Why I am a proud and smug green zealot - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: Robert Johnson, St Davids Road, Otley.
Some might call me a ‘green zealot’, but I would add, ‘a proud and smug green zealot’…let me explain.
On retirement from the NHS 15 years ago my wife and I decided to build an eco-house. Thankfully, it was suggested not to overthink the sexy machines like ground or air source heat pumps but to put more thought and money into boring insulation. After all the energy you do not require is the cheapest and cleanest energy of all.
We built about 80 per cent of the insulated concrete form house ourselves and saved loads of money (£200,000 for a five-bedroom house). It took seven years, but we wanted to achieve the best possible standards given our limited experience. Because we were careful with insulation and airtightness, we could use a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system as our only source of heat. We don’t have gas, a log burner, a heat pump or underfloor heating but a house running at a constant 20/21C.
Later we added photovoltaic panels; an electric storage battery; and two years ago, we bought an electric car.
Now for the smug bit. Over the last two years our energy bills have been less than £100 a year, including the electricity for 24,000 miles in the car. Yes, I can hardly believe that myself.
If two oldish nurses approaching 60 years of age can build a house that requires so little energy, why are billionaires still building energy hungry houses?
Why are they still building houses that require fossil fuels when the technology has been there for years to heat our homes with cheap and clean renewables?
I hope the delusional ‘No to Net Zero’ deniers and delayers do not turn green (with envy) reading this letter but my sincere wish for other readers is that they vote for change and a party that is really committed to cheap and clean renewables.
A government who genuinely wants the British people to be as energy independent as possible by producing and storing their own energy. And a government who will ensure that people can insulate their homes safely and reliably to reduce their energy bills and become smug ‘green zealots’ like me. And as a by-product help to reach Net Zero.