Since 2020, Open Eco Homes added online tours and talks to those offered in-person. As a result, we now have some fantastic videos of talks that you can access all year round.
Use the index below if there is a particular talk you’re interested in watching, or browse the full list of talks on this page.
To watch home tours by Open Eco Homes hosts, head to our Tours on Demand page.
Fiona Hughes from Green Heat Coop joined by expert speakers to help you understand the practicalities of heat pump installations.
Topics include:
This was a lively talk, packed with useful ideas.
Fiona Hughes from Green Heat Coop joined by expert speakers to help you understand the practicalities of heat pump installations.
Topics will include:
Speakers:
Fiona Hughes, Green Heat Coop founder
John Somerville, heat pump owner
Peter Miller Conga Founder & Heat pump system designer
See: Slides from the talk
Video of the Talk on YouTube
Experts Matthew Tulley and Rob Leedham from Cambridge Retrofit Hub will introduce the key aspects of home energy retrofit and explore deep retrofit measures for homes.
“The UK has some of the least energy efficient homes in Europe, but more people are taking the decision to improve, or retrofit, their homes for increased comfort, better health, lower carbon emissions and for long term financial savings,” Cambridge Retrofit Hub.
Experts Matthew Tulley and Rob Leedham from Cambridge Retrofit Hub will introduce the key aspects of home energy retrofit and explore deep retrofit measures for homes.
“The UK has some of the least energy efficient homes in Europe, but more people are taking the decision to improve, or retrofit, their homes for increased comfort, better health, lower carbon emissions and for long term financial savings,” Cambridge Retrofit Hub.
Retrofit of houses can be complex but with a carefully designed scheme, good contractors and quality controls the end result can be transformative for those that live in the retrofitted home. For most people a change to a heat pump and a few ‘low hanging fruit’ improvements will be best – but for some the full deep retrofit covering insulation, air tightness, ventilation and renewables will work. It will let you use all of the house all of the year with good comfort and fresh air, and with a sensible running cost. It’s not easy and so it’s worth sharing experience. Cambridge Retrofit Hub introduce the key themes of home energy retrofit with an exploration of deep retrofit measures, telling stories of past retrofits and progress with current projects.
Expert panellists present information and review building physics, planning issue, and practical considerations of retrofitting our older homes to be more energy efficient and more resilient to in the 21st Century.
How to prepare your home and stay cool in heatwaves
How to prepare your home and stay cool in heatwaves
Follow-up this successful talk with:
90% of UK homes will be at risk of overheating if worldwide temperatures rise 2°C, which is expected by 2050 if global warming continues on its current trajectory. – Arup
This free online expert talk will have plenty of time for questions and discussion:
Tom Bragg, previous OEH Host, particularly interested in avoiding overheating, testing ideas at home with his wife Anne,. eg: a popular YouTube video on DIY awnings.
Olly Cooper, an Architect and Passivhaus designer, with a professional interest in minimising overheating. An OEH Host last year with a great presentation of his Garlic Row retrofit.
It’s mostly easy to improve your home and for you to stay cooler in heatwaves:
We recommend plenty of low-cost and DIY solutions.
Fiona Hughes from Green Heat Coop was joined by a panel of expert speakers to help you maximise the efficiency and savings benefits from your heat pump.
Fiona Hughes from Green Heat Coop was joined by a panel of expert speakers to help you maximise the efficiency and savings benefits from your heat pump.
Topics included:
• How to use a heat pump – do I have to leave it on all the time, is that expensive, what do I need to consider when using one?
• What about hot water – what’s the best way to use a heat pump for hot water? How can I make savings?
• How to know they are efficient and effective – what measures can I use? Can I troubleshoot my system?
• Getting the right energy tariff – should I change energy supplier? What is the right tariff for my situation?
Speakers:
Fiona Hughes, Green Heat Coop founder
Nicola Terry, Building energy expert and CCF volunteer
Henri Casteleyn, Founder of HavenWise
During this talk Bean attempts to answer all your questions, to help you determine if a heat pump is right for you. Please follow the links below to view the talk and associated slides.
Bean Beanland from the Heat Pump Federation will be talking about Heat Pumps and their role in decarbonising homes, the myths surrounding them, the money & the implications of current government policy.
Bean Beanland from the Heat Pump Federation will be talking about Heat Pumps and their role in decarbonising homes, the myths surrounding them, the money & the implications of current government policy.
During this talk Bean attempts to answer all your questions, to help you determine if a heat pump is right for you. Please follow the links below to view the talk and associated slides.
