Michael Green

Writer and producer

To the lighthouse

In Architecture and building, The Age on

First published in The Sunday Age, M Magazine

A naturally light-filled home means daylight saving all year round. Michael Green visits an illuminating Malvern renovation.

Andrea Arendsen and husband Matthew used to live in a dark and dreary Malvern house. “It was gloomy because there was no light,” she says. “No light could get in because there were no windows.”

Arendsen is sitting at a neat wooden dining table, in a large, bright, living and kitchen area – it’s hard to believe this radiant Victorian cottage is the same home. Her summery blonde bob is bathed in natural light and her young son Christian rests on her knee. Four glass doors concertina open to a small, sunny courtyard.

In 2007, after eight years in their dark house, the couple decided to renovate. They engaged Albert Mo and his firm Architects EAT, and asked for more space and light. “We couldn’t have people over because it was just too small,” Arendsen explains. “But we didn’t want an extension which was a square box on the back of the house.”

Mo is sitting at the table, too, leaning back in his chair and gossiping with his client like an old friend. His concept was for a factory-style sawtooth roof, low over the kitchen section and angling up either side, with highlight windows gleaming down from the ‘teeth’.

The unusual roofline illuminates the extension. “Ceilings are normally just flat, white ceilings, but this one has got a profile almost like a wing that wants to take off. It gives a lighter feel to the house,” Mo says.

As well as the living area, the renovation added a study nook, a laundry and an ethereal bathroom. Tiled only in white, with a bright skylight flooding the shower, it sparkles like a bleach marketer’s paradise.

Mo says that for his firm, natural light is a priority in every residential project. And that’s not just at the extremities, where windows normally shed light, but also throughout the house.

The advantages are stark. “From a practical and sustainable point of view, you don’t need to use artificial lighting throughout the day,” Mo says. “In summertime, you can have plenty of daylight coming in until eight o’clock, if you’ve got good skylights.” He believes there’s another, less tangible benefit too. “It’s kind of a weird thing, but you just feel healthier when you have natural light.”

The Evandale Road home presented a few problems. It’s on a long, narrow block, very close to the neighbours on either side. Heritage overlay frontages meant that any renovation couldn’t be visible from the street.

Initially, the Arendsens wanted to build a second storey, but Mo talked them out of it – the upstairs space would be very small, after setting back from the street and from the houses on either side. “Part of the architects job is to educate the client, through discussion, meetings and site visits,” Mo says.

The couple agreed with his advice and built the sawtooth roof. “I love being able to see the sky so much,” Arendsen says, as her toddler Christian generously offers Mo biscuits from his bowl. “It’s a bit deceptive because from the front you could be in another small Victorian [cottage] and then you get a surprise when it’s so light and open down this end.”

Albert Mo, Architects EAT

In 2000, just after graduation, Thomas Pai rang fellow Melbourne University architecture students Albert Mo and Eid K. Goh. Did they want to do something before they all got jobs? Yes, they said, and Architects EAT began.

Mo, now 32, was born in Hong Kong and later lived in Singapore, before coming to Melbourne to study in 1992. In those crowded, mixed cities he first dreamt of designing more liveable urban spaces.

It was a good idea – years on, his practice has been a big success. In 2007, the firm’s Windsor Loft project won the Belle Apartment of the Year and this year, their design for the Maedaya Bar in Richmond won the Interior Design Award for Hospitality.

Mo says that Architects EAT are interested in the phenomenology of design – the way we experience the building materials through touch, sound and sight, as well as through the mix of natural light and shadow.

He recently renovated his Richmond house with his wife, also an architect. Is it well lit? “I have to practise what I preach,” he says, laughing. “We do have skylights. They are something I definitely cannot do without.”

Let there be skylight

Skylights can let in more than three times the light of a same-sized vertical window, according to yourhome.gov.au. They save energy, make life easier for your eyes and come in all kinds, sizes and prices – from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.

Plastic dome skylights are opaque bulges that set into your roof. They have shafts that lead to a diffuser panel in the ceiling, giving soft, even light. Tubular skylights are similar, but smaller. The tube’s reflective silver lining directs the sunlight downwards and into the room.

Roof windows – panes of glass punched through the roof – are a more expensive option. They’re most popular in attic rooms, but also work with a shaft on flat ceilings. Some models can open to let heat out on hot days.

Custom glass roofs are even more stylish, and yet more expensive. Architects will design these in any shape or size. Highlight windows can also be placed high up on walls – like in the Evandale house – to beam in natural light.

From blue to green

In Architecture and building, Environment, The Age on

First published in The Sunday Age, Domain

Eco-worries and generous rebates mean tradespeople are learning important new skills. But what does it mean for householders?

Victorian tradies are leading Australia’s green skills revolution, making up more than half the workers accredited under two leading national training schemes, Green Plumbers and EcoSmart Electricians.

 That puts the state on the front line of a huge practical transformation among Australia’s skilled workers. “Demand for the ‘green collar’ trades is quite extraordinary,” says Tony Arnel, Victoria’s Building and Plumbing Industry Commissioner and Green Building Council of Australia Chair. He estimates that in the last year alone, interest in sustainable plumbing has risen by about one-fifth.

