At House of House, we are strongly committed to being as eco-friendly as we can. This is rooted in a firm belief that we are all custodians of the Earth, entrusted with a responsibility to future generations to ensure they inherit a planet with clean air, drinkable water and a healthy eco-system.

In the building process, we have – as far as possible – used locally sourced materials and craftsmen to minimise our carbon footprint. We have also taken great pains to recycle and re-use as much of the building material as we could in an effort to reduce waste and the resultant land-fill. In decorating the house, we have again used local sources and craftsmen where possible.

In the day-to-day running of the house, the eco-friendly measures we have introduced have led to a 75% reduction in household waste, as compared to the average in our neighbourhood. We compost all our garden waste and vegetable waste from our kitchen, returning those nutrients to the soil as wholesome organic fertiliser. Furthermore, we practice only organic gardening, using no pesticides or chemical fertilisers at all. The result is a beautiful, lush garden that soaks up carbon and doesn’t add poison to the soil or water table.

In our braai and fireplaces, we burn only firewood harvested from invader-species as part of a local nature-conservation project. This has the dual benefit of giving indigenous species a fighting chance against invaders, and minimising our carbon footprint by not using electricity, gas or coal for heating or braaing.

We have also replaced more than 95% of the light-bulbs in our house with energy-savers, thereby reducing our reliance on South Africa’s antiquated coal-fired power stations. As further means for reducing our outside electricity needs, we are investigating solar geysers, photo-voltaic cells and wind-turbines. These projects will be phased in – budget allowing – within two to five years.