Guy Martin’s House Without Bills
Guy Martin’s House Without Bills | Channel 4 1 x 69'
Energy bills have increased by around 70% in the last 5 years, and now Guy Martin is using his engineering experience to investigate how homeowners can make their homes cheaper to heat. What does it take to create a “zero bills home”?
Guy’s own home is like a giant energy experiment – he has been dabbling with solar power, batteries, oil heaters, log burners and heat pumps for 15 years, all in a bid to reduce his heating bills. After conducting a test that pressurizes his whole house to check for air leaks, he’s disappointed to discover that his very draughty property would still be classed as a “pass” by current building standards. And so he goes off to investigate a rigorous German building system known as “Passivhaus”, that promises a 90% reduction in energy consumption. In typical Guy hands-on fashion, he learns more about it by actually working on a building site renovating a home to this elevated standard.
It’s an ambitious project in Greater Manchester, aiming to turn a typical semi-detached house into one of the most energy efficient homes in the country. Across the 9-month renovation, Guy helps fit the best forms of insulation, draught-proofing, ventilation and glazing, learning the lessons that will help every household reduce its bills. With solar, batteries and an air source heat pump turning this nearly 100-year-old property into a house without bills, Guy shows the finished project off to the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and explains the lessons relevant to upgrading housing on a national scale.
Guy’s investigations into reducing bills take him across the UK. He’ll discover the secrets of a Victorian church in Northumberland, originally founded by the engineer who predicted renewable energy, that has been rebuilt so well it barely needs the heating switched on. He’ll visit Energy House 2.0 in Salford, the world’s biggest climate laboratory, and cover the experimental house inside with real snow, to find out the most cost effective ways of saving money. Guy will also work at a revolutionary Birkenhead factory that is engineering flat pack social housing which qualifies for a potentially game-changing new zero bill energy tariff.By the end of the show, viewers will have seen what it takes to make an energy efficient home to the highest standard, learned valuable tricks to save big, and have an answer to the million dollar question: can you really have a home with no bills?