The latest episode of Grand Designs featured energy consultant Andrew Smith, who was committed to tackling the ultimate challenge in energy efficiency, A self-heating home.
Andrew's theory was simple. Large glass windows will capture heat from the sun during the summer months, warming the concrete structure of the house, and be gradually stored in the 50-tonne mound of insulated earth which wraps around two walls of the house. The heat will then be redistributed during the winter months. Overall, maintaining the house at a constant temperature year-round. A process which would take two years to fully stabilize. No radiators, no boilers and most importantly, ZERO carbon emissions.
Andrew’s determination to rely on the basic principles of heat transfer as opposed to traditional heating systems, was a refreshing contrast to the tendency to look to technological advancements as solutions to our climate crisis. At a time when we need dramatic change to reduce carbon emissions, there can often be an inclination to invest in tech that enables us to maintain our current lifestyle when perhaps, discussions should be geared more towards reconsidering, and reimagining how we use energy and interact with the environment. This project is a perfect example of that, as Andrew successfully forged a sustainable relationship between the house and the surrounding environment, exploiting year-round heat energy without the need for a technological solution.
His passion for energy efficiency and eco sustainable tendencies is deep routed in his upbringing. During the episode, Andrew pays tribute to his late father, Professor Ian Smith, who in the 70s, gained public attention for developing an energy efficient fire log made from compressed straw which otherwise would be a waste product. He recounts memories of planting the many trees on the family land he later inherited, which have now grown into the naturally carbon absorbent woodlands which surrounds the house. Andrew epitomizes his admiration for his father's sustainable principles and his sub-sequential sense of environmental responsibility with a simple statement:
"I feel that what he's instilled in me... is something very important."
Indeed, the picture looks much different to that of the 70s and the climate crisis has accelerated to a pivotal point. Professor Smith's legacy proudly lives on. While the rest of us are depending on technology and trying to figure out ways to improve battery storage for thermal energy, Andrew succeeds in building the first self-heating, zero carbon home in the UK by simply using what was available: sun and earth. An inspiration and invitation for more foreword thinking in the fight against climate change.