Challenge yourself to go greener at home

IT can be tricky to equate day-to-day energy use with quarterly bills. Christopher Zinn, from Choice, says people often get confused by terms such as kilojoules or kilowatt-hours. It’s far easier to understand the dollars and cents.

For that reason, the consumer advocate has teamed with environmental group Do Something to launch The 10% Challenge, a campaign urging householders and businesses to cut their energy and fuel bills by one-tenth.

“It’s very straightforward to think of your energy use terms of the amount it costs – and then aim to save 10 per cent,” Mr Zinn says. “But before you can save anything, you need to measure it first.”

The Challenge’s website includes a household savings calculator, where you can type in your electricity and gas consumption, as well as your car’s make, model and yearly mileage. The calculator will tally your annual costs, and display the money you’d save if you cut back by 10, 20 or 30 per cent. If you’re not sure where to start, you can find dozens of basic tips on the site, such as switching off your wireless internet connection at night.

“Historically we’ve had fairly low electricity and petrol prices in comparison other countries, so we haven’t been focussed on efficiency,” Mr Zinn says.

Now, however, with “electricity prices going north very quickly”, there’s all the more reason to look at the simplest ways to economise. “It’s very easy to achieve,” he says. “And it’s something you can build on. Once you’ve met the challenge, you can go after other savings.”

For clues about how to make bigger cuts in your greenhouse gas emissions, tour the eco-friendly homes open on Sustainable House Day, next Sunday, September 11.

This year, over 200 householders around the country (including about 70 in Victoria) will open their homes to the public, most of them for the first time.

One of those is Ken Self’s renovated brick veneer home in Rosanna, in Melbourne’s north. The design for its eco-makeover, undertaken by NOWarchitecture, included sensible measures, such as extra insulation and natural lighting, as well as a few striking innovations.

The family’s in-ground pool has become a huge water tank and reservoir for a passive cooling system that keeps the home comfortable in summer. “We discovered that running the pool filter and chlorinator accounted for half our electricity bill,” Mr Self says. “That made our decision easy.”

They also added a large solar photovoltaic array, including panels set into a new glass wall on the home’s northern side. The glass acts as both a sunroom and a thermal chimney: in winter, it warms the rest of the house; in summer, its vents help draw cooler air from beneath the home to the south.

Another key decision was to build a self-contained granny flat. “We designed for multiple occupancy – having more people live together reduces our energy requirements overall,” he says.

While the retrofit has been expensive, Mr Self considers the project a 30-year investment. “We lived in the UK for several years and noted how much more comfortable the houses were there.

“And we’ve became aware of rising energy prices and issues like global warming and peak oil. We think things have to change in the world and the best way is to show other people what can be done.”

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Get to know the flora and fauna of the city

Powerful owls roost high in Melbourne’s central parks, striped legless lizards slither in grassland near Craigieburn, leafy seadragons plunge through Port Phillip Bay and, in the suburb that gave them their name, Eltham copper butterflies flutter.

Australia is home to hundreds of thousands of species of plants and animals, bugs, beetles and bacteria – many of which share our city backyards, with or without our knowledge.

Some species, such as the Eltham copper butterfly, are threatened. Most of Melbourne’s native vegetation has been cleared.

“Our biodiversity is our living wealth,” says Kate Phillips, from Museum Victoria. “The plants and animals particular to our area have value because they’re found nowhere else, but they also supply eco-services that relate directly to human life, such as stopping erosion and keeping the water clean and the air breathable.”

If you want to help local species thrive, Ms Phillips says, the first step is to “be aware of what’s special in your area and learn to recognise it”.

You can begin by browsing one of Museum Victoria’s field guides – it has released a book and a free iPhone/iPad application – or its Biodiversity Snapshots website, which includes identification tools and recordings of bird calls.

The site was sponsored by the Atlas of Living Australia, a national biodiversity database – and another way to participate in ‘citizen science’.

The director of the Atlas, Donald Hobern, has a particular interest in moths. In his backyard in Canberra, he’s identified over 700 species. But you don’t have to do all the research yourself: using the website’s Explore your area function, you can learn about the critters that have already been reported around your neighbourhood.

“Here in Australia there is an enormous and largely unknown fauna and flora,” Mr Hobern says. “We’re interested in connecting with people to find out what’s in their local areas.”

By engaging with the living world within our cities and towns, Ms Phillips says, we learn to appreciate our connection with natural systems. “What’s the consequence of pouring the rest of my paint down the street drain? It’s going to spoil the water for platypuses.”

