EcoDIY

See our piece on BBC2 Working Lunch  Opens with Windows Media Player


Bin bees - a nice challenge to deal with - more pics
Check out this BBC4 program on bee problems link
New report on peak oil giving 2013 as critical threshhold
New report on climate change from MIT
Greenhouse  solar Heat storage system
Good Energy have announced that they will pay customers for the heat they produce from solar water panels! and they are now paying 10p per unit for the electricity we produce ourselves! and they will pay for the energy produced from hot water solar panels if you are a gas customer of theirs.

BBC report on sea level rise
Climate Change

    Reed bed

    10 Eco tips

    Pond

    Solar gain

    Solar cooker

    Solar panel

    Solar PV system

Garden beds

    Sowing chart

    Collecting Rain

    Links

Hens and bees
Waste wood   central heating
 Wood fired cooking range
Insulating our freezer
 wood fired bread /pizza oven
Self sufficiency principles

    About Chris

    Holiday Flat

Drumdance website
Economics & money
Eco problems & solutions

Cheap & efficient web hosting

Mark - Our friendly plumber for Solar panel and heatpump installation as well as conventional plumbing work
Rapidplumb 07952 928685

This site exists to follow the progress of our applying energy and water saving ideas to our house here in Clacton-on-sea in Essex UK.
Our mission statement:
  • We want to be as self reliant as possible without being fanatical about it.
  • We try to structure our garden on Permaculture principles
  • We aim to recycle our rainwater and grey water through a reed bed.
  • We plan to use solar energy and waste wood wood to heat our water and home and to cook with and solar electricity to lower our use of mains power.
  • We want to consume less and recycle more
  • We want to grow and eat our own vegetables, fruit, eggs and honey
  • We hope to create all of this ourselves (DIY) where possible from recycled materials.

Over 70 people to our last open weekend (in spite of the showers.) It was fun and we met some new friends! (Pictures later). If you would like to visit contact us for an appointment, click here for directions and details. Our next open weekend is with Heritage Open Days on 12th 13th of September

Chris, Rosie, Merri (11) and Robin (20 and away at Uni') moved to Clacton in July 2007.  We soon added Zero a Labrador puppy (born in July 2007) to the family as well as eleven chickens (I won't list their names!)
The plan is to put Rosie's and Chris's passion for recycling and green living together with Chris's experience of self sufficiency and alternative engineering to create a 'green' dwelling near the sea with enough space to offer experiential 'Eco' holidays to people with similar passions to ourselves. The result is lots of work and a fair bit of chaos!
Things are working well here.  If you want to visit us as a working or as a paying guest get in touch.  We have a three room unit to rent or trade. Also we are members of WWOOF and you can visit us through that organisation as well trading your labour for food and lodging.  We offer a friendly place to stay close to the sea where the focus is on low consumption and a return to some of the greener ways of living.  We try to live closer to growing things and with an awareness of the connection between the way we live and the rest of the world, both human and natural. 

We are proud to announce we have been assessed by the Sustainable Energy Academy as having made a 76% reduction in our home's carbon footprint.

 Last Winters work
  1. We have installed a wood-fired central heating stove and cooking range to make use of the plentiful supply of waste wood available in the nearby industrial estate. 
  2. We have installed a solar panel kit (20  vacuum tubes 1700mm long) from Solarsavings on eBay (Around £1000 for the complete kit, half the cost advertised by other suppliers!)
  3. I have found a source of insulation off cuts in the industrial estate and the skip company are saving me flat panel radiators so watch this space for progress on a home made flat panel solar panel!
  4. We have planted 30 willow cuttings from Willowbank - 4 varieties for comparison - 3 sorts of super willow and one for making baskets etc.  These arrived as unrooted lengths of willow shoots and have been planted at 1 meter spacing.  They have grown over two meters in the first year!
  5. We have built a rain water harvesting system and a grey water recycling system consisting of:
     - A surge tank to collect the water from the bath, washing machine and vegetable washing sink.
     - The reed bed: a combination horizontal and vertical gravel filter planted with reeds and rushes. We have recently dug out an old well which will be used to water the garden in the summer.
    These systems feed:
     - A leaky pipe watering system watering the polytunnel, dipping ponds  and fishpond.
     - A series of vegetable deep beds made from scrounged turf & soil, horse manure & scrounged roofing tiles for edging.
  6. We have completed a lean-to greenhouse obtained from Freecycle and using recycled concrete blocks from a demolition next door to give us solar gain and plant growing space, including a rock storage for excess heat recycling (now working well).
  7. 1.6 Kw solar PV (electricity generating) system - now completed.  We are using a battery bank to store the electricity but will go over to feeding into the electricity grid when the government increases the feed in payment tarrif.

Upcoming projects

  1. DIY solar water panel system
  2. Rainwater flushing system for the WC (see this article)
  3. Making our own bio fuel from re-cycled chip oil (we have a supply of oil already).
  4. Continuing to insulate the roof and floor with insulation off cuts from the industrial estate - see pictures.

Contact: Chris Southall email