OUR HOME

Before we moved

• Our previous home had lots of west facing windows (6 out of 13), heated up terribly in summer and then couldn’t be easily cooled when the easterly or southerly cool breezes arrived in the evening.

• It was also a very cold house in winter, with only one small room (a bedroom) having a north facing window for good access to sun.

There had to be a better way of designing a home.So we moved!

The house as it was in 2000 Originally built in the 50s.

As it was when we bought it in 2005

The site plan as at 2005. The north facing boundary was a major reason for buying this property

North

Plans with new extension

North

The aim was to have a north facing living area with shaded glass and good cross ventilation.

The building commences

The original back of the house had west facing windows that we wanted to eliminate as much as possible

Old sheds at the rear of the block were demolished by hand to salvage as much

hardwood timber as possible.

Some of this timber was used to build the table on the deck, which also included left over timber from the building of the

pergola.

At times it was hard to keep the final vision in focus

A relocatable home (for Graeme’s parents) being placed in the back yard

The door in the centre of the old house became a small bathroom window - the only west facing window in the house

The door unit arriving. Looking at various options for higher performance glass, we settled on 4mm thick (standard glass is 3mm) tinted glass in a

stackable sliding unit that allows a 4 metre opening.

Bamboo floorboards were placed over particle board. Left

over floorboards

were used as the kitchen splashback.

Keeping cool in summerKeeping warm in winter

Grapevines planted in 2006 at northern side of deck now create dense shade over the deck during summer, while allowing sun in

through winter.

• All insulation materials are rated for their performance in restricting heat transfer.

• The R value is a guide to its performance as an insulator—the higher the R value, the greater the insulating effect.

• E.g., Recommended R values in Newcastle for bulk ceiling insulation are R3 to R3.5 and for wall insulation, R1.5 to R2.

60mm Greenboard (polystyrene with R value of 1.9) was fixed directly

to the timber frame

On the old section of the house, vinyl cladding was removed and 40 mm Greenboard (R value

1.4) was attached directly to the weatherboards

Our house became an esky! Mesh was applied over the Greenboard which was then cement rendered.

In 2010 we installed underfloor polystyrene batts, R 1.4 in the old

section

We also have bulk insulation (combination of fibreglass batts and loose fill) of R 3.5 in the roof of the old section

Draft proofing is critical to reducing heat loss

The curtain has helped a great deal in retaining the heat downstairs when we have the heater on.

Electricity Production

0

4

8

12

kWh/day

Our photovoltaic system was first installed in June 2008

.Expanded in March 2010, it is now a 16 panel, 2.8 kW

system, and produces just over 11 kWh per day

It generates an income of around $2500 per year

A 1 kW system was also installed on the unit

Energy consumption

Electricity Gas0

5

10

15

20

25

Our daily use NSW average

kWh

We consume around 7.5 kWh of electricity per day. (The NSW average is 19-20 per household)

Some of the reasons we have lower than average electricity consumption include: • Energy efficient appliances – fridge, washing

machine, dishwasher• Only 1 fridge• No air conditioner• We wear warm clothes in winter• Heatpump hot water system• Energy efficient lighting

• Only 1 TV (and a daggy old CRT at that!)• No Playstation, Wii, Xbox etc• Very little on standby• Laptop computers rather than desktops• Don’t use a clothes dryer• Very conscious of turning off lights and equipment

when not being used• We insulated our hot water pipes (but we haven’t

really noticed any difference)

We have no air conditioner (though one would be nice for the 40°+ days. Lucky we’re so close to the pool!)

There are 6 ceiling fans throughout the house. The timber ones were originally in the living area and weren’t strong enough, but work well in the bedrooms.

More effective fans:1. Are metal2. Have longer blades3. Are set as low as is safe4. Have more powerful motors

We have a 310 litre Heatpump

hot water system that uses about 30-40% of the

electricity of an electric storage

system.

In hindsight we would install a solar hot water system instead

Compact Fluros (CFLs) are installed throughout the house, including downlights and bathroom Tastic lights. These typically use about

25% of the power of incandescents.

The heatlamps remain in the tastics but we don’t use them

The new downlights use 60 watts per set of

4 instead of 240

An 11 watt ceiling light replaces a 60 watt downlight

The correct way to use 12 volt halogen downlight fittings

Recycled Robot at Lambton

Public School

Water management

Our Water Usage* Residential Average0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Litres per day

* We have a single water meter for both households so our water usage is for two households ( 6 people)

A 4500 litre bladder tank under the old section of the house is plumbed to the back toilet, washing machine

and front garden tap.

A 3000 litre tank at the rear of the unit is also plumbed to 2 toilets and washing machine

Showers

• We use water efficient shower heads (even the big one)

• And don’t tell anyone – we don’t always shower every day!

Other water saving strategies

• We have a frontload washing machine and only use it when full

• We capture water in 3 litre plastic bottles while we wait for hot water to warm up at the kitchen sink which we use to water pot plants

• We use a dishwasher – we aren’t convinced it saves water (nor electricity) but we do love it!

Vegetable gardens

Established in Spring 2009

We aren’t great gardeners but are slowly learning. It was very exciting when we had a meal with 16 different things from the garden!

Waste management

We have 3 waste systems for organic wasteOur worm farm provides fertilizer for the garden

as well as a method of disposing of suitable kitchen waste

The Bokashi compost is an

anaerobic fermentation

system that can compost all organic

kitchen waste except bones

(We are beginning to question the environmental impact of this

system)

A conventional compost bin for some garden waste is at the back of the unit, but is not actively

composted, just left to its own devices.

We share a general

rubbish bin, recycling bin

and green waste bin with the rear unit

Future Plans(Unfortunately very similar to last year)

• Paint roof of new section with reflective paint• Install external blinds on top louvre windows• Install underfloor insulation under new section• Change all blinds in old section to more thermally

efficient ones• Install new roof on old section with solar powered

ventilation• Continue to explore ways of reducing our energy and

resource use

Cubby house is yet to be retro fitted with sustainable features!

THE END