Living in an eco-house

It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it!...

There's a lot of hot air (pun intended) spouted about global warming and how we should be more environmentally conscious of our carbon footprint, so in the best traditions of investigative journalism I decided that I needed to check this out for myself so that I could write this really informative article for all you non-intelligensia out there to fawn over.

Actually, I just fancied a week in Cornwall and this came up. But anyway...

Mrs D. spotted this nice warm, cosy eco-shed (see picture) so we booked it and off we went. I have to say it was a very interesting experience. Along with usual coffee table stuff you get with a self catering rental property there was this folder entitled, rather pretentiously I thought, 'Your lodges green folder' - so I had a read. It went on for pages about all their green initiatives - how they had built the lodge from sustainable sources using local craftsmen; how they had used reclaimed timber from a Cornish wreck; how they had used low energy light bulbs; how the building was super insulated; how they heated the water by solar panel. In fact all the usual guff and then some.

So how did it stack up in practice?

Well, Mrs D. was the first to blow the ship out of the water so to speak. She looked at the furniture and asked "Isn't this the same stuff we've got in our bedroom?"  Indeed, it was. Exacty the same. Imported all the way from China...

Then we did some cooking. Apparently the air seal was so good that when you turn on the extractor fan it can suck all the air out of the building and suffocate you, so to compensate there's a intake fan in the lounge which sucks air into the building to compensate. Cold air that is - which rather makes a mockery out of the heat retaining glazing and super insulation.

Then there's the lighting. It's all low energy which means that when you turn the light on to go into the bathroom for a pee, you've groped your way to the loo and done the necessary and then left the room again before it's warmed up enough to see your hand in front of your face. You have to remember to turn the lights on about 5 minutes before you want to enter the room - which can be tiresome when you come into the building at night, so we just got in to the habit of leaving all the lights on.

I could go on and on - and frequently do - about why the whole concept is fundamentally flawed, but the piece de resistance is the main feature of the property that attracted us in the first place. Namely, the dirty great hot tub out on the decking.

Very enjoyable it was, but somehow I suspect not very eco-friendly...