 But this surge in interest doesn’t translate to easier decision-making for consumers. With so many eco choices and products, it’s hard to be sure you’re getting the right advice. Besides, what exactly does a ‘green’ tradie do differently? And what sort of training have they completed? 

Mr Arnel believes that tradespeople play a crucial role in translating sustainability issues into in-the-home solutions. Essentially, they can become environmental advocates. “Tradies are at the coalface. More than anybody else in the domestic sector, they’re in a position to influence the choice of consumers. They play a critical role.”

An expert green tradie will have thorough knowledge of the products available and the most efficient options for the client’s situation.

Plumbers and electricians, in particular, can help existing householders make the most immediate improvements. Their expertise relates directly to water and electricity efficiency, from rainwater tanks and low-flow toilets to solar power and low-energy lighting.

But sustainability is a factor in every household job. Bart Scheen is a manager in the Building Industry Training Centre at Holmesglen TAFE. He says that eco-training is a now a standard part of every apprenticeship course. “When students are working with products they really need to understand the impact of those products on the environment.”

According to Mr Scheen, that includes embodied energy (energy used in making the product) and the leftovers from the job. “There has been a common practice to calculate materials and allow for a 10 percent wastage,” he says. “What we’re trying to get into apprentices is that they have to take much more care in working out the quantities.”

The apprentices are proving enthusiastic about his message. Research group Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF) surveyed young tradies last year and found that nearly 90 per cent of respondents were interested in green skills. “Unfortunately they’re being held back by older tradespeople,” says DSF’s Judy Turnbull. “They are really keen to provide green skills and knowledge to their clients but they’re not being encouraged to do so by their employers.”

In the long term, the attitudes of younger tradies will make for a fundamental shift in the building industry. In the meantime, although many established tradespeople aren’t convinced that the public is sufficiently interested in sustainability, others have taken the enviro-plunge and been well rewarded.

“Some ‘early adopters’ have decided it’s a point of difference to provide green painting or building or carpentry,” Ms Turnbull says. “They’ve seen the future and when they’ve added a green bunch of skills they find themselves in great demand.”

To help build eco-awareness among construction workers, DSF will soon launch a new website, Trade Secrets, where green tradies will be able to share their stories, tips and successes. To begin with, the organisation has posted over a dozen videos of different green tradespeople on YouTube.

The current training gap is also concern for the commissioner, Mr Arnel. “There needs to be a lot more work going into the training of tradespeople,” he says. “Also, from a consumer point of view, these green credentials need to be verifiable. If you pick up the phone book and you’ve got green electricians and green plumbers, what does that mean? I describe it as the ‘green veneer’ – basically anybody can use the term. Consumers need to know whether or not there is any substance in a person’s claim.”

He says that the industry training programs like GreenPlumbers, run by the Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association, are a good start. “They saw sustainability in buildings becoming a major challenge and opportunity. Now we need to take the next step (in training) because we’ve got to think about the way all the trades operate.”

For plumbers, the next step will be the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre, which is under construction in Brunswick. The centre, jointly funded by the state government and industry bodies and unions, will offer extensive training across all aspects of sustainable plumbing. It scheduled to open next month.

While greenwash – or the green veneer – hasn’t become a severe problem in the construction industry, the state consumer watchdog, Consumer Affairs Victoria, has received over 10 complaints and about 45 enquiries about traders offering to install solar panels and water tanks.

Some dodgy tradespeople are spruiking door-to-door, then demanding large payments up front, while delaying installation. In some cases, the tradies also tried to increase the cost of solar power systems after consumers had signed the contracts. 

“The best way for consumers to protect themselves from itinerant tradespeople is to deal with reputable, registered businesses in their area,” says Consumer Affairs spokesperson Emma Neal.

As with any building work, consumers should ask lots of questions, check with the relevant industry association and do as much research as they can. No matter what your green issue is, there’s a wealth of information on the Internet. It’s also wise to take simple precautions. “Never pay for anything upfront in cash,” Ms Neal recommends. “Ask for a quote and a warranty in writing and ask to see references or ask friends or family if they’ve dealt with the company.” 

Plumbing the heights of a new industry

Warren Perrett’s team of Melbourne plumbers installed an average of three solar hot water systems a day last year. “It keeps them busy,” he says, smiling wryly as he sits in his Ferntree Gully office.  By the look of his desk, lined with rows of documents, it keeps him busy too.

Mr Perrett won the Green Plumber of the Year award from the Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association last year.

In 2001, prompted by questions he’d had from a few clients, he took part in the association’s first eco-skills training course. It has transformed his business. “Eight years ago, (green plumbing) was just a thought in someone’s mind,” he says. Now, thanks to an extended drought, tough water restrictions and rising awareness of climate change, water efficiency has become a day-to-day concern for householders.

But with a dazzling array of water products and options, it can be hard for the average consumer to know where to begin.

