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Our house is double brick and tile, built in 1972, and is a fairly typical suburban house of the time. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 and ½ bathrooms, sunken lounge, games room, kitchen and dining area. The main living areas have large windows which face north-east.
When we moved in 10 years ago we found the house had cellulose fibre ceiling insulation. An old solar panel was found on the north-west facing roof, but was not in use. A gas storage unit provided hot water. An evaporative air conditioner helped to cool the house during the hot summers typical of Perth’s Mediterranean climate.
Since moving in we have made a concerted effort to make the house more energy efficient. In 2002 we installed a 1.44 kVA grid connected photovoltaic array on our north-east facing roof. Since then we have consistently exported electricity during the summer months. We have also tried to reduce electricity consumption by turning off appliances at the outlet, replacing our old refrigerator with a more energy efficient model and installing energy efficient globes. These strategies have seen a gradual decline in our electricity usage over the past 3 years.
New awning windows replaced aging windows in the north-east facing lounge and games room in 2004. These have allowed increased cross-ventilation in the house during hot summer evenings and provide access for the low winter sun to penetrate into the living areas and heat the tiled floors. The eaves prevent the summer sun from shining directly onto these windows. The addition of aluminium louvres to a westerly window in the games room help to screen the window from low afternoon summer sun and allows for improved air flow and cross ventilation during summer evenings when outside temperatures drop below inside.
We installed a 5000L rainwater tank in 2005, followed in 2008 by a second tank. The tanks have been plumbed into the toilet and laundry. This is the first winter they have been used.
Our aging gas storage hot water system was replaced with a 2 panel (350 L) Rinnai solar hot water system with instantaneous gas booster in November 2008. This supplied us with free hot water over the summer and autumn months when the booster was turned off.
A greywater system taking waste water from laundry and bathrooms was also installed late in 2008. The system automatically pumps water from its storage tank alternately to two watering zones: one to a small backyard garden with lemon tree, frangipani, olives and orange; the other is an area with 3 citrus trees. All the garden vegetation was kept alive over the summer solely on the greywater irrigation.
The most recent addition to improve our comfort inside the house has been extra cellulose fibre ceiling insulation to provide an R rating of 2.5 (recommended for this temperature zone). This has increased our inside temperature this winter (we haven’t used our gas heater once, but we put on extra clothes!). We are hoping that the extra insulation will help to keep indoor temperatures lower in the hot summer months. Our usual summer routine of locking down the house once the outside temperature exceeds inside, closing curtains in north facing windows and shutting doors to the north facing bedrooms has enabled us to keep indoor temperatures to < 32 without use of air conditioning for the past two summers. The two whirly gigs installed about 4 years ago have also assisted in reducing heat build up in the roof space and improved indoor comfort during summer.
What next? Considering a bank of rainwater tanks along NW wall to provide some further insulation against afternoon summer sun as well as for watering front garden yet to be established; new plantings in garden that are drought tolerant and fire resistant; extending paving at front of house to provide new outdoor area to take advantage of winter sun.
(August 2009) (
