Eco Homes Open Week Begins!

It’s arrived: the first ever Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Eco Homes Week begins tomorrow!

Over nine days, you have the opportunity to visit a variety of eco homes and projects on your own doorstep. Householders across the two counties who have made their homes more eco friendly are opening their doors to the public at various times between 2^nd and 10^th March. www.everybodys-talking.org/ecohomes

Visitors will be able to see improvements including solar panels, solid wall insulation, a straw bale extension, wood-burning stoves, highly efficient boilers, air source heat pumps, grey water recycling systems, vegetable growing and much more. Measures which can be funded by the government’s new Green Deal and ECO will be on display. As well as many ordinary homes, the week also involves the opportunity to visit a community-owned hydro project in Derbyshire; some research eco homes at the University of Nottingham; the Derbyshire Eco Centre, an environmental learning centre near Wirksworth; and the Gloworm training centre in Belper. This is a fantastic opportunity to visit real eco homes in your own community and get inspired to make your own home more environmentally friendly and cheaper to heat. It will be a bit like an Open Gardens Day, but householders will be showing off their insulation and solar panels instead of their sunflowers and chrysanthemums!’

Everyone visiting a Eco Homes Week event will have the opportunity to win a free Green Deal assessment of their home – simply ask the host for a feedback form at the end of your visit, fill it in, and return it to them. Winners will be notified by the end of March.

Details of homes which are open, and when, are listed on the events pages.

Important things to note:

• Most houses and projects are free to visit. Those which aren’t have their cost clearly marked on their entry on the website.
• Some householders are happy for you to just turn up during their open hours, others are asking you to book in advance. Check the website entry for each house carefully to see if you need to book and please do not just turn up to a house who’s occupants are asking people to book.