The Solar House

Elaine Brook shows you round her eco-house which is fun to live in, cheap to run, and is probably how we'll all be living in a few years time.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Eco
• green
• eco-house
• house
• solar
• electricity
• planet
• sustainable
• one
• one-planet
• elaine
• brook
• energy
• old
• home
• superhome

[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!)

[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]

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.

[nicholashw]

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

[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.

[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.