Eco Course
This Autumn/Winter Jane Weston is running an eco course for people who
would like to combine a relaxing short break staying in the Mill with
an introductory course in
Making a Historic Building Sustainable.
We begin at 7 pm on Tuesday night with a
welcome dinner cooked with local produce.
Wednesday morning 10.00am to 1pm
Session One
Motivations and First Principles.
The old building - aesthetics v sustainability, compromise or
not? Practicalities/Planning your project. Resources and
economics.
Tour of the eco-project and discussion of micro-hydro scheme, heat pumps and solar. Other technologies.
Green audit - how to look at your domestic or small business set up from an ecological point of view
Afternoon - free time, opportunity to visit local sites of
green/ecological/historical interest (or just relax and enjoy the Mill
and its beautiful surroundings)
Thursday morning 10.00am to 1pm
Session Two
Tour local
domestic wind generating site
and learn about it. Return to Mill. Final session on how to
reduce your carbon footprint and green possibilities for the
future. Planning issues now and in the future. How to research your
project and find suppliers.
Afternoon - free time. Explore a beautiful unspoilt area with which you are probably unfamiliar!
Friday morning leave after breakfast.
All accommodation is on a bed and breakfast basis in the Mill (rated 5 star) one twin and one double room available. We can accommodate one single person in addition.
Total cost is £240 per person. Courses will be two people
minimum and five maximum leaving plenty of room to address each
person's interests in depth. Mill kitchen available for guests to
prepare their own light lunches.
Holiday Cottage Eco Project
In October 2006
we decided to convert the Mill to luxury self-catering accomodation in
order to give the building a sustainable future. We already had
an interest in alternative ways of generating energy to power homes.
In 2007 we were audited by the Green Tourism Business Scheme and
awarded their gold rating. In 2008 we were delighted to receive
one of only two "Outstanding" awards made by Durham County Council
under their Environmental Award Scheme. After we received the Award
almost all the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Durham County Council
visited the Mill to see for themselves...
Ground Source Heat Pump
We
decided to go for a NIBE Fighter pump from Sweden. 600 metres
of pipe were buried a metre down in trenches in the Orchard
Paddock.
The paddock lies at the foot of the Brignall Banks and
several people warned us that we would never get through
the sandstone boulders under the ground but due to the intrepid
digging of contractor Raymond Watson and his variously sized
JCB family their gloomy predictions were unfulfilled although
several hefty boulders now line the approach track.
Working on similar principles to a refrigerator but in
reverse, the heat pump in the house pumps a fluid
around the pipe system under the paddock where it picks
up heat from the ground (originally of course it is solar
energy but retained in the soil) and brings it back to the
house where the energy is transferred to water to give us
heating and domestic hot water.
Roughly speaking for every kilowatt of energy you
put in to the pump system you get out 4.5 at the other end. We are very
pleased with the performance of the heat pump which often out performs
this standard.
Micro hydro
You cannot use old mill technology to generate
electricity efficiently so we are using a new British micro-turbine
system and have excavated a pipe trench from the Greta upstream of
the
Mill through the River Paddock to the turbine where the
water generates 2.5 kilowatts of electricity. The drop in the
river
level is nearly three metres which is just viable for a low head system.
Solar Panels
We have two panels on the roof to pre-heat
the hot water. Funnily enough this was the bit of the scheme
the Conservation Officer really didn’t like and since
the Mill is Listed we had to use all our persuasive powers
to get planning permission. By hiding the panels in a valley
of the roof we managed to compromise, and of course there
was sympathy for our green agenda which helped.
Wood Burning Stove
The Mill is equipped with a convection wood burning stove
which is carbon neutral. The Gorge offers renewable
timber supplies...
Insulation and Double Glazing
In
order to use a heat pump system (which runs at a lower temperature
than a conventional central heating system) it is vital
to insulate your house efficiently. This was a real challenge
in an old, stone-built Listed Building and we had to put
in large amounts of roof and wall insulation and double
glazing. Again, permissions had to be sought from the Conservation
authorities for all these alterations.
The bureaucracy involved in a scheme like this can be overwhelming
with permissions being required from the Environment Agency,
English Nature, Planning, including Listed Building consent
and Building Control. We are grateful for the input from
all these bodies who have on the whole been positive and
helpful if rather slow in terms of their ability to push
the process on.
There were several reasons to persuade us to take on such
a project;
- There is no mains gas and no access for bulk fuel delivery
here
- The increasing price of energy makes alternative schemes
more economically attractive by reducing energy bills
- We try not to review projects in pure financial payback
terms but focus on the wider benefits
- Heating and powering of houses accounts for almost
a third of carbon dioxide produced in the UK. Installing
alternative technologies will make a large reduction in
the environmental impact of your home
The payback periods for a scheme like this are still
long. You need capital to finance the scheme initially although
there are some grants available. You need security and commitment
to stay in the property for a longish period unless you
are gambling on realising a higher price for your property
because it has these green power advantages (too early to
say in today’s property market). You also have to
be willing to get to grips with understanding the technology
up to a point and servicing the scheme. For instance, we
will have to rake the leaves off the grids preventing fish
and debris clogging up the turbine pipe.
On the plus side every time energy prices rise our payback
period shortens in a very satisfying manner… It has
been a fascinating journey, we’ve met some lovely
inspirational people and are well on the way to achieving
a green dream…
See
press cutting from The Teesdale Mercury
See
press cutting from the Darlington and Stockton Times.
