This weekend, on Saturday 14 October and Sunday 15 October there will be thirteen environmentally efficient homes for people to view, and begin to see and understand how our homes can be made less costly to run and more energy efficient.
There are many ‘green’ technologies around, each will have their own merits and benefits but as we all have quite individual and ‘personalised’ homes of different ages, styles, sizes and locations some technologies will be better and more appropriate for particular properties, whilst different technologies will be more appropriate for other houses. Or, maybe you start from scratch with a complete new build, which is where the real fun (and maximum efficiencies) can be found.
But key to making any choices or decisions is understanding. Seeing what can be used, taking advice from those with experience (and not necessarily trying to sell something).
‘Great Green Bedwyn’, with help from ‘Hungerford Environmental Action Team’ (HEAT) and ‘Pewsey Green’ are organising this weekend’s ‘Green Open Homes’ event.
Last year they ran a smaller (four homes) event with homes that had installed Green technology – mainly in homes built from the 1970’s onwards but following the level of interest the number of homes in this year’s event is thirteen.
What sort of houses will be on display? There will be a mix of older Victorian properties, featuring effective insulation additions through to the latest ‘Passivhaus’, which is probably at the cutting edge of home energy efficiency and where the heat created by the appliances and those living in the house can be enough to keep it sufficiently warm throughout the year.
Jeremy Wyatt of Great Green Bedwyn told marlborough.news: “We hope to help people interested in installing these green technologies in a new home or retrofit to find out more about them from owners without a sales pitch. We are grateful local homeowners who are welcoming booked visitors to their homes. They have a variety of stories to tell, from an energy efficient home extracting heat from a nearby river to a cosy barge on the Kennet and Avon canal.”
Jeremy also noted that Great Green Bedwyn can help in other ways, such as lending people an infrared camera to look for cold spots in their home (suggesting that attention to draughts or insulation is needed), or carry out an infrared survey for them if they live locally.
The thirteen homes on show include four in Great Bedwyn with more in Pewsey, Burbage, Hungerford, Shalbourne, Great Shefford, and Wexcombe.
To find out more or to book a visit to one or more of these efficient homes, click here to reach wwb.greenopenhomes.net.
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