Expert speaker Clive Boase from Climate Change Gardening talks about how the changing climate is affecting your garden and what you can do about it.
Private gardens are the third largest UK land use sector, and in urban areas they form 25% of the landscape. Together, gardens have the potential to help mitigate climate change impacts, and also to enrich our increasingly threatened wildlife. With over 20 million people identifying as gardeners, our choices of plants, cultivation techniques, composts, watering, wild areas, and many other details, can make an important difference, locally and nationally.
For example, simply planting another tree will support wildlife, take both carbon dioxide and methane from the atmosphere, and provide cooling shade. Minimising digging and using surface mulch will help put carbon back in the soil. Harvesting and using more rainwater will reduce demand on mains water, which in turn will reduce abstraction and help maintain aquifers.
There are many other inexpensive and simple ways in which you can help your own garden to mitigate climate change, and also enable it to become more resilient, productive and enjoyable. However, you don’t have to do everything all at once – even small changes can bring big benefits locally, across the wider landscape, and beyond….
Expert speaker Clive Boase from Climate Change Gardening talks about how the changing climate is affecting your garden and what you can do about it.
Three hosts from some of our most popular properties over the last 10 years, tell us what they have learnt, what they would do differently and about all their successes in carbon and energy reduction.
Three popular properties look back on what they have learnt
Slides from Ian Cray – Our Journey so Far
Slides from Shaun Lindsay – 1960’s Whole House Retrofit
Slides from Ian Collins – Madingley Road: Reflections on a 18 Year Project
Three hosts from some of our most popular properties over the last 10 years, to hear what they have learnt, what they would do differently and about all their successes in carbon and energy reduction.
Ian Cray – Ian’s new build home on Aberdeen Square showcased in our OEH tours 10 years ago. As an early adopter of Air Source Heating, EV charging and home battery storage he has gained experience that he’ll share , what he has leant and how this could be applied to your projects and projects that he is currently working on.
Shaun Lindsay – Shaun and his wife first featured their home in our tours in 2018 after completely renovating their 1960’s home in Macfarlane Close, Impington moving from a D to very high B EPC rating. In the intervening years their family has benefited significantly from the improvements made, both in terms of health, economy and significantly reducing their environmental impact. With a wealth of data, experience and information Shaun will talk to you about the ups and downs, and practicalities of family living in an eco home.
Ian Collins – By far our most popular property over the years has been that of Ian Collins on Madingley Road. Built to test boundaries and provide a low carbon, comfortable and modern home Ian will discuss what he learnt from the process, the benefits and drawbacks of living with the innovative technologies used, and what he will take with him on his next adventure as he moves away from Cambridge.
Heat pumps are not the only option for low carbon heating, though they are good for many situations. If you are wondering what is best for you, come and hear what our panel has to say. Between us we have personal experience of: heat pumps (air to water and air to air), Zero emissions storage boilers (Tepeo), radiant heating panels and wood stoves for space heating, Sunamp and Mixergy for hot water storage solutions.
Heat pumps are not the only option for low carbon heating, though they are good for many situations. If you are wondering what is best for you, come and hear what our panel has to say. Between us we have personal experience of: heat pumps (air to water and air to air), Zero emissions storage boilers (Tepeo), radiant heating panels and wood stoves for space heating, Sunamp and Mixergy for hot water storage solutions.
This was a lively online talk and discussion. See more here:
Video of the Talk & discussion Opens in a new window
Slides from the talk PDF for download
On our panel
John Somerville talking on Air to Air Heat Pumps
Peter Bates talking on Tepeo
Paul Kershaw talking on radiant heating and mixergy
Andy Ranking talking on Sunamp
Nicola Terry talking on Air Source Heat Pumps
Dave Jackson on Wood Stoves
Are you thinking of retrofitting your home? Cambridge City Council commissioned the Cambridge Retrofit Guide to help you get started. This evening, Alex Towler from Transition by Design, one of the authors of the guide, will explain how it can help you
Practical advice to retrofitting your home; what measures, how much and with whom?
Video of the Talk & discussion not breakout rooms
Slides from the talk PDF for download
Cambridge City Council commissioned the Cambridge Retrofit Guide to help you get started. This evening, Alex Towler from Transition by Design, one of the authors of the guide, will explain how it can help you. The evening will include:
Transition by Design are a cooperative architecture practice and community interest company working towards a just and convivial low carbon future. They have worked on multiple retrofit projects from individual houses to EnerPHit standard through to city wide studies.
Are you considering swapping your boiler for a heatpump? Then this is the talk for you. Here you can find the experiences of users from a range of homes and an installer of heatpumps answers technical queries.
