One of our regular visitors, Andy Grieve from Upton, Northamptonshire, cautions eco-home buyers about the pitfalls along the road to enlightenment. “We bought last October from Cornhill Estates,” he says. “Our house looks like an Edwardian townhouse, with sash windows, railings outside, and made from reclaimed brick. It also overlooks a new park.

“My wife liked the look of the house, but I was drawn to the gadgets and potential cost savings – we have solar panels for electricity and heating, rain water harvesting to provide grey water for toilets and washing machine, and about a foot of insulation in the walls.

“We’ve had an OK first year with all the above, but as with all new technology some of it hasn’t been thought through very well. For instance, the solar panels for electricity have been turned off all year due to a safety problem. The solar panels for heating water have been great, although now that the first year’s up we have concerns about who will maintain them in the future.

“The rain water harvesting hasn’t been as good as we hoped, as the tank empties very quickly, and the pump is noisy. The insulation is great, and the bills are lower than our previous house, which was a three-bed semi-detached. All in all we’re really happy with the estate and we and our new neighbours are looking forward to its completion.

“As mentioned above, although all the technology is great when it works, what happens when it fails? The solar panels are still not working but at least we have been compensated for the time that they have been switched off. However, the reality is that nobody seems to want to cover the maintenance of these systems yet.”

Editor’s note: If you have had problems with newly installed ‘green’ technology, or can report postive experiences, we’d like to hear from you. In fact if you have any thoughts, observations or comments on any aspect of sustainable development that you’d like to share online with other visitors, please contact us