The Future Homes Standard
As we wait for the Government to publish the Future Homes Standard, many things that used to seem experimental and even a little weird are proving to work well and become standard practice in home building – from higher standards in insulation to the use of solar panels on the roof and heat pumps.
New homes will be future proofed with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency. No further energy efficiency retrofit work will be necessary to enable them to become zero-carbon over time as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise. These new build homes will be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer with lower energy bills. Looking at the new Garden Community in Chelmsford, the desire is to go beyond the new Future Homes Standard. I look at all the advances and ask the question – can we reach the dream of No Bills Homes?
No Bills Home
I think many people have always dreamed about the perfect retirement home – the cottage with roses around the front door or a place in the sun, living in a different country. So maybe it is because my son has just left home to start his new job, but I am starting to think what the perfect next home might be, and the thing that has caught my imagination is a “No Bills Home”. I had the opportunity to go along to Essex County Council’s Autumn Climate Summit on Net Zero homes late last year. There, construction experts spoke about a range of new ways to build, including the popular German Passivhaus way of building and the Octopus Energy Zero Bills scheme that some Essex developers are using on new developments. The industry joke is you just need a dog to keep your home warm, so my dog Rolo will come in handy!
This fascinating topic will take a lot more research on my part, looking at solar panels and home batteries and choosing the best electricity supplier. But the more new homes that are built to a higher standard, the easier it should be for us all to reach or get closer to a “No Bills Home”. One such scheme is already being offered by Octopus Energy, providing a guarantee of no bills for the first five years in a new build home. * Find out more on their website – it has fired up my imagination of what is possible.)
For now (as we will not be moving for a while), I can keep researching and learning about all that is possible, dreaming about this future home as the line from the song “Jessie Paints a picture” goes “ for you the cat and me” – (my dog Rolo can come as well!). It makes me more open to what I can do in my present home before we do downsize in the future; who knows, if I keep dreaming of lower bills and do upgrades to this house, imagine how much warmer and cheaper to run our current home could be.
Thermal Imaging
I recently borrowed the Love Your Chelmsford thermal camera to see how energy efficient my home already is, and I could see what a good job I had done with all the extra loft insulation. I checked on a cold day with the heating on indoors and it was nice to see no money escaping through the roof, with the camera showing a cool blue roof.
The thermal camera will be making its way to local community group Sustainable Danbury next. They’ll trial the tool around some homes in Chelmsford in the hopes of reducing heat loss in homes and saving energy. I will make full use of all the information on Sustainable Danbury website, as after meeting with them, they are happy to help even when you live outside Danbury and have lots of exciting plans for the future. I do drive through Danbury on the way into Chelmsford from South Woodham Ferrers, so I am sure that is good enough to qualify as being in their area to get help and advice.
Jessie Paints A Picture
Please check out the song “Jessie paints a picture” and all the information on the Octopus Energy and Sustainable Danbury websites, giving you a further two blogs to read!
If wanting to be warm in the winter and save money and reading about heat pumps makes me weird, I say guilty as charged, because all this new technology saves money and reduces my carbon emissions.
Cllr Terry Sherlock
Jessie Paints a picture – please listen, it is one of my favourite songs. https://youtu.be/yeyFFBCVFvY
*Octopus Energy – Check out what this company is doing as an example of what is possible.
Making Zero Bill homes the new normal | Octopus Energy | Octopus Energy — 03rd October 2024 blog
100k Zero Bills homes by 2030 | Octopus Energy — 12th November 2024 blog
Great resource for information and they are local.
Sustainable Danbury
