if I use at night it takes from grid. My electric bill is about £30 per month, this is kept low partly by PV, partly solar hot water I don't use electricity for, and partly I don't waste energy - so - sorry its a vague answer, I think there are various meters you can install which measure everything so you can work out all these things in detail.

[elainebrook]

oh, and of course I get a refund (varies with seasons!) for what I export to grid - which is probably more than I actually use direct because obviously I use more at night - whereas industry wants it during the day.

[WateryIce54321]

absolutely beautiful home elain, your garden is amazing and you've done real well making such a big house so enviormentally friendly, if only solar panels were cheaper, but everyone should do there best at helping the enviorment like you

thumbs up! ^_^

[clo5five]

Wow! What a great way of living. It is indeed very inspiring, and I think your house is beautiful and your garden is awesome! Don't ever stop being yourself, confident, and healthy! Thumbs up!

[ordinaryeco]

A huge round of applause for you Elaine. I have no idea what those others were on about but don't worry about them. You are doing a fabulous job and are very inspiring. Well done!

[Moze9]

WOW there is a lot of negative people out there. I think this is amazing, I would love to come eat lunch at your house. Keep up the great work and keep doing your thing.

[elainebrook]

thanks Moze - that's cheered me up a lot! I was wondering where all the get-up-and-do-it people had suddenly disappeared to!

What was so great about posting the video was all the cheerful msgs on the site and in my inbox...lots of people DOING good stuff...!

[hathunt]

totally with you on that, this lady is really impressive

[diosmio99]

Isn't this just tokenism? we can' t just leave it to well meaning volunteers. Do you review your practices regularly for continuity holes? You need capital to set up this infrastructure and very likely it'll be earned bashing mother earth and stealing from our children.The problem is capitalism, the pursuit of profit/ something for nothing which runs contrary to the laws of physics and is therefore unsustainable.

[gekkkehuis]

the gov.t wants a lot of couch dwellers ...making you believe that you can make a change !

[daveronson]

Sorry but that's just a silly comment. How is putting in all that work to reduce her energy use being a couch dweller.

How is sitting on the sidelines making negative comments helping anything. - and of course we can make a change. Humans created this situation.

Positive ppl will improve it. Negative ones at best do nothing, but more likely get in the way.

Make sure you're on the right side.

You'll know when you have something to show for your effort. Then some dumbo will criticise you.

[gekkkehuis]

solar panels are not the future people....

they are to expensive and dirty companies produce them ...dont give them your money ..

wake up , middle class wine drinkers!!!!!!!

[MattMisGOD]

Dumbass.

That's pretty much all there is to say. I could go into details, but I'm fully aware that you already know.

[dot22x5]

I watched this video and wished there were more examples of green living that could be relevant to those who live in small spaces with no money to buy solor panals, conservatories and big gardens.......its a lovely life style but slightly smuggly exclusive. We are all in this together

[frpd5]

A super example of how a hands-on approach working to fight against Climate Change can be both a challenge and good fun.

Live better, save money and look after our amazing planetary des-res!!!

[MartinBoogle]

Really inspiring, and well put together too.

[Heruka76]

Super - i rejoice at all yopur efforts. I hope many people follow your great example

[daveronson]

Nice place !

Looks like she's having fun.

[d0nkeykok]

A great inspiration.  Thanks!

[nicholashw]

What a beautiful home - really inspiring to see what you've done!

[GaiaPartnership]

thanks for your appreciation! - and thanks also to David Friese-Greene for making the film for me