Eco-homes are becoming affordable for the average home-buyer, giving them the opportunity to save the environment and save money. Eco-communities such as Rackheath in Norwich, BedZED in Surrey and Fairglen in Cornwall have made green living realistic and affordable option for all home buyers, and not just the wealthy.

The Fairglen project is an eco-community of sustainable homes in Hayle, Cornwall which is now moving into Phase 2 of the build. The 12 houses which formed Phase 1 have all been finished, and creators Percy Williams and Sons Ltd have learnt much from what began as an experimental development.

Percy Williams and Sons have been in business for almost a century and wanted to provide for the families of tomorrow, offering a sustainable, green alternative to new builds elsewhere.

Simon Williams reports: “We have found that the 3 bedroom properties have been the most popular, with many families thinking of the long term benefits of near-zero energy bills”.

Although an eco-home will come in at a few thousand pounds more than its resource hungry equivalent, the savings in heating, electricity and water bills will quickly make up the difference. The appeal is not only to the eco-aware among us but the frugal too, as with ever increasing fuel prices an energy efficient home is a clever investment.

Green properties like these achieve a near carbon neutral status, with photovoltaic (solar panel) roof systems, high efficiency heat recovery ventilation systems, and superior insulation. Hot water is generated by ground-source heat pumps, and the houses are designed with under-floor heating making use of this free heat.

These properties gather electricity through solar power, which means that they can even sell back surplus energy to the grid, making the electricity consumed by the rest that little bit greener too.

Rain water is also recycled, with ‘harvested’ rainwater being collected and used for flushing toilets or for use in the washing machine, which saves the average household a third off their water bill.

The Architect working on the Fairglen project, John Stengelhofen has shown ultimate confidence in the development as he moved into one of the four bedroom properties last year. His previous home was built on the site by Percy Williams in 1992, and is being demolished to make way for phase 2.

Stengelhofen and Williams have combined economical living with high quality design and craftsmanship to provide stylish, contemporary and affordable homes.

Eco-homes are far from the basic lodgings you might imagine; in fact a major attraction over the ‘traditional’ house is the superior comfort of the living environment which provides an all-year round stable temperature and excellent air quality. Alongside the under-floor heating, large windows and modern architectural design, you may not even realise how green you are until your bills arrive.

Percy Williams and Sons have eco homes for sale in Hayle and Redruth, Cornwall.

For more information please visit http://www.new-homes-cornwall.com

It will come as no surprise that more than 40% of the UK’s CO₂ emissions result from the choices we make as individuals. By taking an active interest in sustainable living, changing the way we live and introducing energy efficiency measures into our homes, we can make a difference to this global issue.

To help you improve the energy efficiency of your home, whether it is an existing house or a new build, the organisers of The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show, on at the NEC from 18 to 21 March 2010, have put together some great pointers:

Get Educated!

FInd out how sustainable you and your home are by checking out your own carbon footprint. Use the Energy Savings Trust’s carbon calculator (www.energysavingstrust.org.uk/calculator/start ) and get a personalised action plan to do your bit for the environment and reduce energy bills. You can visit the Energy Savings Trust at The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show to get further information or attend the free seminars at the Show. How to heat your home for free and turning your existing home into a low energy house are just two of the many eco topics in the seminar and masterclass programme.

Start with the Basics

There are so many simple ways to become more sustainable in the home – and save money! Turn down your thermostat by one degree (which could save 10% on your heating bills), use the economy setting on the dishwasher, don’t leave appliances and equipment on standby, use your washing machine at 30^o degrees, use low energy light bulbs or only fill the kettle for the amount of water you need. Ring the Act on CO₂ helpline for more advice: 0800 512512.

Insulate, Insulate, Insulate

Insulating your home is a great way to reduce CO₂ emissions and reduce energy costs. For the average house 30% of the heat simply escapes through the walls and roof. Did you know that installing or topping up your loft insulation to 270mm thickness can save you £60 a year and reduce your carbon footprint by 299kg? Cavity wall insulation (generally appropriate for houses built between 1920 and 1980) can save £150 on your heating bills and reduce your carbon footprint by 799kg. For new builds, investing in high levels of insulation materials is the most cost effective way to minimise heat loss and keep energy bills low. Insulation materials are used in roofs, walls and floors and there are a wide variety of products on the market for both existing and new homes. Check out the wide range of insulation specialist exhibitors at The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show (www.homebuildingshow.co.uk).

