Sustainable House Day Townsville, West End, QLD

Dearden Home Construction type: 1970’s post Cyclone Althea concrete block, slab on ground, metal roof
Climate Zone: Townsville is located in the Dry Tropics – there are two seasons: hot and humid (November to April), the wet season, and a warm to hot dry season with low humidity for the other half of the year.
Design/Build Process: Retrofit

Summary
Back in 2002, when JCU policy analyst Janet Dearden bought this 1972 post-Cyclone Althea  concrete block bungalow, she never realised that it was the beginning of a path towards sustainability for both the home and herself! But together with the help of her partner Dennis Frost, a qualified electrician, that is exactly what has unfolded. Now in 2009, Janet, Dennis and friends enjoy a much more comfortable and energy efficient home, and despite still using air-conditioning at night during the hotter months, the electricity usage is minuscule and they’re looking forward to their first summer since making the latest changes. Janet’s retrofit journey went like this....
Landscaping Beginning in 2004, Janet began gradually adding a variety of mostly native plants (including grevilleas to attract birds) along both street frontages (corner block) and for shading along the western boundary to block the hot afternoon sun.   A lemon tree was already established on the block.

Energy Efficient Hot Water
In 2007, the electric storage hot water system went on the blink, so Janet looked into the alternatives and ended up choosing a 5-star energy efficient instantaneous gas hot water system.

Roof insulation
Sick of the heat, Janet decided to install insulation in the roof to make their home cooler as there was none.  Prior to installation, the ceiling was hot to touch and , you could actually feel the heat beating down on you from above. The insulation made a substantial difference to the temperature inside the house, and the ceiling is no longer hot to the touch!

Shading
Janet then installed interior adjustable louvre shutters to the north-facing large sliding windows in her kitchen/dining and lounge rooms. The white shutters give a classic style to the living areas and on cooler winter days they’re opened up to let the light flood in and warm the home and in summer can be used to block it. Crimsafe screens enable the windows to be left fully open for maximum ventilation without compromising security or views to the garden.

Lighting  
With energy efficiency in mind, Dennis one day brought home a bunch of compact fluorescent lightbulbs so they replaced all the incandescent globes in their lamps around the home.      With his electrical expertise, Dennis also installed compact fluorescent down-lights in the kitchen and bathroom, replacing the previously garish white fluorescent tubes. They’re now looking at replacing some of the remaining lights with highly efficient, new-technology LED lights to save further on energy usage.
 
Outdoor Living
In August 2008, Dennis added the deck and pergola so that they had a good outdoor living space for eating, relaxing and entertaining. The roof is made of clear polycarbonate which filters 100% UV light - so you can sit on the deck during the day without getting burnt.

Solar Panels (producing electricity that is proudly sold back to the grid)
Then in late 2008, there was a chance call from a solar panel supplier . Janet had a bit of time off that week, so she made time for the appointment, and though not expecting to go ahead with it, after some further research and shopping around, in May 2009, Janet had 1kW of solar panels installed on her roof. She only wishes you could see them more from the street! With the installation of the gridconnect solar panels, Janet now receives 44c from Ergon Energy for every kilowatt hour of electricity her solar panels export back to the grid. Based on her last bill, she anticipates generating about  1000kW of renewable energy a year,  and knocking around $400 a year off her electricity bills.

Reflective Roof Paint
For some time, Janet had been considering painting her roof white to reduce the heat input into the home. But it was while she was up on a ladder checking out which areas of her roof weren’t shaded by the numerous trees on her block to find the best location for the solar panels, that she decided to take the plunge, knowing it would be much easier to get that done before the solar panels were installed. For uninsulated homes, white reflective roof paint can reduce the temperature inside the home by up to 7 degrees.

Energy
Janet has incredibly low electricity bills. In part this is because she uses gas hot water, but her cooking is still electric. Her last bill was only $53 for the quarter. How does she achieve this? Well in addition to providing comfort naturally through good design for our tropical environment, Janet doesn’t have a plasma TV nor a lot of appliances and the appliances she does have she ensured were energy efficient. Such as the front loading washing machine (4 star water efficiency, 3 star energy efficiency) which she uses on a timer to start washing at 5am to minimise peak energy use and the 4-star energy efficient fridge. Standby power is also virtually eliminated by turning appliances like the microwave and stereo off at the wall. The fridge and the phone are the only things still drawing standby. The air-conditioners are also very energy efficient, being Daikin inverters. Janet is currently waiting on her State Government Climate Smart Assessment and hopes to be able to retrofit remaining light bulbs and have the energy meter fitted. As a more recent initiative, to minimise energy used in transportation, Janet now rides her funky bike to the local shops and for exercise.  

Original features of the home that make it more comfortable in our tropical climate
Include:

good orientation,

access to breezes

significant openings for cross-ventilation through the house & garage.

The house has good orientation for breezes, shading and natural day-lighting. All living spaces in the home (ie kitchen, dining, lounge and outdoor patio) are in the north and north east, so they are light and bright inside and cooled by Townsville’s prevailing breezes. (Breezes in Townsville come mainly from the north, north-east (afternoons), east and south-east (mornings)). The garage, carport and bathrooms are all along the western side of the home, effectively sheltering the home from the hot afternoon sun. Open construction styles including no walls on the front carport, spaces in the concrete block spacers in the garage wall and a secure metal gate that enables airflow through the garage plus a vine growing on a trellis on the western side of the carport all help to keep these spaces cooler. 4 blade ceiling fans in the living room maximise airflow inside, as do the oversized sliding windows. and the double sliding window in the main bedroom. A tiled floor in the living areas remains cool underfoot in summer. There is no particular ventilation extracting hot air from the roof space but there are holes in the eaves to let air in. The eaves are also a decent width to provide shade to walls and windows below for a longer part of the day. All the external walls are painted white to minimise heat absorption. >

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