You could have gone anywhere to get information about building or retrofitting a house for energy efficiency, so why have you come here and why have you bought this eBook?
I hope it’s not because you think I’m an expert because I can tell you now I am a beginner.
In fact I would advise that you always learn from the people who have been there and done it, rather than those who just talk about it. I understand if you want to stop reading now!
If you have decided to read on, perhaps it’s because you think that I’ve got all the answers through the research I’ve carried out. Again, not exactly. Although spending time with these experts - people who have devoted their lives to creating better buildings in one way or another – has been an absolute eye-opener.
I have also gone back through what they have told me and tried to document the key learnings online. This has been a challenge but there is no doubt that it has helped me advance my understanding.
For this project, I have gone one step further and reviewed the whole year’s worth of work to see if I could condense it down to the core messages. It’s also an opportunity to put it in a logical order. Nobody has been guiding me in what I should learn next. One thing has just led to another . . . and more questions!
So I want to share the best of my accumulated knowledge so far in easy-to-understand client speak (I don’t go any more technical than that!). Take from it what you will, but I think it’s down to you to come to your own decisions.
Before we really get going I’d like to explain why I became interested in this area. My background is in the media and I had many happy years working in radio and television.
Radio and television - two very fun places to work.
In the late 1980s and earlier 1990s, I was filming whenever possible!
In 1997, being a sound recordist on a university project.
In 2003, presenting at the station I used to listen to as a kid!
In 2005 at a station in Cambridge. They even force DJs to smarten themselves up sometimes.
My last job was as a radio presenter and I loved the work because I felt it gave me that opportunity to influence people’s days, hopefully for the better! Yes, it was just playing songs and talking but I wanted to do anything in my power to help people have a better start to the day.
When that finished abruptly I was left thinking whether to get a job for another radio station or head off in a new direction. I’m sure we all have those moments in life where we question what we’re doing and this was one of them. What would I do if I could do anything? That’s when I wondered whether I could make a big shift. Could I actually help in some way in a much more important area . . . that of action against climate change.
The problem is that people don’t like talking about this: it’s so much easier to put your head in the sand. The issue is on such a huge scale and doesn’t really affect us on a daily basis. It’s a problem that future generations will have to deal with, not us. I actually think that this is true but importantly we are going to be despised, perhaps even by our own families.
We live in an age where everything is documented and our reluctance to do anything meaningful will be there for future generations to digest, even if they are struggling to feed themselves and do the simple things that we take for granted.
I don’t mean any of this to be depressing because we each have a personal power and are all currently writing our own stories. The decision I made when I finished my last job was that in whatever company I create it’s underlying purpose is to take action against climate change. That’s the story I want to be remembered for.
Energy efficiency in the built environment seemed a very exciting area because there is no downside to it. Climate sceptics cannot attack the fundamentals of energy efficiency because it’s all about common sense.
I’d also noticed a big change in the town where I live. As new buildings had popped up the atmosphere seemed to change. These were also buildings that did not seem right for our area. I could never imagine myself living in one of these. Did they encourage community spirit? So, I had many questions.
As I look to start a family where I live now is currently inadequate and so I wanted to move house, but only if the next house is more energy efficient.
So, this was my exploration. Somehow combining what houses we should be building in the 21st century with my own personal goal to self build or retrofit. I put a time limit of this of being inside this home before I turn 40 in August 2016.
Here I am a year into it and I know I have already changed my views on a number of things.