Consider Alternative Energy Technologies

Alternative energy technologies where you produce your own electricity or energy to heat your home may be expensive but can significantly reduce your carbon footprint as well as reduce your utility bills to a minimum. Ground source heat pumps are the darlings of the green movement and work like a fridge, using electricity to power water through pipes below the surface where the temperature remains at a constant 10^oc. You could also consider wind or hydro turbines and solar panels. For simpler initiatives consider underfloor heating, rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling.

Understand the New Payback Scheme

Grants are no longer available to help towards the cost of installing alternative energy technologies. However, from April the Government is introducing a Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme in which homeowners who generate their own electricity will be paid a substantial premium for all electricity they generate. Offering a series of per-unit rates, guaranteed by law for 25 years and inflation-linked, the income is also tax free. Now there’s an incentive! From April 2011, the Government will be introducing the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which will apply the same principles to heat energy – for technologies like thermal solar panels and ground-source heat pumps. To find out more, ring 0800 512512 or attend the free masterclass on how to make money from renewable energy at The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show.

Get Financial Help with Ageing Boilers

If your boiler has a permanent pilot light or is over 15 years old, it’s likely it is G-rated and therefore qualifies for the boiler scrappage scheme. The great news is that the Government is offering a £400 cashback voucher for anyone scrapping their G-rated boiler and replacing it with an A-rated boiler or renewable heat technology. There are currently around 3.5 million homes in England with G-rated or worse boilers. Find out if you are eligible by logging onto www.governmentboiler-scrappagescheme.info

Do Your Homework

Do your homework and get as much information as possible. Visit websites like the Association for Environment Conscious Building (www.aecb.net), the Centre for Alternative Technology (www.cat.org.uk) and the Energy Saving Trust (www.est.org.uk).

Visit The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC from 18 to 21 March. The Show features over 450 exhibitors as well as The Eco Homes Show, free seminar and masterclass sessions, Ask the Experts and Independent Advice Areas. Sustainable living continues to be a big focus of the Show this year and there are two free seminars every day as well as 29 free masterclasses over the four days focussing on specific aspects of energy efficiency and environmentally friendly products and services. You can also speak to Tim Pullen, our resident eco-expert at the Ask the Homebuilding & Renovating magazine Experts stand or visit Oakwright’s cutaway structure demonstrating how your dream home design can accommodate eco-friendly products including solar heating, breathable walls, wind power and insulation. For more information on what’s available at the Show or to buy tickets, visit www.homebuildingshow.co.uk or ring 0844 5811377. Tickets are £10 in advance or £14 on the door and children under 16 go free.

The Energy Saving Trust have published the results of their domestic-scale wind turbine field trials. Named 'Location Location Location', the over-riding theme throughout the report is the location of the wind turbine is critical to how well it performs, with free-standing turbines in remote locations producing the best performance, and those attached to dwellings in urban and suburban areas the least effective.

The EST also noted that the Government’s Numerical Objective Analysis Boundary Layer (NOABL) predicted windspeed map significantly over-estimated wind speeds, particularly in urban locations, partly due to the fact that buildings and other obstructions were not taken into consideration. The Carbon Trust's windspeed map was found to be the most accurate.

In addition, power curve graphs calculated by manufacturers to indicate performance used different parameters, and it was therefore difficult to compare the performance of different turbines. In an effort to address this issue, the Microgeneration Certification Scheme has developed standards which manufacturers will be required to adhere to when publishing power curves. This should be in place by the end of 2009.

The EST believe there is a good market potential for 455,650 small-scale domestic wind turbines in the UK, mostly for free-standing turbines in rural locations.

The entire report can be downloaded from the Energy Saving Trust's website.

