The UK’s Green Real Estate
With worries about climate change on the rise, eco-friendly homes are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. The demand for environmentally sound housing is leading constructors to source innovative alternatives to traditional building materials, including straw and even grass!
Eco building consultants ‘Home grown Home’ have designed and built a cabin using bales of straw. Located in East Yorkshire, the Straw Bale cabin has been constructed using 96 full and 46 half bales of wheat straw sourced from local farms. The bales themselves bear the weight of the roof, removing the need for a timber frame. Aside from straw, other renewable materials used include sheep’s’ wool as wall insulation and paints and oils made from plant extracts. A range of recycled materials have also been put to good use including an old barn door for beams in the lounge, reclaimed railway sleepers and even pipes from the old milking parlor.
read moreGreen Real Estate – Did We Miss the Opportunity For Energy Efficient Homes in the Last Boom
Did you know that during the last real estate bubble that nearly 20% of all the homes that exist today were built. There was probably no better time in American History and probably will not be for at least a decade or two, to take advantage of energy efficiency using high-tech building materials. Unfortunately, that residential real estate boom is over. But can we learn anything from our mistakes with regards to building more energy efficient homes
The answer is yes, but first we need to understand what happened. You see, not all homes were built without energy efficient materials or designs, but most were, as they were catering to first time home buyers who could barely afford them. What is a shame is that these inexpensive homes that saved on materials will end up costing them 5-10 times the savings during construction in higher energy costs.
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