Features

The house, which is set in two acres of Gloucestershire countryside around Stroud, is called Tranquility. The entire project is all about designing a home that is self-sustaining - that has been built to use energy in the most efficient way possible.

On the surface it looks just like a regular house but go deeper and you find that it's packed to the brim with technology designed to cut the reliance on using external energy to heat and run the house. Mike explains the philosophy behind his eco-house development:

"I decided about ten years ago that I needed to do some work on the survival of the planet." He reveals. "During the course of the work I've been staggered at how bad the environmental situation is. I decided that, with 20 or 30% of the UK's energy going through the domestic market, we had to do something with houses."

Environmental philosophy

Mike is passionate in his belief that there's an environmental crisis looming and that we should be more concerned about using our natural resources in a more efficient way. Tranquility is his way of showing what can be done to minimise the amount of energy we use in our homes and thus save the need to generate so much power for domestic use within the UK. He says:

"I decided to spend a lot of money designing the most energy efficient house that I could. Without any external input of energy, this house will use less than 15% of the energy of a normal house."

The house is packed with high tech features designed to both save energy and manage it in a more efficient way. One of the fascinating features of the house is the solar room, which is a important part of the building's self-sustaining plan. Mike reveals how the room, which is like a large glass covered conservatory, works:

"This is one of the hearts of the house because you can't operate the house on the energy levels that this one will require without having a solar room, which is there to collect solar energy." He explains. "The floor is a solar absorbing floor - terracotta tiles. Basically the sun comes through the special glass panes, the air in there is warmed and that is used to heat and ventilate the house.

"There's a computer controlled ventilation system which, when the air inside the house needs to be changed, takes the air from the solar room and puts it into the rest of the house."

In hot water

Heating water takes a lot of energy and this particularly problem has been addressed by the use of solar panels on Mike's eco-house.  Mike talks about how these panels work with the house:

"They're purely there to heat the domestic water. But they're not the only thing - there's a backup solar water heater which is supplying warm water to the system that is being heated by the roof water heaters.

Computer controlled

One of the really neat features of the house is a complex computer control system that regulates how all these environmental systems work together. Mike explains:

"It is completely controlled by a computer and environmental management system. It controls the entire water system in the house."

"There's also a ventilation control system - that's absolutely crucial and is unique to this house. Most of the rooms in the house are ducted with air. 'Bad' air rooms have air extracted from them and the 'good' air rooms have air pumped into them so, for example, the bedrooms have fresh air pumped in while the kitchen has air taken out."

Cost effective?

In terms of energy bills, Mike forecasts that his eco-house will make significant savings over a regular house.

"We should be talking about heating bills of less than £20 a year." He says. "With water costs, this place is unusual because it collects all the rainwater that falls on it and its garage roof. It is independent for water, which is all filtered to drinking quality - the total cost of operating that system will be around £11 a year."

But is such a home going to be a practical option for people to build? After all, Mike has already spent a great deal of money on it. He argues:

"This particular house has cost a great deal to build because it's an experimental house, but the various pieces of equipment in it can be copied for a completely modest cost." He says. "I estimate that cost of building a house to this standard to be not more than 5% above the cost of a normal build."

However, Mike is in no doubt as to the urgent environmental need to save energy in our homes:

"It's not that I think we have to go down this route - we HAVE to go down this route. It isn't an option. It's just a question of time before humanity wakes up and I think humanity is gradually waking up now." He explains.

If you're interested in discovering more about the eco-house and the various systems used in its construction, you can e-mail Mike at mike.hillard@virgin.net