i live in an off grid home,its 1600sqft and powered by 2 wind turbines and solar panels.our living quarters are upstairs and bedrooms downstairs.it has pumped 30mmcavity and internally drylined,the boiler burns everything and the pipework is such that in an event of powershutdown[has,nt happened in 4 years] the hot water will circulate by gravity and still heat the living quarters.the insulation is 6inch wool and a 2L2 shield over the wool,costly but very effective.
our biggest problem was the fridge,in the end we set up a 3 way waeco fridge and run it mostly on gas,in stormy weather we switch the fridge over to electric and this helps git rid of the excess energy from the mill.despites the fact that the mains elecetricty runs past the top of our driveway i have never applied for it and have no intention of doing so.
i am a retired builder and bricklayer by trade and in my youth was a fan of frank lloyd wright,it took me many years to understand the mistakes and false road he led us down.however i was not prepared for the present crop of ejit architects who claim to perform miracles and expect building to rest on sky hooks.thats what is wrong,these guys show their clients the big house [ barn ] that the jones down the road are building and encourage them to build bigger without any thought as to how to heat or maintain their efforts.they experiment with their clients money.
our house would be the smallest house i have built in the past 15 years,most of my clients houses were 3,000sq ft,plus,for 2 people ,no kids.i shudder to think of their present circumstances in this recession.sadly,i think we will get to see lots of big empty houses [barns] dotted round this countryside.i blame the architects for their bad advice and greedy fees. they should be made to visit their sites, explain themselves and called to task.who knows,it could happen yet.
errrrr, i rant a bit,
turby,