As the use of herbal medicine often goes hand-in-hand with a green lifestyle, we thought you may wish to consider signing the following petition:

"The Government wish to further regulate Herbalists by bringing them under state control, protecting both the function and title of a Herbalist. Alongside this regulation they wish to change the Herbal Medicine laws again to prevent anyone, other than a state regulated herbalist (or possibly other health professional), from prescribing herbs. This, coupled with a previous change to our herbal medicine laws, will take Herbal Medicine away from the people, with state regulated Herbalists and pharmaceutical companies claiming Herbal Medicine as their own. "

The petition is in response to the Department of Health Steering Group Report, published in June 2008.

Full details of the petition can be found here:
www.gopetition.co.uk/online/26781.html

The origins of herbal use are so old as to be lost in the mists of time. Since primitive man who saw their healing properties as a gift of the gods, we continue to turn to plants for their therapeutic and holistic benefits in all cultures of life. What was a healing plant or herb then is still a healing plant or herb. Because great confidence was placed in them, witches and physicians of the ancient world were expected to know their herbs. Plants gave healing powers to those who studied, worked and respected them. In many lands and in many times, healers spent a good part of their lives in the field and forest gathering green medicines. They remembered and scribed what they learned, passing it on throughout the ages.

Today we have the opportunity to benefit from this accumulated herbal wisdom allowing us to peer back through history, harvesting for our own benefit those herbs that have stood the test of time. Chamomile is one such example. The Ancient Egyptians dedicated this herb to their sun Gods and worshipped it above all other herbs for its curative and cosmetic qualities. Hieroglyphic records show noblewomen of the time used preparations of crushed Chamomile petals on their skin for its anti-inflammatory & beautifying properties. Since the 1st century AD, Chamomile flowers have been used as an infused tea to treat digestive and liver problems, ease female complaints & lessen anxiety and insomnia. The flowers were also used externally as an ointment for skin irritations, insect bites and wounds. So was the healing quality of Chamomile flowers that medieval herbalists developed double-flowered varieties to increase the yield of usable parts.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Chamomile was used as a strewing herb to improve the atmosphere at gatherings and festivals. Still used today to promote a relaxing environment, Chamomile incense and essential oil are often used in magical rituals for peace, prosperity and protection as well as for garden libations, new beginnings and to attract love. With the growing popularity of new-age, or more rightly termed old-age therapies such as Aromatherapy, the essential oil of Chamomile has been ‘re-invented’ as a treatment for damaged skin, headaches and inflamed joints, as well as for its affinity for the throat Chakra to increase communication while soothing feelings of anger and frustration.
  
Lavender is another great example of a panacea that has stood the test of time. It was again revered by Ancient Egyptians who used its oil as embalming fluid for mummification as well as a perfume. According to legend, Cleopatra took advantage of its romantic, sensual appeal to seduce Julius Caesar and Mark Antony! In ancient Greece, it was called spikenard and was used a cure-all for everything from insomnia to insanity. It wasn’t until Roman times however that Lavender became a prized commodity featuring primarily in their bathing. So great was their love to bathe that the name ‘Lavender’ is rooted in the Latin verb to wash, ‘lavare’. By medieval times, Lavender was used as a strewing herb to deodorise and disinfect. By the time of the Great Plague in the 17th century, people would fasten bunches of Lavender to their wrists to protect themselves from the Black Death while glove-makers scented their stocks of leather with its oil to ward off the disease. Thieves who made a living stealing from the graves and the homes of Plague victims concocted a wash known as ‘Four Thieves Vinegar’ that contained Lavender  to cleanse and protect themselves after a night's work. Today, we know the disease was transmitted by fleas, so the use of this herb - which is known to repel these insects - could very well have saved lives and prevented further spread of the plague.

In addition to Lavender’s protective qualities, it is often used in magical rituals as an incense or essential oil to afford long life, peace, love, purification, psychic awareness, clarity of thought and to induce sleep.  Lavender flowers are also known to be thrown on to Midsummer fires as a sacrifice to the ancient Gods. Energetically, Lavender oil has an affinity for the crown Chakra helping to rid negative thoughts, paranoia and worry while increasing spiritual connection.

