T
he nights draw in and nothing could be better than snuggling up around an open fire. A cosy room, heated and lit by the naked flames. A picture of contented winter bliss, safe and warm, isolated from whatever the weather is doing outside. It’s a traditional picture, and as always the focus is on the heat source. True, the heat being produced isn’t reliant on burning our dwindling fossil fuel supplies, whether that’s remotely in gas fired power stations, or in the home using gas or oil fired heating systems. But the key to a truly cosy and eco aware home needs a more carefully thought
out and holistic approach. And at the heart of the issue is not how we generate the heat within our homes, but how best we use and preserve that heat once it’s there. A home should be properly insulated and draft proofed, while still being properly ventilated poor ventilation not only brings its own health risks but can also cause condensation and damp. In recent years, the effective use of energy efficient materials in house building has come on in leaps and bounds. This has been partly down to a growing sympathy towards the environment in all aspects of our lives, but also has been driven by legislation.
Building regulations demand ever greater efficiency from new properties, and manufacturers have stepped forward to bring a range of new materials to market, which in many cases are both kinder to the environment in both their makeup and manufacture. There are a growing number of ethically sourced and eco sympathetic insulation materials available as an alternative to the ’traditional’ materials such as fibreglass, mineral wool, cellulose, polyurethane, and polystyrene. Some older forms, such as those containing asbestos and formaldehyde, have been outlawed because of very present
“The key to a truly cosy and eco aware home needs a more carefully thought out and holistic approach.” NMM November 2017
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