Landowner plans solar panels for mansion made of straw

Posted by Andrew Marshall

A landowner in Oxfordshire is planning to use solar PV panels as a way of increasing the efficiency of his new mansion, which he plans to build out of straw.

The £2.5 million project is currently awaiting the permissions needed to be built, as Jamie Lonsdale plans to construct the property from 25 tonnes of hay, making it "a country house for the 21st century", according to the Oxford Mail.

If it was to be constructed, the home would be built from straw bricks 19-inches thick, and wopuld draw its electricity from a huge array of photovoltaic panels.
This would mean that the property would be 100 per cent carbon neutral.

However, the project is now subject to an appeal, after the council turned down the initial application at the end of the last year on the grounds that it was too big.

The home could actually end up being profitable in years to come, as, being carbon neutral and self sustainable, it could generate money from the government's Feed-in Tariff.