IELTS Listening · Cam 9

Test 3 Part 4

So, I'm going to start with a house which Is constructed more or less under the ground.

Level: B2 · 66 sentences

Transcript

  1. So, I'm going to start with a house which
  2. Is constructed more or less under the ground.
  3. And one of the interesting things about
  4. This project is that the owners,
  5. Both professionals but not architects, wanted to be closely involved,
  6. So they decided to manage the project themselves.
  7. Their chief aim was to create somewhere
  8. That was as environmentally friendly as possible.
  9. But at the same time, they wanted to live somewhere peaceful.
  10. They'd both grown up in a rural area, and disliked urban life.
  11. So the first thing they did was to look for a site,
  12. And they found a disused stone quarry in a beautiful area.
  13. The price was relatively low,
  14. And they liked the idea of recycling the land, as it were.
  15. As it was, the quarry was an ugly blot on the landscape,
  16. And it wasn't productive any longer either.
  17. They consulted various architects
  18. And looked at a number of designs before finally deciding on one.
  19. As I've said,
  20. It was a design for a sort of underground house,
  21. And it was built into the earth itself, with two stories.
  22. The north, east, and west sides were set in the earth,
  23. And only the sloping, south-facing side was exposed to the light.
  24. That was made of a double layer of very strong glass.
  25. There were also photovoltaic tiles fixed to the top
  26. And bottom of this sloping wall.
  27. These are tiles that are designed to store energy from the sun.
  28. And the walls
  29. Had a layer of foam around them too to increase the insulation.
  30. What is of interest to us about this project
  31. Is the features which make the building energy-efficient
  32. Sunlight floods in through the glass wall and to maximize it
  33. There are lots of mirrors and windows inside the house
  34. That helps to spread the light around
  35. So that's the first thing light is utilized as fully as possible
  36. In addition the special tiles on the outside
  37. Convert energy from the sun and generate some of the house's electricity.
  38. In fact, and it is possible,
  39. That in future the house may even generate an electricity surplus
  40. And that the owners will be able to sell
  41. Some to the national grid.
  42. As well as that, wherever possible, recycled materials have been used.
  43. For example...
  44. The floors are made of reclaimed wood,
  45. And the owners haven't bought a single item of new furniture.
  46. They just kept what they already had.
  47. And then there's the system for dealing with the waste produced in the house.
  48. This is dealt with organically.
  49. It's purified by being filtered through reed beds,
  50. Which have been planted for that purpose in the garden.
  51. So the occupants of the house
  52. Won't pollute the land or use any damaging chemicals.
  53. It's true that the actual construction of the house
  54. Was harmful to the environment, mainly
  55. Because they had to use massive amounts of concrete,
  56. One of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide in manufacturing.
  57. And, as you know, this is very damaging to the environment.
  58. The house construction has released
  59. 70 Tons of carbon dioxide into the air.
  60. Now that's a frightening thought.
  61. However, once the initial debt has been cleared
  62. And it's been calculated that this will only take 15 years,
  63. This underground house won't cost anything, environmentally I mean,
  64. Because unlike ordinary houses, it is run in a way...
  65. That is completely environmentally friendly.
  66. So, eco-housing like this is likely to become much more...