She says householders should reduce stormwater runoff by choosing permeable paving or soft landscaping rather than hard surfaces, such as concrete.

And make sure you control your pets. “Don’t let cats out at night, so they don’t eat native birds, and keep dogs on leashes at the beach or in nature reserves, because beach-nesting birds are very sensitive to disturbance,” she says.

To boost native habitats, Ms Phillips suggests visiting the Victorian Indigenous Nursery Co-operative in Fairfield for advice about the plants that suit your suburb.

Mr Hobern sees both practical and existential reasons for taking biodiversity seriously. “There’s an awful lot we don’t understand about the complex systems around us. But we do know there are many cases where human intervention has destroyed parts of the ecosystem and led to a pest species taking over everything.

“There’s evidence that richer systems, with many species interacting, create more balance. If we mess up too much, we don’t know the point at which things go horribly bad,” he says.

“And then, on another level, the sheer wonder and complexity of things just amaze me. I find it so depressing to think about a place where that riotous life is missing.”

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It pays to be on guard against condensation

WHEN you’re insulating your home, you must be wary of causing condensation problems, says Steve King, from the built environment faculty at University of New South Wales.

“We have very little choice about adopting energy efficiency – we have to use a lot less on heating and cooling than we currently do,” he says. “But one of the consequences of improved insulation standards is that, unless you’re very careful, you can cause significant moisture damage.”

Condensation occurs where humid air hits a cooler surface, like the way droplets appear on the outside of a chilled glass of beer.

In cool climates – which include most of Victoria – your roof or wall cavity can become wet when air from inside the home meets the building wrap, or foil sarking, which is commonly attached outside the frame or under the tiles.

Mr King says Australian homes haven’t been built very airtight or with much insulation – until recently. “Traditionally, while there may have been condensation in homes, it dried out very easily because of the ventilation, so there weren’t any cumulative effects.”

In recent years, he says, New Zealand, Canada and the UK have witnessed widespread condensation troubles after ramping up insulation standards.

“We have to be cautious in making a comparison, because they’re colder climates than most of Australia. But even so, based on their experience, we could be looking at disastrous consequences here,” he says.

Last month, the Australian Building Codes Board released a handbook on condensation in buildings, as a detailed guide for designers and builders.

Andy Russell, from Proctor Group Australia (which sells insulation and breathable building wrap) was one of the contributors to the handbook.

He says that where condensation forms regularly and doesn’t dry out, it not only causes mould, but can also decay the framing and lining of the house. In some cases, residents will experience the symptoms of “sick building syndrome”, including asthma, itchy eyes and nasal allergies.

Mr Russell advises householders to watch for water stains or mould spots around cornices or skirting boards.

“Stick your head up in the loft first thing on a cold morning,” he says. “That way you’ll see whether it’s a leak in the roof, or if it’s condensation forming on the underside of the sarking.”

To reduce the risk of damp, the condensation handbook suggests using breathable building wraps in cooler climates, rather than the impermeable products now used by the industry. Another smart move, Mr Russell says, is to make sure roof spaces have adequate ventilation that draws replacement air through vents in your eaves or gables, rather than up through the ceiling.

The best strategies for avoiding too much moisture will depend on your climate zone, building materials and the construction method. Whatever the situation, condensation is much easier to avoid upfront than solve afterwards, especially in your walls – it’s very expensive to remove plasterboard or cladding if you think there’s a problem.

Mr King’s key advice is to be aware that condensation is a potential issue in your renovation or building project.

“Don’t be shy,” he says. “Ask your builder quite specifically whether or not there’s a condensation risk with the particular method of insulation being proposed. Ask separately about the systems for the ceiling, walls and the floor.”

Read this at The Age online

Household taps run cheaper and greener than store water

IF you buy a bottle of water at a service station, you’ll pay about $3 for 600 ml. For the same cost – at Melbourne’s water rates (excluding fixed charges) – you could refill that bottle with tap water once a day, every day, for nearly nine years.

Environmentalist Jon Dee, from Do Something, says our growing thirst for packaged water simply doesn’t make sense, either financially or environmentally.

He has owned the same reusable bottle for a decade. “Often when I refill it, I think about all the money I’ve saved,” he says. “Australians are spending more than half a billion dollars a year on bottled water, even though we have some of the best quality tap water in the world.”

Mr Dee founded the Go Tap campaign, which aims to make people stop and think before they buy bottled water – not only because of the needless expense, but also because of the hidden costs, all the way from the source to the sea.

