An Exercise in Suburban Sustainable Living.
Cutting Electricity
and Gas Bills with
Solar Water Heating
extension
stuff!
Elaine and I bought our first house together in August of 2000, a rather tired, 100 year old 3 bedroomed semi-detached
house in a quiet suburban road, about 19 miles south of London.
During our first year here, the energy bills were horrendous so this inspired us to improve the property, it's energy
efficiency and do what we can to make it part of a more sustainable lifestyle.
This house started as a modest dwelling to meet the needs of the expanding population in the early 1900's, with open
coal fires, small rooms and no insulation. It is our intention to adapt the property to suit the needs of the 21st Century,
minimising energy consumption, reducing waste and changing the fabric of the house to suit the demands of the
modern lifestyle.
Finally in the Spring of 2005, we commenced building work on the new extension, which will provide a modern
kitchen, warm, spacious bathroom and useful utility room area. Additionally we have increased the insulation to meet
or exceed that required by Building Regulations and fitted an efficient condensing gas boiler and underfloor heating in
the kitchen and bathroom.
We hoped to complete this work in time for my 40th birthday, in mid-August, and very nearly did, save a few minor
jobs!
This site has been updated in mid-September 2005 to show some of the construction work on the new extension.
Click Here for more information.
I am a 40 year old electronic engineer working in telecommunications. I work from home most of the time, but
have travelled extensively on business to southern China and the western USA .
Elaine is a primary school teacher, working in a small rural school of just 110 children.
We also have a black cat called Monty who is 5 years old.
My work involves the design, prototyping and manufacture of electronic products. I have worked for the BBC
as a Research Engineer, for a scientific instrument manufacturer, for a telecommunications company and for a
company pioneering the use of GSM and GPS for telemetry and telematics applications.
In the Spring of 2005, I became a freelance hardware design engineer working on low power wireless and
telecom products.
I mainly do hardware design, schematic design and pcb layout, some embedded microcontroller programming.
When it comes to software, I have learnt that it's best to get someone else to help.
I run a small company Powercubes.com which is involved in the design and production of products aimed at
improving domestic energy consumption, and investigating emerging renewable energy products.
I can be contacted at ken.boak@powercubes.com
waste vegetable oil
sunny Herefordshire.
This site reflects a few of my other interests and aspirations which lie in the application of renewable energy and
appropriate new technology to allow the modern suburban resident to achieve a sustainable low impact lifestyle. We are
applying some of these ideas to our own property, a 100 year old suburban semi-detached house.
I have been involved in several projects some of which are detailed on other pages.
I have installed solar water heating, combined heat and power and photovoltaics with the intention of finding a partial
solution to minimising my household energy consumption.
Between 1990 and 1995 I assisted a friend building a 4 seater electric car capable of 85mph.
I have been interested in the use of Stirling Engines and other external combustion engines as a viable alternative to the
internal combustion engine for hybrid vehicles, combined heat and power systems and leisure boat propulsion..
I have had practical experience with charcoal burning and the use of waste wood products as a renewable fuel.
process of being ported across from another host.
an experimental EV that I helped
build in the 1990s
reflecting someof my
interests in Sustainability
Park, a local parkland
pilgrim to the Great Dorset Could steam
see a renaissance as oil becomes scarce?
flying lesson this year, now that I am 40.
gasification and
charcoal production in
an old oil-boiler.