"When we bought our bungalow, we knew we had embarked on a big renovation job.

We didn’t realise quite how far we were going to travel on a journey of discovering just how much an ordinary suburban bungalow could be made to be ecologically green.

We had an idea that we wanted to recycle rainwater from the roof for gardening purposes, so one day we wandered into a small shop at Parley Cross to see if they knew where we could find a tank suitable for this.

This was the start – we met Eric Hawkins, Director of Powertech Solar Ltd.

Eric was already recycling rain water in his own house and was using it for domestic purposes.  This was more than we had thought of but we soon learned from Eric how this could be done.  We started off nervously; can we do this?  Yes, we can. 

Now we recycle most of the water from our roof.  We find it easy to manage the filtering system and pumps.  We only use mains water from the kitchen tap for drinking purposes and ice making.

We use the soft rain water to fill our large Jacuzzi and for showering.  The bath and screens stay clean and limescale free.

We are on a water meter and pay £4.00 per month, but we are in credit as we use so little water.  The sewerage costs are also very low. 

Good for us – good for the world – we have proved anyone can do it! Shouldn’t we all be doing it?

Our renovation ideas did not stop here.  “Why not have Underfloor heating?  You could power it by solar panels” Eric said.  “I’ll help you design the system”.

We have had to do work to the floors and all the pipe work needed replacing – so why not!  We laid all the insulation and pipes.  They had to be level and not cross over each other.  I enjoyed working that one out!  We enlarged the hall cupboard and this now houses the thermal store, pumps and an array of pipes to each room.  We have 54 solar collector tubes on the South facing roof.  From March to October this supplies our hot water and heating.  We lose the sun from November to February due to trees.  We have a wood burner in the lounge that also heats water and adds to the thermal store.  We also have a back-up gas boiler when the need arises."

We have insulated the roof to a high level by using 50mm thickness kingspan 8x4 sheets cut to size between the joists.

So, our bungalow is one of a kind; a big talking point with visitors and friends.  We hope we will encourage more people to think about what they can do to help themselves achieve smaller bills, and benefit the universe.

If we hadn’t met Eric we would not have known how much we could do. 

Our grateful thanks also go to Bob, Andy and John, who are all part of the Powertech Solar Ltd back-up team.

This is truly a story of CHIKARA – THE POWER OF DREAMS."

Original letter is held at Powertech's offices.