Our home is about 90 years old and is a work in progress. It has front and side eaves and a front veranda. When we first moved in 13 years ago we had pelmets added to the windows and put up curtaining with total block-out backing. And my husband had to use 25 tubes gap filler to patch the holes outside before we painted it the first time!
We also connected the "storm" water pipes straight into the garden with a length of poly piping. (Robert says he has had to connect it back to the drainage system only twice in 12 years!)
We put in energy-efficient bulbs and a 5000 lt. (?) water-tank. Gradually we have grown an organic garden (fruit and flowers in front and fruit and vegetables at the back, eliminating all lawn.
Two years ago Robert and some trusty, hard-working ‘Wwoofers’ lined our back garden beds with black plastic and cardboard and placed soaker hoses underneath the soil because of the drought. (We have recently discovered this was a big mistake as our soil in these beds is now getting water-logged; we could have used hard-packed squares of straw (great for encouraging earth-worms) to much better advantage!)
(See http://transitionbell.groupsite.com/gallery/7803)
An apple tree shades our west-facing lounge window and a grape-vine shaded our east-facing bedroom window until it got a virus and died. We are now growing a wisteria in its place).
Towards the end of 2008 a little company called ecoMaster (http://www.ecomaster.com.au/index.cfm) (that was a finalist in the H.ousing I.ndustry A.ssociation’s GreenSmart Professional of the Year) did an energy audit for us (cost $380.00 and took four-and-a-half hours) and recommended how the house could work more for us in terms of energy.
We then chose their workers to implement their recommendations. They recommended starting with Draught Proofing and working through their roadmap in an outlined sequence, but we chose to do most of it at once. Because of this they included and installed a ceiling clothes rack for us, so that we could take advantage of our high lounge ceiling and not be afraid of falling over/wheeling into the portable clothes horse on wet days. That year they also: -
- Fit polyester R2.0 over existing ceiling insulation 72sqm
Fit concertina foil batts over the top of the bulk insulation 72sqm
Fit polyester R3.5 bulk insulation to all uninsulated areas 3sqm and –
Insulated the sub-floor with R1.5 polyester batts, and Air-cell Retro-Shield Thermo-Cellular Ref to keep the cold and wind from coming up under our feet.
All external doors, windows and vents, (even the dog door!) have been draft proofed by ecoMaster. [The friend and excellent tradesperson (from “New Earth Systems”) who put in our Solar Venti - see below - had a look in our roof and said the trades’ people from ecoMaster had done an excellent job of laying the new insulation - no gaps anywhere where they should not have been].
In early 2010, ecoMaster draft proofed the internal doors as well. They also “secondary” glazed all our windows (except the kitchen, undoable at present, but it has now a reflective added to the total block-out blind) with “acrylic panel secondary glazing” as this costs less, and is less disruptive, than fitting window double glass glazing, and saves existing panes possibly going to landfill.
In 2009 we also bought a ceiling fan to help our gas heaters run more efficiently. They will blow the hot air down in winter (hot air normally rises, leaving one with cold feet) and draw it up in summer (cold air normally descends.)
We have instantaneous gas hot water and gas hot-plates in the kitchen. We put our bath water and washing machine water onto the fruit trees because we use all natural soap, shampoos and often make our own cleaner with vinegar and bi-carb. Be careful, if you want to try this, as the vinegar makes the bi-carb froth like crazy - so add a bit at a time!
Because our "instantaneous" gas hot water takes a while to heat up we place a collapsible bucket and a plastic one under the basin and the bath respectively. This saves up to 20 lts of water a day.
We have had solar panels placed on our north-facing roof to connect us to the electricity grid. As we got these through the Geelong Sustainability Group and the Solar shop deal as well as the government $8.000 rebate we paid $6,900.00 (inclludes the new meter price) approx. for an $18,000.00 system.
In the future, we want to insulate our walls with foam insulation...
June 2nd | Ingrid Re: Sustainable House Day, Geelong North (near the rail station), Victoria.
At the end of last year, 2010, we also had our outer walls insulated with rockwool which was blown into the walls by taking off a weatheboard from top and bottom of each wall. We also added a passive solar heater/dehumidifer - a SolarVenti (Please See: http://www.solarventi.com/) as our house was so airtight we were having problems with dampness because we were drying clothes in our lounge!
All the insulation – pelmets curtains, batts, glazing, solar panels, rockwool, SolarVenti, etc. has cost about $28,000.00; but as we paid only $56,000 for the house 14 years ago, we think it has been worth the saving we have had to do to get here. For instance, it is 2.00 am now and 8.5 deg outside while this room is 17 - without the heater on!
And I have been told by someone in the industry that our house is now 6.5 to 7 stars when it comes to energy rating! We are really getting the benefit this winter too; the heater is hardly on...
N.B. Solar panels are getting cheaper and cheaper. But don't forget to get the ones with the PERFOMANCE warranty of 25 years. As for damage by Hail etc., put the panels on your insurance policy!
Tours will be run every half an hour
This event is organised by the Geelong Sustainability Group in cooperation with Geelong Organic Gardeners and Geelong's Transition Towns and is proudly sponsored by the City of Greater Geelong as key sponsors and Barwon Water as major sponsors. Other sponsors include:
Zero C - ESD Architects/Sustainability Consultants and Energy Assessors, Commercial Building Energy Efficiency Assesors
Phil Hines Photography - most images taken for Geelong region homes and gardens are kindly by Phil
New Earth Systems - Solar thermal heating, ventilation and cooling, energy monitors, permaculture design and education
Nia Dance Geelong - 9 movement forms combined for sustaining body, mind and spirit
Organics Box- Organic and Biodynamic Fruits/Vegetables/Herbs and Groceries in Torquay and Geelong
Sindhiya Soapnuts - 100% Natural Cleaning SoapNuts for a Healthier Home and Planet
Solahart Geelong - solar hot water and power systems
Transition Bell - www.transitionbell.groupsite.com, Victoria's first transition intiative.
Transition South Barwon - www.transitionsouthbarwon.groupsite.com
Transition Eastern Geelong - www.transitioneastgeelong.groupsite.com
www.geelongsustainability.org.au
(August 2011) (