Whether using herbs as teas, infusions, oils, ointments, tinctures etc, their magical and healing properties have stood the test of time. Today over 80% of the world’s population rely on herbs as their sole source of medicine. Even many synthetic medicines on the market owe their existence to naturally occurring herbs, plants and trees, such as Asprin, which stems from white Willow Bark. I hope man continues to take the time to learn, respect and work with natures own cures, building the bridge with Mother Nature and making the ‘wise women and men’ of old proud that we have continued on their work.

About the Author:

Cat MacGillivray of KittySoaps www.kittysoaps.co.uk

Cavity wall insulation sounds painful, but it's actually one of the simplest and most cost effective ways to green your home.

Cavity wall insulation is an effective way to improve the energy efficiency of your home. This guide tells you to how to install it so you can get the maximum benefits and save money on your energy bills.

In this article:

• What are the benefits?
• How much will it cost?
• What insulation should I use?
• How do I get it installed?
• What are the benefits?

In most homes built after 1920 the walls are made up of two layers with a small air ‘cavity’ in between. If you have an unfilled cavity then you could be losing a considerable amount of the heat from your house to it.

In fact, the average house could reduce heating costs by 15 per cent simply by installing insulation in the cavity.

How much will it cost?

The average cost is around £500 but it depends on the amount of material you need to fill the cavity, so it will be more expensive for bigger houses. However, it could save £90 a year from the heating bill of the average house, so could pay itself off in little over five years.

What insulation should I use?

There are three main types of insulation material;

1. Mineral Wool
2. Urea Formaldehyde Foam
3. Polystyrene Beads

They all share the ability to remain sufficiently stable, so can remain in place for the life of the building. These materials all have low thermal conductivity, are non-combustible, resistant to water penetration and allow moisture to escape through the wall.

Which material you decide to use is up to you. Your installer should be able to help you choose. For a more eco-friendly insulation you could use sheep’s wool, hemp, flax, cork board, cellulose (from recycled newspaper) or straw. However, many need a larger access space to be installed, can be susceptible to fungus and pests and often need to be replaced in time.

How do I get it installed?

You need to hire someone with experience and the right equipment to do the job. There is a list of accredited installers on the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) website.

It will usually only take two to three hours to install cavity insulation and will cost around £500 for the average home. You may also be eligible for a grant to help towards the cost.

To find out more visit http://www.bbcgreen.com/Home-Garden/Heating-Insulation/how-to-insulate-cavity-wall

Organic agriculture is defined as a system of farming based on principles of human, animal and environmental health. At its core, organic farming is about avoiding the use of agro-chemicals to minimise damage to the environment and wildlife. The concept of organic has been around for more than half a century - Walter Northbourne coined the term in Look to the Land, published in 1940. During the early to mid 1990s, the organic market really took off in the UK. The global organic market is now worth more than £17 billion and supplied by more than 300,000 square km of certified agricultural land – an area roughly the size of Italy.

Organic certification

All foods sold as organic must originate from farms, processors and importers that have been approved by an official certification body. In the case of processed foods, at least 95 per cent of the agricultural ingredients (ie excluding water and salt) must be certified organic.

The rest can be non-organic, though only in the case of certain approved ingredients. In the UK, there are ten organic certification bodies, each of which inspects farms and factories to ensure they meet EU standards. They can also choose to impose extra requirements of their own. The largest organic certification body in the UK is the Soil Association, which claims to have "the highest and most comprehensive standards for organic production and processing in the world".

How do you get organic certification?

The complete list of minimum organic standards runs to more than a hundred pages. However, most of the regulations relate to these four areas:

• Fertilisers - Most synthetic fertilisers are ruled out. Instead, the soil is kept fertile with manure and crop rotation (alternating regular crops with others planted specifically to add nutrients to the soil).
• Pesticides - Most herbicides, insecticides and fungicides are prohibited. Instead, pests are controlled primarily by predatory insects, weeding and the co-planting of crops that deter each other's pests. A few non-synthetic pesticides are allowed as a last resort.
• Animal welfare - Animals must have adequate space and access to free-range areas, and their feed must be organic. Minimum slaughter ages are specified and practices such as docking tails and cutting teeth are only allowed in certain circumstances.
• Additives - Most colourings, preservatives and other additives – including aspartame, hydrogenated fat and monosodium glutamate – are prohibited. Only 36 additives are permitted, out of a total of at least 500. The Soil Association limits this further to 30.

