I was listening to a programme about global-warming the other day. Two things struck me in particular. One was the statement from the most up-beat of the five experts, “I am optimistic, but I’m not hopeful.” The other was a fact that, naively, I didn’t know. I thought the main culprits by far were: fossil-fuel consumption, pollution from factories worldwide and the burning of rain-forests. But I was wrong. The one thing all the experts agree on is that the single biggest contributory factor to global-warming is us, each individual one of us, through our collective homes.
When we started converting this old convent we wanted to use as much ‘good’ technology as we could.
In some ways we succeeded.
The pool-water is disinfected using UV treatment. This means we can use the excess to water the garden and we don’t drain chemicals or salt into the soil and water table.
The pool-shower uses solar energy.
We use low-energy bulbs wherever we can.
We use an electricity-consumption system called “Tempo.”
Almost all the plants in the garden are indigenous and need little water.
Most of the garden is watered by slow drip reticulation.
We only installed one bath, the other bathrooms all have showers.
The toilets are all dual-flush.
We try very hard to use re-cycled materials. Have a look at Lizzie’s blue shed and you’ll see what we mean.
We shut down the main house during the winter.
We use a wood-burner in our apartment.
We're planting trees and a potager at the mazet.
In the summer we decided on various actions which you may or may not approve of. We don’t, and will not, have air-conditioning. We will change your towels every three days and your sheets every five. This is partly because we’re just a b ‘n b and not a 5-star hotel, but mostly because it’s hugely power and water-wasteful to wash them every day. And just how dirty are you going you get? There is always cold tap water in re-fillable bottles in the kitchen fridge. Help yourselves. We believe in food metres as opposed to food miles and use as much local produce as we can.
In many ways we failed.
A new oil-burning boiler had only just been installed when we arrived here.
The use of solar panels on the roof of an historic building wasn’t permitted.
We simply don’t have enough land for geothermic heat transfer.
We still haven’t insulated the roof.
Our well is still dry.
If you would like to carbon-offset your flight here, please click this link. It’s the best scheme we’ve found so far. In return we promise to offset the power you use at Le Couvent during your stay.
You may believe that planting a tree through carbon-offsetting doesn’t really amount to a hill o’ beans. I guess it’s a start.
