FROM the outside, it is a typical Victorian terrace.

But behind its 19th century facade lies the latest in 21st century carbon-cutting ideas.

That is because the Nelson Street home in Jericho has been completely eco-renovated as part of an ambitious research project.

The couple living there, Steve and Shirley Bishop, are to be the subject of scrutiny for two years as their energy consumption and carbon emissions are monitored.

The house is one of 87 taking part in a Government project looking at how CO2 emissions can be slashed by making changes to housing stock.

Vast quantities of floor, ceiling and wall insulation have been installed, a wall has been taken out, solar panels put in, and new ventilation systems installed.

The idea is to cut the amount of carbon emissions from the property by 80 per cent – and less than six months in, it is already showing a reduction of 85 per cent.

Mr and Mrs Bishop, 59 and 55, have lived in the council property for 21 years.

Mrs Bishop said: “It’s amazing. There are no drafts, it’s much, much lighter because of the triple glazing and taking out the wall.

“The air quality’s really very good, not to mention the low energy bills.”

She hopes people would be inspired by the project.

Mrs Bishop said: “I really hope other people can benefit from this as much as we have.”

Prof Rajat Gupta from Oxford Brookes University is one of the scientists involved in the project.

He said: “We looked at the existing circumstances of the house before doing work so we could have a basis for comparison.

“It had no insulation, very poor daylight levels and poor ventilation so we used that information to choose the strategies for the house.

“The whole aim is to find out whether existing housing can achieve a target reduction of 80 per cent carbon emissions and so far the project shows this can be done.”

About £150,000 has been allocated to the Oxford Whole House Carbon Reduction Project, with the actual work on the house costing £90,000.

Prof Gupta said while this was not a realistic expenditure for most families, economies of scale could bring that figure down to as little as £10,000 to £15,000 if improvements were rolled out on a wider scale.

The majority of the savings, amounting to a reduction of 65 per cent, came from 42cm thick insulation in the loft.

A highly efficient heating system, efficient lighting and appliances brought the carbon emissions down to 75 per cent, with the remaining 10 per cent from solar water heating and solar panels.

The idea was to reduce the properties fuel bills from £600 to £150 annually and Prof Gupta said with the house currently “in credit” thanks to the energy feeding back into the grid, it was likely to be even lower.

The renovations include:

* Windows — new triple-glazed windows.

* Photovoltaic cells — 8m2 of solar panels on the roof.

* Solar thermal hot water — tubes on south-east facing roof supply hot water to the water cylinder in the first-floor bathroom.

* Front wall — 82.5mm internal insulation * Rear wall — 82.5mm internal insulation plus 200mm external insulation * Roof — 420mm loft insulation with airtight vapour barrier.

* Flat roofs — 230mm loft insulation covered with a high performance membrane.

* Ground floor — new floating chipboard floor with 10mm insulation taped to walls to ensure it is air tight * Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery — ducts in loft supplying air to habitable rooms, and extracting air from wet rooms.

* Monovent sunpipe — to improve natural light and ventilation in the darkest part of the house