If the prospect of saving some money on electricity bills sounds interesting, you will enjoy reading this article. However, when it comes to a ‘carbon zero home’, there is much more to gain than just financial savings. Building your carbon zero home is a life long project, one that will position you well to face an uncertain future in energy. 
In short, this is not just about saving money. It is about aiming for high energy efficiency and self-reliability. It is about owning a house that will decisively not harm the environment and will be safeguarded from future rising energy prices.


What is a carbon zero home?


A carbon zero home is a household that produces more energy than what is required to sustain a modern and comfortable lifestyle. This can be achieved by different methods of renewable energy production, which will differ depending on where the house is located. 

We are now seeing a huge trend towards prefabricated houses, German flat pack houses and other types of prefabricated buildings with manufacturers such as the German construction company Baufritz. This process of flat pack building makes the building process much more efficient for both the end consumer and the manufacturer. These types of buildings use the latest in modern building technology and can be erected in a matter of days, which is part of the carbon neutral or carbon zero process. From the conception to execution, your carbon footprint is massively reduced.

When we talk about a carbon zero home, we refer to the main points being:

• any carbon made is offset by energy production
• life cycle carbon footprint of the building
• sustainable and renewable energy used for energy production
• excess energy can be stored or sold.


A home’s carbon footprint is the primary footprint that all of the inhabitants produce every day from showering to cooking to watching TV. The secondary footprint, which is part of the life cycle of the house is all of the energy made to plan, design and build the house – both of which can be objectively expressed in carbon dioxide (and equivalents) by the metric ton.

The primary footprint includes CO2 emission from both the home’s direct energy consumption as well as from the energy required to move the home dwellers around in their everyday lives.

The secondary footprint comprises the CO2 emissions made in the manufacturing all the materials that make up the building of the house, as well as in the production of all associated materials such as the coffee you buy when you meet the architect, to the point when the house gets demolished and recycled.

The benefits of a carbon zero home

One of the most evident and immediate benefits of a carbon zero home is that it your electrical bill will be almost non-existent. Because Britain has such diverse weather patterns it is best to make use of several types of available technologies for your carbon zero home. These include:

• geo-thermal rods
• solar power (PV)
• wind turbine
• power storage with lithium batteries.

Using batteries has become much cheaper because of electrical vehicle production and all power can be stored on a simple wall mounted battery, when it is peak time to soak up energy. 
As an owner of a carbon zero home you will be in a strong position for the future: not only will you be independent of energy providers, surcharges and uncertainties, but you will be a provider yourself while making sure that your home’s energy requirements are sustainable and safe for the environment.

This also means that in aligning your vision and personal goals with the zero carbon philosophy, you will be part of a rising revolution that is going to change the world for the best. We are redefining not only our homes and the surrounding infrastructures but also our cultural stances and our very relationship to the earth.

Sure, it is nice to save money on electrical bills. It is wonderful not to have to rely on the public grid. However, when you look at things from a wider perspective, the biggest benefit of a zero carbon home is the major investment it represents in trying to make the best of tomorrow, starting today. 






Depending on where you live, of course, you will have to adapt your project to suit the available resources, meet the demands of the local area and make the best the use of the ‘lay of the land’- as well as to take precautions against global shortcomings. 
Building a zero carbon home begins when you look intently at your physical surroundings and make a commitment always to seek the best way to bridge the gap between what you need to enjoy a comfortable and modern lifestyle, and what the land around you has to offer. It is a life project that goes well beyond mere bricks and electrical cables that make up your house and reaches deep into how you interact with the world around you.

Final thoughts on why You should aim for zero carbon


’He who fails to plan, plans to fail’

Looking at earth’s current environment, its rapid deterioration and unpredictable shifts in climate – a wise person will not take anything for granted. 
Let us plan our zero carbon homes not just with sights on the potential economic savings; let us realise how ultimately a zero carbon home is a self-sufficient home, projected in absolute mindfulness of the environmental uncertainties of tomorrow. We cannot possibly know what lies ahead. The future can be bright, or it can be bleak and ultimately that will depend on the combined actions that we all take from here on in.