Since the first event in Brighton and Hove in 2008, Eco Open Houses has become something of a national phenomenon. “They started popping up all over the country,” says Francesca Iliffe, sustainability officer in the planning department for Brighton and Hove City Council and co-organiser of Eco Open Houses.

“So many people had the same idea at the same time, it’s difficult to trace it back to just one person.”

Running over the latter half of the second week of September, Eco Open Houses allows members of the public to visit environmentally low-impact homes and have a good nose around. Properties range from flashy, zero-energy new builds to a retrofitted first-floor flat in a Victorian conversion; a building owned by a housing cooperative to an innovative, eco-friendly high-rise.

The event is a collaboration between the council, the Low Carbon Trust and Brighton Permaculture Trust, with the aim of sharing information and providing a platform for people to see what works and what doesn’t.

Francesca says: “It’s a great way of learning. No one is trying to sell anyone anything. People open up their houses and are speaking from their own passion and experience. They’re just happy to share what they know and give a totally honest, warts-and-all view of what they’ve done. They may well advise that what they’ve done isn’t the best way.”

It’s an approach that seems to work: the Energy Saving Trust (EST) found that 58% of visitors to Eco Open House events subsequently took steps to improve their own home.

As a result, the EST asked Brighton and Hove Eco Open Houses to help produce guidance for anyone else who wants to deliver a similar event anywhere in the country.

For Francesca, involvement is more than just organisational. She is also exhibiting her own home, a 1940s semi-detached in Hollingbury. Since moving there in 2006, the Iliffe family have reduced their gas use by 54% and are pretty much carbon neutral in their electricity use. Despite two teenage daughters with a passion for laptops and hair straighteners, careful insulation, efficient appliances, reduced water use and a 1.4kW solar PV system means they are still making huge savings.

“We’ve only spent about £5,000 in all and we made about £600 from the feed-in tariff over the past year,” she says. “Even after we pay back the monthly repayments on the loan we got to install the solar panels, we’re still making savings. They are becoming really worthwhile now.”

In fact, Francesca says, one visitor to Eco Open Houses last year thought solar PV had become such a good investment he opted to withdraw money from his ISA and invest it in panels instead.

“We do get this lovely ripple effect of people who aren’t normally interested in these things seeing and hearing how much money they can save going away and reducing their energy use. You don’t need any experience or knowledge, it’s just a case of going along and having a browse. The event really does have the potential to inspire people to make changes.”

Eco Open Houses runs from September 8-11. The event is free but booking is often required.

* Visit www.ecoopenhouses.org