Besides rules and regulations, organic bodies encourage producers to abide by wider principles relating to health, ecology, fairness and care.

The pros and cons of organic

A 2003 government review concluded that organic agriculture tends to bring environmental benefits by increasing farmland wildlife and soil quality while reducing energy use, carbon emissions, pesticide and nitrate pollution.

That's not to say that all organic food is inherently eco-friendly. For example, beef has a large carbon footprint no matter how it is farmed. And, like regular food, organic produce may be transported long distances or heavily packaged. Organic systems often produce lower yields than conventional systems. People argue that widespread organic agriculture might increase the total area of farmland needed to feed the world. This in turn might encourage the clearing of rainforests.

Health benefits

Organic groups claim that organic food offers more nutrients and fewer pesticide residues. "More of the good stuff we need and less of the bad stuff that we don't need", as the Soil Association puts it.

A number of scientific studies have added weight to this view, though others have found no significant difference between organic and non-organic food. The Food Standards Agency warns that "to reach a robust conclusion it is necessary to evaluate the weight of evidence across a range of published papers. Care should be taken over reliance on single papers." Future research may clarify the question of health benefits. In the meantime, sales of organic products continue to rise steeply. In 2006 alone, UK sales were up by more than a fifth.

To find out more visit http://www.bbcgreen.com/Food/Organic/Sixty-Second-Guide-to-Organic

From sustainable safaris to eco beach breaks responsible holidays are more popular than ever, but do they really deliver what they promise? What is ecotourism?

The closest thing to an official definition of ecotourism comes from The International Ecotourism Society's: "Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people".

In other words, ecotourism is about making trips that support the ecology and people of the area.
What are the rules?

There aren’t any - unlike organic or Fairtrade, the term ecotourism isn’t legally binding or controlled by certification bodies. In the words of EcoTravel.com:

"The problem is there are no universally accepted standards for the definition of ecotourism. This is how an 'eco-lodge' may dump untreated sewage in a river and still call itself 'eco' simply because it is located in a natural setting."

That's not to say that many ecotourism operators are unethical, just that using the phrase guarantees nothing. Moreover, even if there were a formal set of rules and an official ecotourism logo, there would still be at least one obvious ethical conundrum: flying. Can a holiday be responsible if you need to fly to get there?

In an era of climate change, this is the elephant in the room. Two flights from London to South Africa release the equivalent of around six tonnes of CO2 - as much as a UK home causes annually.

Climate change is expected to drive a third of land animals and plants into extinction by 2050 – shocking facts like this make long-haul holidays and environmental protection hard to reconcile. Of course, it's possible to offset the damage caused by your flights, but whether this is a legitimate response is open to debate. How can tourists preserve environments?

Advocates of ecotourism argue that, despite the impact of aviation, travellers can make a positive different to the environments they visit. It is certainly true that nature tourists can provide an economic incentive for landowners and governments to protect ecosystems.

If tourists are coming to admire flora and fauna, and spending money while they’re there, then the value of those plants and animals increases. Naturalist Sir David Attenborough is among those who believe there would be no mountain gorillas left were it not for ecotourism.

But critics say that the environment doesn’t always benefit. With no reliable certification body, it can be hard to distinguish between a genuine eco-trip and an unscrupulous tour operator jumping on the “green” bandwagon. Many so-called ecotourism businesses are owned and controlled by foreign companies who are more interested in profit than conservation.

When the proceeds from ecotourism are not retained in local communities and environments, the results can be detrimental.

Then there’s the extra environmental impact of flying to consider. Whether any eco benefits from the trip can outweigh the damage simply caused by getting to that destination is for each person to decide.

