If you’ve ever met either James or Tracy (the brains behind Muddy Carrot) before, then you’ve
probably heard all about how eco-friendly their lives are. Since I’m so keen
on the environment I decided to travel to this eco-house and learn about what
makes it so eco-friendly.
I
started by simply looking at the exterior of the house and noticed that the
roof had an overhang over the balcony. According to Tracy this helps the house
heat up more in the winter and cool down more in the summer, this diagram will
show you how it works:
So in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky the
overhang prevents the house from getting too much heat and in the winter when
the sun is lower in the sky the sunlight is free to stream in through the
windows warming the house considerably.
Also on the farm besides the house are a number of out
buildings, 2 of which had south facing roofs which I noticed had solar panels
on; one set for hot water another for general electricity, some of which they
sold to the national grid helping to reduce energy bills significantly.
One part of the house that I simply couldn’t miss was the
green roof, not green as in eco-friendly (although it was) I mean that the
roof was literally the colour green! It had been planted up with sedums, a
small hardy plant, not needing very much tending to (unless there isn’t much
rain for a while.) Planting on roofs is becoming increasingly popular although
it doesn’t mean you should just pour a load of compost all over your tiles, no,
the roof has to be specially prepared beforehand to be a sort of basin which is
then filled with soil and then is planted on.
Also visible from the outside were the windows, which were
double glazed, good for increasing insulation. Tracy told me that they were
made from super-insulated Belgian glass, good for protection against the wind. Also, on the note of insulation, when I went inside I noticed the walls were
really thick, and Tracy told me that they were a whole half metre and
stuffed full of insulation.
Inside the house the only heating source I could find was a
relatively small wood burner but I suppose that’s all they need, with
half-metre walls all the heat is going to stay inside the house and isn’t going
to decrease very easily especially when it’s winter and the sun is heating the
house up too.
There are also numerous measures that James and Tracy have taken so as not to waste electricity such as putting stickers on plugs so you know which switch controls which device, also almost nothing is left on or on standby overnight, the only ones that I can think of are the fridge and the freezer! To help save energy the lights are turned off when not needed, applications that use energy all the time are turned off at the power point, and also Tracy told me that when they had a dripping cold water tap, rather than letting the water just trickle away they put a jug underneath it to collect the water.
overall I think that this an excellent way to help the environment and more people should try incorporate some of these ideas into their homes.
Charlie,
Green Society,
Colyton Grammar School
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