Chichester and Arundel Lifestyle Jan - Feb 2022

NEW YEAR
Greener Home
Looking to make some
sustainable changes in the
home this year? Read on...
CHANGE YOUR
HEATING
As boilers can be fuelled generally by four
different fuels, homeowners can decide
what would be best for their house.
The possibilities range from gas boilers,
oil, electric boilers, and biomass boilers.
Ground-source heat pumps use buried
pipes to extract heat from the earth
for your home’s heating and hot water
circuits. You won’t usually need planning
permission, but you’ll need to be
prepared for the disruption of digging up
your garden.
Air-source systems use a similar
principle, but extract heat from the air.
They can be fitted to an external wall or
sometimes in roof space, making them
ideal for retrofits. Air source heat pumps
cost from around £2,000.
Wood-fuelled heating systems burn
pellets or logs to power central heating
or warm a single room. A biomass boiler
(from £9,000 including installation) feeds
your central heating and hot water. It
should provide for all your heating needs,
but requires plenty of space; a spacious
utility room should suffice. A standalone
stove (around £3,000) heats one room
and can be fitted with a back boiler to
provide water heating.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems convert
sunlight into electricity. They don’t need
direct sunlight to work – so you can
generate on a cloudy day – but you’ll
need to attach them to a roof or wall that
faces within 90 degrees of south. Costs
vary between £8,000 and £14,000.
INSULATE
Attaching renewables to your home is
pointless if it’s so poorly insulated that
heat flows straight out. Insulation is
essential for any eco-renovation,
because as much as 40 per cent of a
home’s heat loss is down to a lack of it.
Insulating loft or cavity walls is relatively
simple. You can be do this with a range
of materials, from sheep’s wool to
expanding foam. Insulating either will
cost from £250 and could save more
than £150 a year in energy bills.
IMPROVE GLAZING
Over 10 per cent of a home’s energy
can be lost through the windows, so
it’s essential that yours perform well.
Replacing single-glazed windows with
double- or even triple-glazed versions will
slow heat transfer. To reduce this further,
consider a product filled with a lowconductivity
gas, such as argon.
You can even get hold of low-emissivity
(low-e) glass, which has a special coating
to reflect heat back into the room.
CHEMICAL-FREE
CLEANING
A lot of mainstream cleaning products
contain various ingredients that
are harmful to the environment. In
fact, a lot of chemicals used to clean
our clothes, dishes, and house end
up causing damage to our planet
and its biodiversity. Chemicals such
as detergents, preservatives, or foaming
agents are the ones that cause the most
harm to nature. Switching to products
that contain sustainably grown or raised
ingredients that do not deplete the
ecosystem, nor harm it when expelled
back out.
DECREASE THE
TOXIC LOAD
We are becoming increasingly aware of
the volume of chemicals in the building
products used in our homes - but by
choosing products consciously, we can
reduce these elements. Most eco-paints
are water-soluble and use plant oils and
resins to form the solution, with pigments
coming from minerals or plant dyes.
Environmentally-friendly wood varnishes
and waxes are also available, as are
green options to clean and prepare walls.
Sustainable wallpapers include natural
coverings made from materials such as
hessian, cotton and wool.
There are many natural flooring products,
with wood being the most popular. Make
sure it is derived from a sustainable
source (the FSC logo is a good indicator).
If wood’s not your thing, consider cork,
marmoleum or even rubber, which can
all be 100 per cent natural – but always
check the supply chain.
LAY UNDERFLOOR
HEATING
If you’ve always used radiators, maybe
it’s time for a change. Underfloor
heating (UFH) is a great alternative,
and should be easy to install if you’re
pulling up floors as part of the renovation
process. It operates at a temperature just
a few degrees warmer than the room air
temperature by circulating warm water
through a network of cross-linked pipes
installed under your flooring. The low
operating temperature means it’s easily
linked with alternative heating sources
with similar low temperature outputs –
such as solar thermal or heat pumps.
RECYCLE WATER
Thousands of litres of rainwater fall on
your roof each year – so why not collect
it? This water can function to flush
toilets, fill washing machines and water
gardens. Consider a rainwater harvesting
system that collects rainfall via a
drainpipe, filters out leaves and debris,
and then stores the useable water in a
tank. Also think about changing your
toilets and showers. A low-flush toilet
uses less than four litres per flush and a
low-flow showerhead less than 10 litres
per minute.
“We are becoming increasingly aware of
the volume of chemicals in the building
products used in our homes - but by
choosing products consciously, we can
reduce these elements.”
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