The eco soldier
Active participants in the very small world of Go-Green, Tony and Stella Richardson have spent more than 14 years making their home as eco-friendly as possible, and they will be holding open days in April to encourage peoples to do things which don’t cost the earth.
The arena
West Walton (West Walton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk)
The eco effort
After spending more than 14 years in making their home green, Tony and Stella Richardso are soon going to open their doors for guided tours to show others simple ways to live without harming Mother Nature. They are aiming to install a photovoltaic panel on the roof of a barn at their West Walton home to contribute in the green club! The couple moved into the former county council-owned farm 15 years ago and have added a solar hot water system which is linked to a home-made rainwater harvesting system – an idea initially rubbished by the experts.
While the panels have been a success, a domestic wind turbine installed around five years ago has proved to be less of a hit although. There will be guided tours at their home from 11am to 2pm on April 1, 2 and 3. In just a year the system has generated more electricity than the couple can use, so it’s being sold back to the National Grid via the Government’s Feed-in Tariff.
It costs quite a bit because we made lots of mistakes, but it works well and I think it is still the only one of its kind anywhere in the country. Making yourself independent for energy and water is not as difficult or as expensive as you may be led to believe. Green is easy, much of it is common sense with a bit of technical know-how and it’s a lot of fun too.
The impact
A solar panel can be used as a component of a larger photovoltaic system to generate and supply electricity in commercial and residential applications. In fact, there are significant environmental benefits resulting from reductions in air pollution from burning fossil fuels, reductions in water and land use from central generation plants, reductions in the storage of waste byproducts. In addition, the solar technologies produce energy with little noise and few moving parts.
Via: CambsTimes24