It's not often you find someone prepared to put his money where his mouth is, but Richard Bointon is one of those rarities.

He's always been interested in reducing our impact on the environment, and now he's having his new house built to fit in with his beliefs.

"It's costing twenty per cent more than the average four bedroomed detached house, but that's only because we're having to use unusual building techniques," says Richard.

"And we'll be saving money on fuel and heating costs. Our electricity will be provided by solar panels on the roof.

"We'll then sell excess power to the National Grid. Our aim is to export power during the day and buy it back at the same rate overnight."

The south face of the roof will be covered in photovoltaic tiles

The house has been designed by a Cornish architect who specialises in environmentally friendly houses.

Chris Hendra, from C.A.D. Architects, says more and more of his clients are opting for future proofing.

"This means designing a house to use solar and ground source heating, rather than fossil fuels," explains Chris.

"This reduces carbon emissions and running costs, and avoids the increasing cost of oil and gas."

Richard Bointon's house is made of concrete blocks with solid blocks of foam insulation on the outside. This acts like a storage heater, as the concrete keeps the same temperature all year round.

Architect's plans for the house

There's a heat exchanger in the loft, which extracts warm, wet air from the bathroom and kitchen, and sends it to heat up fresh air from the outside before it's blown into the bedrooms.

And Richard describes the southern aspect of the house as strange. "There's a two storey glass conservatory, housing the sitting room.

"This means the sun warms the air inside, which then rises by convection to the top of the house, causing natural circulation of air.

"The sitting room has an open walkway across it, so we can walk between the bedrooms and look down into the sitting room."

Richard, who describes himself as just an ordinary engineer with an interest in the environment, hopes to move into the new house in January.