Two Illawarra houses will be open to members of the public who wish to learn about sustainable living this weekend.
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This year’s Sustainable House Day will take place on Sunday, September 17.
Participants are invited to tour some of Australia’s “most liveable homes”.
The day is intended to be a resource for anyone looking for inspiration and ideas regarding sustainable living.
The Brokers View house in Tarrawanna and the Illawarra Flame House on the Innovation Campus will be the Illawarra properties open to the public.
Sustainable House Day is organised by the Alternative Technology Association.
Neville Lockhart represents their Wollongong branch.
Mr Lockhart, 70, and wife Judy, 77, have lived at Brokers View for four years, and will be conducting tours of their property.
Their retrofitted, energy efficient home will be open on Sunday from 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm.
This will be the first time they have displayed their home as part of SHD.
“The Brokers View house had the Tesla Powerwall 2 battery installed this week, in time for SHD,” Mr Lockhart said. “That battery has been well-publicised, widely-sought and long-awaited.
“The Brokers View house will be one of the few in Australia to have the Tesla Powerwall 2, and may well be the only one in the country having one on display for SHD.”
Their gardens are mostly native plants/trees and edibles, with garden water provided by three 5000-litre tanks. There are also various compost heaps and a worm farm.
The Lockharts will share information on solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps for hot water, passively efficient reflective blinds and ecologically restorative actions for Tarrawanna Creek.
“We hope people take away the value of using the modern technology to make the house efficient and pleasant to live in, and also (creating) an energy positive situation,” Mrs Lockhart said.
“We’re not trying to go off-grid, but we will be basically generating more energy than we actually use.
“People can come along and see how easy it is to be energy efficient.”
Meanwhile, the Illawarra Flame House is a retrofitted house that will be open from 10am to 2pm.
Team UOW Australia sought to demonstrate how to retrofit a ‘fibro’ home, to transform it into a sustainable 21st Century net-zero energy home.
Certain features of the house have been modified to enhance the functionality of the layout, and to increase natural lighting, solar access and cross flow ventilation.
You can register to attend via the www.sustainablehouseday.com website.