One Kirkburn resident has taken that message to heart and is planning to convert his home of more than 30 years into an eco-friendly, sustainable dwelling.

Pat Smith has submitted plans to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to convert the 19th century Methodist Chapel and former Sunday School he has called home since 1975 into a highly insulated, low carbon house.

Pat and his partner Ethna Connell currently live in the converted Sunday school, while the 19th century chapel was once a workshop from which Pat ran his business producing wooden furniture and flooring for over a decade.

After moving his company, English Timbers Ltd, into larger premises in the village, the chapel is now used for domestic storage and Pat says the time has come for it to fulfil a whole new purpose.

“I do a lot of conservation work around the village with the wild flowers and church yard, and we’ve decided to do this because it’s in keeping with our ethics and just common sense,” said Pat. “If you look at the energy bills these days it’s just nuts, and if oil keeps going up the bills will be amazing.

“The idea for the eco-house and holiday respite care developed over a few years. We needed more living space and Ethna wanted to carry on with short break respite care, something which she had done for years. As we became more aware of the effects of climate change, it seemed logical to build a new sustainable house and convert the existing house for the short break care.”

If given the green light the chapel will be dismantled with the intention of recovering as much original material as possible to rebuild it into a separate, low carbon house with an extension that will become the couple’s home.

The new build will include a range of eco-friendly features including super insulated walls, floors and roof, triple glazed windows with coated glass, a heat recovery system to minimise losses through ventilation, and a ground source heat pump and small wood burning stove to satisfy all their heating needs.

The couple hope that between 50 and 70 per cent of all their hot water will be produced from solar panels and a large thermal store to catch the day’s energy.

The schoolroom will be converted for short break respite care for disabled adults modified to ensure it produces low CO2 emissions.

Once completed the new house will be one of the first dwellings of its kind in the East Riding and the couple hope it will set the trend for things to come.

Pat said: “By 2016 every new house built will have to be carbon neutral and will have to generate their own energy, so this is a forerunner of what’s coming.”

“The neighbours’ response has been very positive and they want to know how it works, and the parish council is supportive of it too.