Garden rooms and their carbon footprint
How can we conserve energy at home and in our garden offices and other domestic buildings? There has been much talk about renewable energy and new technologies such as ground source heat pumps and grey water recycling for use around the home. Most new domestic technologies are still in the development stage, and have twenty or thirty year pay-back periods.
A wind turbine in the garden would suffer from limited wind speed in urban areas, needs planning permission, and unless 2 or 3 metres in span produces very little electricity. However, if you live on the top of a hill in Scotland a wind turbine is a good idea. Solar panels for generating hot water are worth considering, and are cost effective on your house rather than on your garden office.
The investment in new technologies is definitely worthwhile personally and globally if you are building a new house or if you intend to live in your home for life. But there are simple measures that all of us can take in our homes and our garden rooms to help reduce our carbon footprint.
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