Host Bart Hommels, physicist and OEH Host, completed a thorough, largely DIY, retrofit of his 1940s semi-detached family home with a Passivhaus extension. The results are delightful with much lower carbon emissions.
The best low carbon heating option for most homes is a heat pump, but living with a heat pump is not quite the same as living with a boiler. This talk has a panel of experts, a heatpump installer, plus four householders who have been living with a heat pump for at least one heating season. How have they got on? Were there any teething problems? Have they changed their heating patterns for the heat pump? How do the bills compare with before? Any problems with noise? Are they comfortable?
There is a variety of homes represented on the panel: Norman has a modern detached with cavity walls; Yung-Chin and Nicola both have older homes with insulated solid walls, one detached and one terrace; Philip and Rachel have been doing a deep retrofit including underfloor heating.
Peter is an installer and he answers questions about what to expect and some technical issues.
Real experiences of living with a heat pump in a variety of homes – what have we learned?
Resources:
Author of the House Builder’s Bible, Mark Brinkley, hosts this invaluable talk on how to replace your gas usage with electricity.
Speakers Paul and Ian share their wealth of experience and answer pertinent questions which may inspire you to take these carbon-reducing and cost-effective measures.
Find out how to make all things electric work together to reduce your electricity bill and lower your CO2 footprint.
Thanks to the rapid pace of recent developments, it is now possible to disconnect your home from gas altogether. Electric cars, heat pumps, and induction hobs are readily available to replace their fossil fuel-powered equivalents. Solar panels and battery systems have the potential to greatly reduce bills and bring down the carbon cost of living even further.
Our two speakers explain what they did to (almost) completely electrify their homes and how it has reduced their energy bills and CO2 footprint. They explain how they managed to get their electric cars, solar panels, home battery and heat pumps to work together, and they give an idea of how they will benefit from their systems in the near future.
Chair: Mark Brinkley
Speakers: Open Eco Homes hosts Paul Kershaw and Ian Cray
Resources:
Cambridgeshire is, of course, famous for its beautiful architecture and traditional and characterful homes. In fact, 20% of the region’s homes were constructed before 1919. This talk focuses on those properties and how to make them ‘greener’ in order to cut emissions in the bid for national net zero carbon targets by 2050.
CCF Trustee Chris Carter hosts this informative presentation on measures you can take to retrofit your old, characterful property.
Why should we green our homes?
The UK has committed to reaching ‘net zero carbon’ – where we do not create more carbon emissions than we absorb – by 2050. National and local government have brought in high energy efficiency standards for new homes, but we cannot meet our climate targets without reducing emissions and energy usage in our homes. Improving energy efficiency is not only good for the climate but it will also reduce your running costs and increase the lifespan of your building.
What we’ll cover
In this talk Emma Davies and Paul Robertshaw will take you through how to approach greening older homes, with reference to retrofit guidance from the Sustainable Traditional Building Alliance. Case studies of schemes in listed buildings and conservation areas that have been supported by conservation officers in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire provide inspiration for possible future approaches.
Resources:
Airtightness, or lack of it, can account for up to 50% of all heat losses through the external envelope of a building. However, most people know little about airtightness. This online webinar, aimed at building professionals or experienced DIYers, will cover the ins and outs of airtightness and how it can be achieved.
Margaret Reynolds, Architect, chairs this talk with speakers:
What is airtightness and why is it so difficult?
Reducing the level of building energy use, good airtightness, with controlled mechanical ventilation, is a required part of respected energy use standards such as the AECB Building Standards and Passivhaus. Required airtightness levels for these standards are at least 5 times better than the level required, without any mechanical ventilation, by standard Building Regulations.
Current Regs require a single airtightness test for new building projects, however, AT tests could be used relatively inexpensively to locate costly leaks and could check before and after measurements in both new and existing buildings.
Products and workmanship offered in the UK to ensure airtightness in existing buildings are considered expensive and unachievable, and the installation of mechanical ventilation is seen as disruptive and yet another cost. Yet homeowners increasingly report that the benefits of a comfortable, energy-efficient home with controlled ventilation are significant.
Resources:
A clear and comprehensive investigation of typical energy consumption and how to reduce it with simple and accessible measures and tips we can all implement.
This talk was a great success, with 50 lively participants. Chaired by our own Sandy Skelton, it features inspirational ideas and tips by those in the know.
