Built: 1989 Sustainable home for the post carbon future - ¾ acre
Sustainability key points l Passive solar design l Rainwater harvesting system l Greywater re-use sytem l High efficiency solar hot water system l Vegetable production system l Low energy transport options l Emerging transition community
The house is designed to make best use of the sun's energy. The main living area is north facing with a verandah which allows the winter sun to stream in across the tiled floor to collect the midday solar energy in winter but allows no direct sun during summer.
The floor slab is insulated, the large area of window glass is double insulated, as are the external and internal walls. This allows room temperatures as high as 20 degrees inside at 1pm whilst it is 10 degrees outside during winter. This effect is reversed in summer and is aided by the clever design of passageways and storage spaces that create insulation zones within the house. The floor slab also has hydronic heating zones within it which are ready for connection to roof mounted solar collectors.
The efficiency of the solar hot water is boosted by having the stainless steel 250 litre tank fitted inside a storage space in a central part of the house to minimise losses to the outside air. For extreme weather there is gas ducted central heating with an integrated high efficiency 3 phase refrigerated airconditioning system. The return air from this system flows through a clothes drying cupboard for efficient drying/airing of clothes.
Leopold is one of the highest raiinfall areas in the Geelong region. The rainwater harvesting system is designed to cope with rainfall events of more than an 25mm/hour. During an average year it will collect around 1 megalitre of water, enough to fill the 33,000 litre tank 29 times creating an abundant supply for food production. The raised brick garden beds are designed for the square foot gardening concept. Each bed has dual reticulation with solenoids for both town and rain water giving plenty of flexibility for programming the watering controls. Other parts of the property are seviced by tap stations with a choice of either rain or grey water. Grey water is plumbed from the laundry and bathrooms to a 1200mm deep inground concrete pit where a Greymate system manages storage levels and hold times.
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Also i'm the salesperson and installer for Solar Venti, a solar ventillation system that sustainable heating, cooling and ventilation to homes whilst reducing energy bills and associated carbon emissions.
SolarVenti Benefits summarized:
Fresh filtered air up to 55 °C (winter) is blown into the home whenever the sun shines
No running costs and maintenance free operation
Contributes to Heating Load (8-12 kW hrs/Day) - arguably, the lowest cost-per-watt sustainable energy
system available in the market! Increases baseline temperature inside the house by up to 4°C in winter and
decreases summer temperature by up to 7°C using the in-ground cooling system
Dramatically reduces the environmental conditions that promote mould, mildew and dust mites by lowering
interior moisture levels, lessening symptoms and discomfort of respiratory problems such as Asthma
Could cut electricity bills by 25-35% depending on your house and type of heating
Removes toxic fumes left over from construction & renovation
Reduces musty smells and stale air (e.g. animals or food odours) thus ensures better indoor air quality
Cuts back your greenhouse gas emissions whilst improving your in-home comfort!
For more information go to www.solarventi.com.au or call Phil on 0417554791.
SolarVenti ® A Sustainable solution for Indoor Air Quality, Heating and Cooling
(August 2009) (