“When the water is extracted from groundwater or springs, there can be real concerns about the impact on the local water table,” Mr Dee says. “For every litre of bottled water sold, the industry uses between 1.3 and 3 litres of water.”

And although the containers are recyclable, Australians only recycle one in every three PET bottles we use – the rest end up as litter or landfill. “A lot of us drink bottled water down by the beach and leave them there. When the tide comes in, it takes all those empty bottles out into the pacific,” Mr Dee says.

“Also, from a greenhouse emissions point of view, bottled water uses up an enormous amount of energy.”

The Pacific Institute, a US-based environmental research group, estimates that it can take up to 250 ml of oil to make a litre of bottled water. The energy is consumed in producing and transporting the packaging, as well as trucking the water to and from the factories, and keeping it refrigerated night and day.

Mr Dee says importing expensive water from overseas is particularly absurd. “It’s total nonsense to be shipping water from Europe all the way to Australia, when we have such great water here.”

A blind taste test (PDF) conducted by Choice in 2005 found that participants weren’t able to tell the difference between Sydney tap water and two brands of bottled water. “Once you take away the logo and all the marketing that goes with it, you’re just left with water and most people cannot tell the difference,” Mr Dee says.

“If you’re not confident about the pipes in your area, or you’re in a house with very old pipes, the simple solution is to buy a filter,” he says. “You can get a filter jug or an under-sink filter and the cost will range between 3 and 6 cents per litre.”

As part of the Go Tap campaign, the New South Wales town of Bundanoon banned the sale of bottled water, but Mr Dee says that’s not necessary throughout the country.

“We’re trying to encourage an appropriate level of use,” he says. “Even if you’ve got a refillable bottle, sometimes on a long journey you may need to buy water. But be informed about what you’re buying and make sure you go tap whenever possible.”

Read this article at The Age online

Householders and planners want to fill the urban food bowl

MORE and more city-dwellers are asking where our grub comes from, how it’s grown and how we fit into the chain, says Trevor Budge, associate professor of planning at Latrobe University.

“There’s a groundswell of people who are trying to rediscover their connection with fruit and vegies as something you produce yourself,” he says. “It’s partly a reaction to prices and security of supply, but also a rediscovery of the importance of food more generally.”

Last month, in a keynote speech at Melbourne’s State of Design Festival, British architect and writer Carolyn Steel argued that food has always been a critical influence on our cities and our daily lives, whether we noticed or not.

The author of Hungry City: how food shapes our lives, Ms Steel says pre-industrial cities were laid out according to the way the food arrived. “Initially, cities were fed largely from their surrounding hinterlands. If you wanted to eat meat, the animals walked in. So there were old slaughterhouses, fisheries and wholesale markets organised by the city.

“In the post-industrial world we’ve had a big transition to supermarkets controlling the food supply chain,” she says.

As cities grow larger, she says, we get further and further away from the sources of our sustenance, which makes it hard to account for the true costs of production.

“Food and agriculture together account for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions currently, so if you’re talking about the environment, you have to talk about food.

“It has to be part of everything, from how we design houses to how we design cities. We don’t need to grow all our food in cities, but what is the right balance between urbanity and rurality?”

She says householders should try to establish networks with local producers through initiatives such as farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture, as well as grow their own greens.

“Low-density suburbia is just fertile land that has houses on it. So there’s capacity for people to do fairly serious home food production in their gardens,” she says.

“We live in a world shaped by food; we just don’t realise it, so Coles and Woolworths do it all for us. We have monopolistic control of the food system and you can’t create a democratic society with a non-democratic food system.

“If we want to confront issues such as climate change, peak oil, resource depletion and population growth, we need to ask ourselves, what is a good life through food? Food is an incredibly powerful way of questioning how we should live – there’s only so much to go around.”

These questions are also preoccupying local planners. Recently, Mr Budge contributed to a significant report on food-sensitive planning and urban design commissioned by the Heart Foundation.

Like Ms Steel, the report argues that an equitable, sustainable food supply must become a priority in the way our cities run. That could mean everything from easing by-laws on keeping chickens or bees and planting edible nature strips, to guaranteeing a mix of fresh food retailers close to all housing developments.

“With food, a whole lot of issues come together – around quality, security, the price of energy, climate change and health,” Mr Budge says. “It hits so many buttons and if you look around the world, these concerns aren’t going away.”

Read this article at The Age online