With further energy price increases on the way, now is the time to plan getting your home ready for next winter. This free online talk gives advice on low cost and no cost ways to reduce your gas and electricity consumption and make your home more comfortable. We’ll walk you through which options might be right for your home, with practical tips for installation (DIY or professional), including:
Resources:
Are you interested in improving your home’s energy efficiency and comfort, but a bit stuck on getting started or planning what to do? This free 1 hr online talk aims to help you make progress.
Bart Hommels, physicist and previous OEH Host has done a thorough, largely DIY retrofit of his 1940s semi-detached family home, with a Passivhaus extension. The results are delightful with much lower carbon emissions. See his Case Study for details.
Carl Dodd is a Retrofit expert with 28 years’ experience of designing and often managing eco-retrofits and new-builds, including a previous OEH home, that combined 2 semi-detached houses.
Bart started with ‘easy win’ jobs, like insulating the hot tank and hot water pipes, which he’ll describe more generally. They’re a great way to get started and motivated, while paying more attention to your home and what you want it to become, whether you’re an expert DIYer, like Bart, or definitely not. Some ‘Quick Wins’ involve using and controlling your home more carefully.
Then Bart got professional help in developing a Whole House Plan to guide the major work, as described more by Carl.
Carl talks about and discusses:
These 2 talks and lively discussion attracted a good audience, who were very appreciative.
Resources:
Home energy reduction is undergoing a revolution and there is a huge array of new technologies now available to help homeowners cut their carbon emissions and energy bills. This free online talk features two of these innovations from Mixergy and Q-Bot. Will they suit your situation?
The talks are introduced by Chris Carter. After each one, there was an opportunity to ask questions, to enable participants to find out exactly what you want to know. Whilst Open Eco Homes find both technologies interesting, we have not been able to try them out thus far.
Mixergy’s intelligent hot water tank lets you choose how much hot water to store (are you planning a bath or just need to do the washing up?) and how it will be heated (from solar, off-peak electricity, or gas – you choose). All controlled from your phone. James Hoople, Business Development Manager, will explain to us how it works and the savings that can be achieved.
Q-Bot provides cutting edge robotic solutions for the maintenance and upgrade of homes. Q-Bot’s Spraybot, affectionately known as ‘Betty’, applies insulation to the underside of suspended timber floors (as found in many of Cambridge’s older homes!) without disruption. Verified by the Energy Savings Trust, Q-Bot’s underfloor insulation is a non-intrusive energy efficiency measure which eliminates draughts, cuts carbon emissions, improves thermal comfort and reduces heating costs. Leigh Fairbrother, Head of Sales will demonstrate the technology to us.
Resources:
What is a smart home? If you have solar panels and a battery, or an EV that needs charging, or any other kind of energy storage, then some ’smart’ controls can help you get the most out of them. This is especially true if you also have a time of use tariff, with different prices through the day. Optimising your use helps reduce your energy bills while minimising peak energy demand is kinder to the planet too. How can you do this, what does it involve?
Andy explores the issues and give us an overview of what options are available, and he and Samin describe how their smart homes work for them.
This was an inspirational and informative talk giving real examples of experiences living in a smart home.
Our speakers (both Open Eco Home owners) are at different ends of the complexity spectrum:
Resources
Are you extending or renovating your house? Are you aware of the carbon implications of this? Modern building standards reduce the in-use emissions from your house – from heating and lighting. However the carbon emissions from the actual construction are important too.
So how does you project stack up? Which windows to choose? Which claddings? Which roofing materials? How do you minimise embodied carbon without paying a fortune or compromising on quality?
Mark Brinkley, author of the Housebuilder’s Bible, looks at the consequences of the purchase decisions you make when commissioning domestic building work.
The UK Green Building Council says that 10% of carbon dioxide emissions are directly associated with construction. Brick, cement and glass are all high energy and high embodied carbon. On the other hand, wood and other natural materials can store carbon and recycled materials are more carbon efficient than new – at least in the short to medium term. Durability is also important.
Resources:
We all know that draughts waste energy (and are uncomfortable) but we do need ventilation. Which is the best solution for your house?
Vince House, head of Sales and Operations UK at Aereco, kindly agreed to come and explain the pros and cons of various ventilation options.
This was a brilliant introduction to home ventilation by Vince House: why it’s important and ways of getting it right, including Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery, but featuring Demand Controlled Ventilation, which is more feasible in some retrofits.
The standard solution for PassivHaus construction is MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) but that is expensive and difficult to fit into existing homes, even if you agree it is appropriate. Last year, James’ OpenEcoHome ‘Getting off Gas’ showcased a ventilation system from Aereco, amongst other features. James assures us he has had no problems and is happy with his choice. So that is at least one other possibility.
