retro: 1/18 of 18

Five of the best… eco-friendly interiors blogs

Lisa Stephens

4th May, 2012

Need inspiration for sprucing up your house? From retro furnishings to sustainable interiors, Lisa Stephens rounds up five of the best eco-friendly home blogs more...

The beginners guide to… creating a low carbon home

Ruth Styles

24th April, 2012

From reducing energy consumption to a full-scale retrofit, Ruth Styles explains how to make your low carbon dream a reality more...

Are straw bales the future of sustainable building?

Mark Briggs

20th April, 2012

Straw bale is a low impact, low carbon building material making strides towards mainstream acceptance. So is it about time we took notice? Mark Briggs reports more...

Why communal living is the 21st century answer to low carbon life

Zoe Foster

30th March, 2012

When Zoe Foster went with her family to live in a intentional cohousing community she didn't know what to expect. Five months in and she has discovered that it's not about what you give up, but what you give that is so enriching more...

The A to Z of retrofitting

Chloe Barrow

27th March, 2012

Cutting emissions at home doesn’t just help the planet; it saves you money too. Chloe Barrow explains how to get started more...

Retrofits: is it possible to make 'greening your home' sexy?

Carl Frankel

20th January, 2012

Green refurbishments save money and reduce CO2 emissions, helping combat climate change. The challenge is getting people to do them more...

Retrofit revisited: one year on

Sue Wheat

22nd August, 2011

The salvaged velvet curtains are in and the newly painted walls are good to go but was it all worth it? In the final installment of her ecorefurb diary, Sue Wheat takes a retrospective look at a challenging year more...

TAKE ACTION on conserving home energy (with a sexy helping hand)

Matilda Lee

1st April, 2011

Friends of the Earths' saucy new campaign video aims to get people turned on to energy efficiency more...

Turning our Victorian terrace into an ecohome: part six – ventilation

Sue Wheat

19th November, 2010

Better insulation means more warmth but also more mould and condensation. Sue Wheat's eco retrofit continues with a look at a super-efficient ventilation system that recycles heat while stamping out damp more...

Sue's son Yeshaya helping put in the Ecobatt insulation

Turning our Victorian terrace into an ecohome: part five

Sue Wheat

14th October, 2010

Research over, it's crunch time in Sue's house, as materials are delivered, builders are educated in new eco techniques and wall insulation is fitted more...

Turning our Victorian terrace into an ecohome: part four - ecogadgets

Sue Wheat

13th August, 2010

Sue immerses herself in the addictive world of ecogadgetry, including water-powered alarm clocks and a crash course in cooking with blankets... more...

The Government has seriously miscalculated the cost of green homes

David Thorpe

9th August, 2010

There's a lot of nonsense talked, bought and done when it comes to eco-retrofitting houses. David Thorpe's new book sorts the wheat from the chaff, and challenges some green orthodoxies... more...

retro: 1/18 of 18

Turning our Victorian terrace into an ecohome: part three - floors

Sue Wheat

1st July, 2010

Insulating the floor can be fiddly, messy and costly. Luckily, there are simple, cheap options too as Sue discovers more...

Turning our Victorian terrace into an ecohome: part two - insulation

Sue Wheat

3rd June, 2010

Sue has a brief love affair with solar panels, but realises that if she shies away from the thorny issue of solid wall insulation, she's throwing good money after bad more...

Turning our Victorian terrace into an ecohome: part one

Sue Wheat

29th April, 2010

One family's journey to turn a draughty, turn-of-the-century terrace into a snug paragon of eco efficiency more...

LSE's Anne Power: my recipe for 80 per cent energy savings in your home

Matilda Lee

3rd March, 2010

Anne Power, Professor of Social Policy Housing and Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics, on why nearly all homeowners can afford to insulate properly, and how to save energy on a budget more...

Low-tech retrofit experiment could transform social housing

Eifion Rees

8th July, 2009

The Greening-the-Box initiative aims to demonstrate that retrofitting can transform hard-to-heat housing association and council properties into models of low-tech sustainability and fuel efficiency - with almost zero heating more...