THE FIRST house in the UK to be powered solely by solar power has gone on sale in the Midlands.
The super environmentally friendly house built in Leicestershire will not need any gas or electricity.
The five bedroom house is set in two acres and will set its new owners back a whopping £1.2 million
It contains a number of zero-carbon features, including solar PV panels, triple glazing and rainwater storage.
Buried pipes heat the earth beneath the foundations during the summer and the ground retains the heat in winter, warming the house.
It was designed and built by Caplin Homes and monitored by De Montfort University.
Director Michael Goddard said: "The design and construction, down to the materials, were used specifically for their low footprint.
"We want to prove Government targets are achievable and genuine zero-carbon homes are a viable investment for UK house builders.
"The solar house shows how existing technologies can be used for a large family home but we plan to offer solutions for all house sizes.
Speaking before the project was completed Dr Andrew Wright from the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University said: “The main aim of the project is to demonstrate to the building industry that it is possible to build housing that is Zero Carbon and still remains commercially attractive.
“The hope is that the house will be self-sufficient in energy for most of the year, only requiring support from the energy store during 10 weeks in the winter months.”
He added the university would act as an independent assessor and communicate their findings with the public.
A spokesperson from www.theecoexperts.co.uk said: “This is very exciting. A lot of people will be very interested in a buying a house with zero or tiny utility bills. Obviously the selling price of this house is out of a lot of people’s budgets but if this kind of technology can be rolled out a lot of people will be able to benefit from it.”
