The main goal of this house is to demonstrate to the public and the building industry that self-reliant homes could be built today by any builder at an affordable price.
Climate zone: Geelong
This is a new home which was purpose built and designed by the owners
Unique Sustainable Elements featured in this home Water Harvesting Systems
The entire house and Garage roof is connected as source to feed 9,900 litres of a combination of above and below ground rainwater tanks, and that rainwater is used for the Kitchen; Bathrooms; Laundry; Toilets; and veggie garden.
9,900 litres is a small capacity, but a combination of Portland’s rainfall patterns and the house (and garden’s) efficient use of water will ensure the house to never need the mains water connection.
A grey water filter system uses all waste water from the Bathrooms and Laundry. That water is used for watering perennial food trees and non-edible plants.
Special Garden Features
The garden is yet to be developed, but will be productive (veggies, fruits, chooks) and/or local native habitat using Permaculture principles. NO lawns.
Energy Rating
Ultra-efficient with an 8.1 Star house energy rating. This means it uses only 65MJ/m2 of energy to heat and cool per year, which compares to a 5 Star house which uses 192MJ/m2/yr, or an average 2 Star which uses 493MJ/M2/yr.
The maximum in the Australian system is 10 Stars, and is defined as never needing artificial heating, cooling, or ventilation. On the South-West coast of Victoria 8.5 Stars is accepted as the maximum achievable rating for this region.
External Walls
The house has rendered 100mm Unitex cladding over a plantation pine frame with R2.5 insulation, 10mm plaster and very low VOC plaster paint. The walls are very tightly sealed with window gaps filled, joint sealer around all arcs and skirting, and all Sisilation taped together and to window & door frames.
Recycled bricks have been used for garage walls.
Internal Walls
Similar to external walls minus Unitex, the internal walls are fully insulated pine frames with 10mm plaster and very low VOC paints. The internal walls are also very tightly sealed, with gap filler fitted to all arcs, skirtings, etc.
Roof
A light coloured flat roof is used, with Air-Cell roof sarking used in combination with R5 bulk insulation, which gives the house roof an R rating of almost R7. The flat roof was chosen primarily to give easy access to the solar equipment.
Floors
Ground floors are insulated polished concrete, and upstairs floors are tongue & groove pine flooring covered with either pure wool carpet or rubber floor tiles.
A duct runs through the concrete slab to feed the fridge with cold air from the shaded south side of the house.
Solar or Wind Power Generation
A 1.4KW grid connected solar array provides energy to the house to power al of the house’s needs. Also, once the Victorian Feed-in Tariff is introduced in late 2009, the size of the solar system will be doubled to provide surplus energy to export to the grid.
It is estimated that the house will initially save $1,600 per year (compared to average household energy use), and once exporting will generate approximately $2,500 from the Feed-in Tariff.
Heating and Cooling
The 8 Star rating ensures that the house requires very little artificial heating and no artificial cooling. Any heating that is required is provided with a small high efficiency heat pump, and its energy use is covered by the house’s solar array.
Water Heating
Three panel flat plate solar heating with electric boost. The third panel ensures that the electric boost is required in winter only, and uses approximately 1-2KW/h per night for this period.
Recycled and/or Sustainable Materials
The house is built from sustainable materials wherever possible. Choices are also made for internal air quality by using only products with low toxic content.
Going Forward
The major goal of this house is to build a house that is able to be self-reliant; well designed, and cheap enough for the vast majority. The house is currently being used as a case study for several environmental and industry groups that want to see mandatory minimum energy standards lifted to at least 7 stars.
The site is located in a typical new housing estate among typical new houses. This is to show that self reliant houses can sit comfortably in the settings that most Australians are familiar and comfortable with. This house will be used to demonstrate self reliance and sustainability in housing as much as possible, both to the general public and to the building industry.
For more info including full plans and hundreds of photos during construction, please go to www.energised.com.au/projects_aquarius8.asp
(August 2009) (