What about the impact on local people?

Travel companies offering ecotourism trips usually make claims about the benefits provided to the local communities in the places visited. Some even go so far as to refer to their holidays as being fair trade.

Generally, such claims are based on the company favouring small-scale, locally run hotels and other services, rather than relying on corporate or foreign-owned establishments.

Not everyone is convinced about the social benefits of ecotourism. Survival International and others campaigning for the rights of indigenous people, claim that conservation of areas has been linked with uprooting tribal people from their ancestral land. Does ecotourism open up new tourist areas?

One other bone of contention around ecotourism is the long-term impact of establishing tourist destinations in largely undeveloped areas. Even if the first companies to explore an area operate ethically, they may encourage other, less scrupulous, operators to set up in the similar locations.

A study by Conservation International and the United National Environment Program found that holidays to biodiversity hotspots more than doubled in the 1990s alone, with rises as high as 2000 per cent in some Asian regions. Growth such as this raises questions about the sustainability of nature travel - and not just in terms of aviation.

To find out more visit www.bbcgreen.com OR the direct link: http://www.bbcgreen.com/Travel/World-Travel/Question-Answer-Ecotourism

Sustainable energy is the renewable energy which is not expected to be exhausted in a timeframe and its sources are not supposed to be consumed ever. The sources of the sustainable energy are natural like solar power, hydro power, wind power, bio fuel, biomass geothermal power, and so on. Sustainable energy is also the alternative of the fossil energy. The sources of the renewable energy are inexhaustible.

Increasing the use of sustainable or renewable energy decrease the use of fossil fuel resources and increase the contribution of world energy security. When the fossil energy resources are consumed the emission from these are causing the pollution. In this current scenario one of the biggest social problems is pollution. To prevent the alarming growth of the environment pollution it becomes very necessary to use the sustainable energies instead of the fossil energy. And how is that you are using the energy as much as you require and that doesn’t create any pollution. Keeping the earth a healthy clean and clear!

Solar panels are now vastly used for the domestic pas well as commercial purpose. If we use the wood pellet stoves or boilers instead of other means of stoves or boilers, we can save the environment, storage of bio fuels as well as our money also. Wood pellets are exhausted completely. The percentage of waste in the wood pellet stoves is around 1–2% only. That means it saves your money. These are not only bio friendly but very economical also. Sustainable energy is consisting of renewable energy and energy efficiency. These energies can be used in household, automotive and every commercial field.

Most of the progressive countries are now taking positive steps to promote the renewable energy. The Governments provide the grants to their respective countries. Various NGOs and environmentalists are working to make popular the sustainable energy. Now this is not only used for bio friendly reasons but this is also used for profit maximizing for the commercial houses also. You can have a look on the hyperlinks mentioned below where you can get the SEI Grant scheme available in Ireland. This list is very much useful to avail the full benefit of installing the solar panels. Now a day it has been noticed that the use of the sustainable energy sources are increasing in the suburban areas rather than the towns and villages. And where the blessings of electricity have not reached yet, the growth of renewable energy is greatly noticeable. As per the surveys it has been noticed that the cost of energy generation is much lesser to the other means of energy generation.

Renewable energies are crucial contributors to the energy supply as they contribute to the world energy supply security, reducing dependency on fossil fuel resources and provide opportunities for extenuating greenhouse gases. Renewable energy is the third largest contributor to the global electricity production. They accounted for almost 18% of the production in 2004, just after coal (40%) and natural gas (close to 20%), but ahead of nuclear (16%), oil (7%) and other nonrenewable waste.

According to Helmut Kaiser Consultancy of Zurich the yield and storage of renewable energy will be the fastest growing sector in the energy market over the next 20 years. The market of renewable energy is vast as well as open and growing very fast.


About the Author:
Abir Roychowdhury is a professional Internet Marketer. For fireplaces Galway Ireland, Gas Fires Solid Fuel Stoves & Gas Stoves Galway Ireland or Wood Pellet Stoves Ireland Wood Pellet Boilers Galway Solar Panels Galway Sustainable energy Ireland please visit the above links.