
Kevin McCloud: 5 of the easiest ways to make your home more eco-friendly
By Abi Jackson. Published 2020-02-18
BOLD-LivingAs Boldies we can do our bit to help the planet and our wallets
As Boldies we would like to be a little more planet-friendly? As with most things in life, it starts at home – but knowing where to start or whether your efforts are worthwhile, can be tricky. “It’s easy to think of being planet-friendly as something we can buy, which often just adds to the problems of environmental damage,” says Grand Designs presenter and home-style guru Kevin McCloud.“There’s no doubt that, by contrast, the correct things we should be doing are: A) changing our behaviour, which is hard; B) consuming less, which is hard to get used to; C) sharing our resources more, which is often annoying, and D) thinking ecologically about our wider environment, which is very hard. Having said that, there are some accessible ways of making our homes more environmentally responsible.”Wondering what those are? Here, McCloud shares five “easy” ways to make our homes more eco-friendly… and hopefully help our wallet along the way.
“Start with the simple things, like turning the thermostat down to 18 or 19 degrees rather than 21, putting on an extra pullover instead, making a hot water bottle at bedtime, and buying some slippers.”
“New glazing technologies fascinate me,” says McCloud, “because the windows in our homes are effectively holes through which heat pours. Metal coatings on glass and vacuum-extracted systems, like Pilkington’s Spacia, deliver excellent performance – I’m trialling them to see how they perform over time.”
Rely less on central heating

Go for straightforward insulation methods first
“We could all probably insulate our attics more, draught-proof our windows and doors, and maybe fit secondary or double glazing. Insulation may not seem sexy, but it’s much cheaper and delivers quicker cash and energy savings than solar panels or a heat-exchanging thermo-dynamic hybrid heat pump with go-faster stripes,” says McCloud. “Men, I’m afraid, tend to be seduced more by kit than reason. If you find yourself using the word ‘tech’, be wary – my bitter experience is that the more complicated you make your home, the more there is to go wrong.“Make sure your home is fully insulated with good airtightness and simple ventilation systems. It’s called a fabric-first approach. Only then should you consider the bolt-on technology.”Check out new glazing technologies
