LOW carbon housing was the subject of a talk organised by Winchester Action on Climate Change and Friends of the Earth.

The Mayor was among the guests at the event at the Discovery Centre, where guests speakers from HAB Housing explained how it was designing environmentally-friendly homes.

Managing director Mike Roberts and assistant development manager David Eynon explained how HAB Housing designs its homes and communities to be low energy in both construction and use, citing their new development at Lovedon Fields in Kings Worthy as an example.

The company builds energy-efficient houses that have good insulation and air-tightness, to keep warmth in and cold out.

Large triple-glazed windows mean there’s no need to have the lights on when the sun is shining.

By 2020, HAB housing aims to make its developments “net energy positive” – to produce more energy than the residents use over a year.

At Loveden, they are putting solar panels on all suitable roofs, with the hope that the electricity from the panels will be bought by an energy company owned by the residents.

Their proposed system will store the electricity from the panels in batteries so that it can be used when the sun isn't shining.

Councillor Jane Rutter said: “It was a great talk, showing that new housing can be good for the environment and commercially successful.”