Fire is one of those things that has always fascinated me. In fact i became a trained fire breather when i was just 14 and was always mesmerised by its destructive beauty. This picture was taken of me breathing fire on the sand dunes of the Moroccan Sahara desert – (some years ago i might say!). Ive since retired as …
Eco Washing Machines: Cleaner Clothes, Brighter Future
A study released by Cambridge University, titled ‘Well Dressed?‘, demonstrates that a shocking 60% of the greenhouse gases generated over the life of a T-shirt come from washing and drying machines. All of the energy and carbon emissions used to grow, manufacture, ship and sell clothes doesn’t even come close to the energy and emissions needed to clean them. …
Recycling your old kitchen: ingredients for better living
Designing a new kitchen is an exciting opportunity to really focus on reducing your future use of resources in one of the most energy-hungry rooms in the house. But just what do you do with your old kitchen? It’s shocking how many kitchens are replaced before the end of their useful life, and this is particularly true of high-end kitchens. …
Nanotechnology – tiny solutions to big problems facing eco homes?
Most people have heard of nanotechnology but cant quite picture the benefits. That’s hardly surprising when you consider that nanotechnology refers to actions below a scale of 110 nm (where one nm is one-billionth of a metre). And to put that into perspective, a hazelnut is roughly one-billionth the size of Earth. That’s pretty tiny but we are just …
Are You Flushing Money Down The Toilet? Eco homes need water management
It’s shocking to think that the average toilet uses between six- and nine-litres per flush, with some older cisterns using up to thirteen-litres. Imagine that quantity of plastic mineral water bottles stacked up and it’s even more shocking. This is, after all, drinking quality water, and actually accounts for around 30% of the total water usage in a household. There …
My favourite Eco-Friendly Christmas Decorations for this Year
What’s not to love about this mid winter festival of ours, although every year I get hit with a pang of just how am I going to do all this decorating and Christmassy stuff and still make it sustainable. Creativity, inspiration and upcycling is what’s called for. When it comes to decorating my own tree I’ve opted for a simple …
Sofa, So Green
Choosing eco home furnishings can be really tricky. Particularly for items that are a little more complex in their manufacture and don’t necessarily have a daily energy use. Subsequently, the provenance of manufacture and materials, embodied energy and durability of these pieces really comes into question. Sofas are a prime example of a high-ticket, key item of furniture that …
Eco homes need eco heating: My Top Five Favourite Wood Burning Stoves
With winter setting in and chilly temperatures just around the corner (this mild spell can’t last forever), I thought I’d share my favourite wood burning stoves with you. Come the winter, there aren’t many inanimate objects in my house that I love as much as my wood burning stove. There’s nothing like cycling home in the dark, pouring rain …
Water, water everywhere but…how eco homes can cut their water use
A recent survey carried out by Unilever suggested that the amount of water used in showers is significantly more than had been imagined. The survey, which was carried out by data loggers, compiled information from 2600 showers from 100 families over a 10 day period, suggests that average shower times are in the region of 8 minutes using an average …
Can’t Stand The Heat? – Future Kitchen Trends
We’re often asked by clients (usually the big ones), what are the current trends in kitchen design? It’s an area that’s constantly on the move and being reinvestigated – perhaps because it’s the one area of the home where form, function and passion come together, or simply because its an industry that thrives on the constant development. Importantly for me, …