Urban eco-living

Ben Nickell from GreenSteps tells us how urban dwellers can make a difference.

It seems that not a day goes by now without Global Warming and Climate Change hitting the headlines. The Earth is warming up! We must reduce our energy consumption! We’re using too much water! We’re using up the world’s resources! We must recycle more! More often than not, the solutions to these problems which hit the headlines are not suited to urban living. For example, such an extreme measure as fitting a wind turbine will not work in almost all domestic urban situations. There simply isn’t enough wind!

Going green isn’t just about saving energy and resources (not to mention our own money); it’s about making us and our homes healthier, supporting environment conscious industries and behaving in a socially responsible way for our benefit and that of future generations.

So what can we do? City dwellers are in a surprisingly good position to be able to make a difference.

Our fuel thirsty cars are responsible for substantial CO2 emissions. Cities have far more comprehensive public transport systems than rural areas, so leave the car at home. If you must use a car, consider joining a car club. In London, buying a C-charge exempt electric car can save you a fortune (don’t forget to sign up to a green electricity supplier!).

At home, applying a few simple green principles can make a world of difference. Our homes are energy greedy when it comes to keeping them warm. If you can stop the heat escaping, it follows that you’ll have to put less heat in to keep it warm in the first place.

Take a look in your loft and make sure you’ve got at least 250mm (10”) of insulation; a natural insulation material such as Thermafleece will be kind to the old timbers of many urban homes and will last the lifetime of the building. Installing this can save you as much as £220 a year on fuel bills.
Fit some Heatkeeper panels behind your radiators to make them more efficient.
Draught proof doors and windows and keep the curtains drawn in the evening.
When renovating or extending, take the opportunity to ensure the work uses eco-friendly high insulation building materials and eco-paints. As well as insulating your home, green building materials will create healthier internal air quality, more stable temperature and humidity (meaning that dust mites and mould will not abound) and will not contain the harmful chemicals found in standard materials.

Once you’ve stopped the heat escaping, you can start to consider how the heat is created and utilised in heating your home and your hot water. For most urban homes, an efficient gas boiler is the most sensible option.

Check your boiler is a SEDBUK A rated condensing model. This should be used to heat your hot water as well. A condensing combination boiler is still more efficient as it will only heat water on demand. You won’t need a hot water tank, saving you precious storage space.
A very clever innovation from Alpha Boilers, called the GasSaver, will use wasted heat from the boiler’s exhaust gases to pre-heat the water entering one of Alpha’s next generation combination boilers, making an already very efficient system even more efficient. You can expect similar savings as you might achieve with a solar powered hot water system. This is a fantastic solution for urban homes, where many do not have their own roof space for a solar panel.
Make sure your central heating has the most flexible controls compatible with your system to ensure you don’t heat rooms unnecessarily. A simple way to upgrade your existing system is to install thermostatic radiator valves.

Although this is only scratching the surface of what it means to 'go green', if you adopt these simple measures, you'll be addressing some of the most important eco-living principles.

GreenSteps will be undertaking an eco-renovation of a house in Notting Hill starting in April 2007 in conjunction with London's Best Builders. This will demonstrate how it is possible to create a comfortable, healthy, efficient and eco-friendly home, without sacrificing any of the style and functionality which we demand from our homes nowadays. Watch out for updates on the GreenSteps site.