Doing our bit for the environment at The Old Piggery

Rainwater harvester
Rainwater is collected from the roof of the Old Piggery, the barn and our house to supply the water requirements for
- flushing toilets
- dishwasher
- washing machine
-outside hoses (yard and garden)

The next stage is to fit a filter so that the washing water can
also be supplied by the rainwater.

Ground source heat pump
In essence a 'reverse fridge' system.  Heat is taken from the ground (approximately 2m down the temperature is 8 degrees on average) by hundreds of meters of liquid filled pipes - the ground loop.  These pipes gather at a manifold and are taken into the heat pump by larger pipes.  At this point approximately 2 degrees of heat is taken from the ground loop liquid and this heat is transferred via a heat exchanger to a storage tank where it is used to supply the hot water and underfloor heating for the Old Piggery. 
Much more technical information here
If you want any more information about our particular system please visit the website of the company who supplied our system - www.renenergy.co.uk

Green electricity supplier
The electrical energy supplied to the Piggery is by a company called Good Energy (www.good-energy.co.uk)  They supply 100% renewable electricity from renewable generators across the UK - wind, small scale hydro, wave, solar power and sustainable biomass. 

Green cleaning
Where possible we use eco friendly products to clean the Piggery.  That doesn't mean to say we insist the guests do likewise but we do ask them to consider that we have a septic tank and soakaway system and this benefits from environmentally kind products.

Recycling
There is a recycling bin in the Piggery yard and we invite guests to fill it with recyclable waste from their holiday - paper, glass, plastic bottles, card etc.  We take it away at the end of each let and ensure that it is appropriately recycled.

Freecycle!
We belong to three local Freecycle groups and have sourced many
items for the Piggery from them and passed other unwanted items, particularly leftover building materials this way.

Low energy lighting
Many light bulbs in the Old Piggery are the low energy kind.  They do take a while to come up to full light but be a little patient and you should find that the lighting is sufficient.

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