It is widely accepted that one of the biggest issues facing the UK at the moment is the housing crisis. It seems that Britain cannot build enough homes at the moment to satisfy demand. One of the latest trends in the housing sector is eco homes. It is claimed these homes will reduce your living costs with the innovative use of a variety of eco products. So with the government saying they want a million homes to be built by 2020, and the clamour for a more sustainable living environment also growing, I have decided to see whether eco homes are here to stay.
With soaring energy costs becoming the norm, there is a growing demand for more eco homes to be built. Using products such as rain water harvesting, solar panels, under-floor heating and heat recovery ventilation systems, eco homes would mean paying much less in energy bills and also lessening , saving money in the long term. John O’Brien of the BRE establishment is enthusiastic and expects eco homes to become more and more popular ““The development of eco materials is moving at such a rapid rate that we have moved from the conventional opaque, blue-coloured polycrystalline solar collectors that you see on roofs to these transparent orange-coloured panes of glass,”
The evidence is there that eco homes are beneficial both for the person or people living in them and for the environment. Residents who have constructed their own eco homes claim annual energy bills in most cases have halved. So why are eco homes still generally seen as rather ‘pie in the sky’ and more of a fad than a permanent fixture? One of the most common perceptions is that living sustainably has been associated doing without many elements of our contemporary life. However speak to those currently living in one and they will tell you it is in fact more comfortable. Another claim against eco homes is that it is more costly to build, whereas figures for the lifecycle costs of buildings have proved that in the long term they are actually cheaper. More investment may be required upfront but it pays off in costing less to run throughout its lifetime.
Whichever way you look at it, eco homes offer a genuine alternative to a period home. There are currently groundbreaking developments ongoing to provide several eco homes in one place, such as the Fairglen project . The evidence is there to support the claim that eco homes can save you money whilst also giving you a comfortable home. With this in mind, maybe the time has come for us to embrace the eco home.