Aereco specialises in demand controlled systems, which means that the level of ventilation varies automatically depending on need. Other systems give constant or manually controlled ventilation. Separately, systems can be passive (natural) or active, with and without heat recovery, whole house or room level. Whole house ventilation with MVHR requires ducts between rooms which is very difficult to retrofit but other whole house systems do not.
Resources
As more and more electricity is from renewables, heat pumps become ever-more climate-friendly. And uniquely they provide about 3 kW of heat from 1kW of electricity.
In this talk, Warren Pope:
Two Open Eco Homes hosts also briefly describe their heat pump experiences:
Heat Pumps are becoming the standard heating for UK homes, with no gas heating allowed in new homes from 2025. In an older home, replacing gas or oil heating with a heat pump should dramatically reduce its carbon emissions. The Renewable Heat Incentive subsidises most heat pumps, if they are installed and running before March 31st 2022.
Speaker, Warren Pope, is the Retrofit Project Manager with RetrofitWorks, delivering the exciting, local Eastern New Energy Project.
He’s an ESOS Lead Assessor for buildings, processes and transport with extensive experience in the built environment, including technology consultancy for the selection of renewable technology, energy management and retrofit.
This was a lively event with 55 participants, who had plenty of questions on the numerous choices.
Resources:
Two example Open Eco Homes presented to Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry:
Talk attended by 75 local building professionals on 13 Apr 2021.
Interested in retrofitting your home to make it energy-efficient, sustainable and comfortable?
Confused by all the options and decisions needed?
This free, interactive webinar, explores the basics and will help you examine what you want, your priorities and how to work well with building professionals. The presenters, Margaret Reynolds, green architect, and Nicola Terry, energy expert, have both been Open Eco Homes hosts.
Thie webinar was based on a similar event by Manchester’s Carbon Coop.
50 participants attended and there was such intense interest that we ran a follow-up discussion group the following week.
“Useful overview, well presented, experienced speakers” – Participant
Resources
How to prepare your home to stay cool in a heatwave. Many homes, old and new, are becoming uncomfortable and unhealthy in increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves. This talk describes and discusses many ways to keep your home cool and healthy, some simple and some building projects. Including:
Tom Bragg, an experienced presenter on this subject, and Margaret Reynolds, green architect, have both been Open Eco Homes hosts, showing ways they keep their homes cool in summer.
This was a lively session with 39 participants.
This content is particularly relevant as we head into the summer months.
“Video, slideshow and online resources information really good” –Participant
Resources
This free online talk gives 2020 information and advice on the eligible measures:
Note that you can no longer apply for the Green Homes Grant. The government has now announced a new grant for installing heat pumps due to begin in 2022 so keep an eye out for this.
Tom Bragg, Open Eco Homes Manager, and Peter Bates, a home energy expert, will explain and discuss what can be funded, making a plan and the steps of applying for a grant, which could help you make significant home energy improvements.
62 people came to this talk and asked lots of good questions.
Resources
You could be more comfortable and lower your energy consumption by insulating your home. But where to start? How do you plan what is best for your house and lifestyle?
We also consider the effect of moisture in building fabric and when internal or external insulation is best.
Heat pumps are the best route to low carbon heating in most homes – they are super efficient (300% is often achievable) and can run on zero carbon electricity. However installing one is not as straightforward as just replacing the boiler in your cupboard. So how to set about procuring one for your home?
Our speaker, Andy Hamilton, gives frank advice based on knowledge and direct experience over several decades with a variety of heat pumps including in his own home.
Andy will give us advice on how to make sure our home and heating system is ‘heat pump ready’, how to choose which heat pump is right for our home, how to make sure it can and does operate effectively.
Andy’s career has spanned building work, lecturing in Construction Technology and urban Sustainability, research and consultancy for the Environment Agency and the European Commission.
To get the best value from Andy in the time we assume you have some basic understanding. We concentrate on air source heat pumps (ASHP) which is the most common type; we hope you will already know what this is and how its performance is measured (using COP and SCOP), also that your choice of heat pump affects the rest of your heating system i.e. your radiators, hot water and pipework.
If you are new to heat pumps, or if you’d like a refresher, we recommend Heat Pump Information from John Cantor, renowned expert and author of ‘Heat pumps for the Home’. We also recommend some of Nicola Terry’s blog posts on heat pumps, such as: Do Heat Pumps Deliver and Why I haven’t installed a heat pump (yet). Nicola is introducing Andy’s talk.
64 people came to this online talk.
Resources
