Green Cottage: eco-renovation of a 100-year-old Victorian end-terrace

This is a guest post from Andy Hunt. It’s an inspiring account of what can be done today with a modest property to live efficiently and maintain a degree of energy security.

Our house was built around 1900. It is an end-terrace house with 2 bedrooms, located in an inner-city area in Bury, Lancashire, UK. Our household comprises me and my partner, with no children, and we live in the property all year round. No planning restrictions are in effect in our area.

We use around 3200 units of electricity annually from the grid, although this is expected to fall once we install the second stage of our solar PV system. This includes all cooking, as we don