Two high-profile Illawarra houses will open their doors - in a virtual sense - to members of the public who wish to learn about sustainable living.
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"People are at home more because of COVID, so they realise how cold or hot they are at home, and would like to do something about that," Robyn Dawson, administrator of the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre at the University of Wollongong's Innovation Campus said.
"That's perfectly in our research field, because we want people to be healthy and well in their own home."
Sustainable House Day 2020 will take place on September 20.
Sustainable House Day is a national event that aims to inspire people to live sustainably.
Due to COVID-19, this year's event is completely virtual.
Participating homes have created video tours and can be asked questions about their homes on the Sustainable House Day website.
Among the Illawarra properties to be featured are the Illawarra Flame House and the Desert Rose house, both located on the Innovation Campus.
The Illawarra Flame House is a retrofitted house created when the University of Wollongong teamed up with TAFE Illawarra Institute.
They 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.
The house gained entry into the international Solar Decathlon competition in 2013.
The Desert Rose house, also a collaboration with TAFE Illawarra, is the country's first net-zero energy home designed to meet the needs of an ageing population, including Australians living with dementia.
This house gained entry into the Solar Decathlon competition in 2018.
Ms Dawson said this was the first time the Desert Rose has been featured as part of Sustainable House Day, while the Flame House has been a fixture of the event.
"From both homes you can get some of the fun facts, things we've tried that have worked, and some key passive design features, such as awnings, natural light and thermal mass," Mrs Dawson said.
"The idea of the houses is that they're ahead of the market - we're trying to show you things that might be coming in the future."
As part of Sustainable House Day, a member of the Desert Rose team will also be taking part in an information session, accessible to anyone through Zoom.
For more details or to register, visit https://sustainablehouseday.com.
Brendan Crabb
I'm a member of ACM's national property team, covering the Illawarra and South Coast. Based in Albion Park, NSW, I write about exciting, interesting or just downright quirky properties that have been listed for sale, major sales, market trends, auctions and more. One of my favourite aspects of being a journalist is I believe everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
I'm a member of ACM's national property team, covering the Illawarra and South Coast. Based in Albion Park, NSW, I write about exciting, interesting or just downright quirky properties that have been listed for sale, major sales, market trends, auctions and more. One of my favourite aspects of being a journalist is I believe everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
