Alison Wall is a homes writer, and previously worked for HB&R for a number of years. Here she reflects on her latest home improvement… My husband and I have been working towards making our home, a detached 1970s house in north Worcestershire, more energy efficient and sustainable for a number of years. We’ve installed solar PV panels, an electric charging point for the Nissan Leaf, cavity wall insulation and underfloor insulation in the living room (which makes a massive difference to comfort levels).
Our latest project is installing a hybrid 8.5Kw Mitsubishi air source heat pump for our heating, which also involved changing our original radiators for much more efficient ones - the installation team has just left after a couple of weeks on site. We decided not to rip out our perfectly good combi boiler, so that will kick in if temperatures fall below -5°C. When the gas boiler does breakdown, we’ll probably reinstate a hot water tank and arrange for our heat pump to deliver our home’s hot water, too - the system is ready for that now.