Mr Perrett’s business, AquaBlock, is a licensed green plumber through the plumbers’ association – all its plumbers complete the association’s full accreditation program. The company offers home audits and pre-building advice, as well as all the usual services. “My job is to try and give the client every bit of information they need to make the right decision,” Mr Perrett says. “It may be slightly more expensive but the end result is going to be cost savings, whether it be water or power or gas.”

“If you’re designing your house, you’d be mad if you didn’t get a green plumber to advise you at the start, because you’ve got to know the pros and cons of what you’re discussing with the builder.”

While the economic downturn means that some people are delaying unnecessary spending, Mr Perrett hopes that extra government rebates and regulations will keep the green trades going strong.

As for his award, Mr Perrett says the Brownlow-style ceremony took him by surprise. “I was a bit flabbergasted, actually. It got shown on Channel Ten with the weather guy, and I looked a bit stunned.”

And though he’s glad that his team’s hard work has been recognised, when the time comes, he’ll be happy to hand over to the next winner. “It’s an acknowledgement that you’re doing the right thing. But at the end of the day, I only want to win it once,” Mr Perrett says. “I want to know that other people are doing it too.”

 

 

The old and the new

In Architecture and building, Environment, The Age on

First published in The Sunday Age, M Magazine

With the spotlight on five-star renovations, it pays to use as much of your existing home as possible.

WHEN architect Matt Gibson and his wife, Annabel Talbot, decided to fix up their South Yarra home, they took a thrifty tack. “We wanted to recycle as much of the existing structure as possible,” Gibson says, “re-utilise anything we could and use old materials from other buildings.”

With careful planning, a renovation goes hand-in-hand with the other three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. And Gibson is adamant that it doesn’t mean flower-power design. “You can have a contemporary space by reusing the structure and using eco-friendly principles, without having a shag-pile or stained-glass look.”

The 36-year-old is standing at the front of his narrow terrace home, looking smart and rumpled in jeans and a blue shirt. As he speaks, his 10-month-old daughter, Matilda, crawls to the courtyard at the red front door. “She loves it out here,” he says, picking her up.

She’s a wise judge. The small home feels spacious, thanks to clever use of natural light and mirrors. It also features a serene internal courtyard with an outdoor shower, opening from the master bedroom and bluestone bathroom.

The old house, built almost 100 years ago, had a hotchpotch layout born of two previous extensions. The kitchen was hidden away and the toilet was stuck in the lounge room. Despite the inconvenience, the couple lived in the home for two years before beginning their overhaul. When they did, salvaging the best of the existing structure seemed the natural thing to do.

“For me, I like keeping the old elements,” Talbot says, sitting on the couch in the airy living room. She’s from Britain, and her parents’ house was built in 1642. “I don’t understand having to pull everything down. In England you just don’t have the space to do that, and the planning rules don’t allow you to. We’re quite used to reusing whatever we’ve got.”

Although there were no heritage rules preventing demolition, the couple decided to keep the existing period front and the bedrooms intact, along with the entire roof and all the walls. “There’s a lot less embodied energy in revitalising the existing structure than in bulldozing it and starting again,” Gibson says. They reshuffled the back part of the house by moving the bathroom to the middle of the home and creating an open kitchen and living area facing the back courtyard.

It’s not just an environmental plus – the other big benefit is cost. The project outlays totalled $200 000. Gibson estimates that they saved about $100 000 by keeping the structure in place, and up to $20 000 more by using recycled materials.

They redesigned their old glass roof to become a contemporary skylight and re-employed three large bronzed mirrors – formerly wardrobe doors – in the rear courtyard. The floorboards were reclaimed from a demolished factory in Richmond and the long concrete bench was poured in place using aggregate gathered onsite.

Where possible, the couple also used natural or local products, such as sisal carpets, tree bark blinds, concrete tiles made in Brighton, and stones, for the chimney, sourced from Portsea.

Finding these salvaged and unusual materials proved the easy part of the six-month renovation. Amateur owner-builders can take comfort: working on your own house is hard going, even for architects.

“It was stressful,” says Gibson. “It was very stressful,” Talbot adds, laughing. Each of them was working a busy full-time job. They were staying with friends and labouring at the house in every spare moment.

Now that it’s finished, they’re pleased with the comfort and style of their home, and glad they stuck to the recycling theme. “It’s very poignant right now with the credit crunch because people are having to rethink they way they live their lives,” Talbot says. “And one person’s rubbish is another’s treasure, isn’t it?”

Gibson says that demand for salvaged building materials is growing fast. “There’s really nothing that can’t be recycled if you really want to.”

Should it stay or should it go?

Up to 40 percent of our landfill waste comes from building, according to yourhome.gov.au, and much of it could be reused. Recycling not only cuts demand for new resources, but also cuts your costs.

A renovation always means recycling, but just how much depends on the design. If you want to be green, save as much of the existing structure as you can and chose your materials carefully. Make sure your designer and builder understand your goals.

Doors, windows and cabinets are ideal for reuse, and look for bits and pieces with character – like Matt Gibson’s bronzed mirrors – that could be re-employed.

Material-wise almost everything can be reclaimed, from plasterboard, timber and glass, to metals like steel, aluminium and copper. Even concrete, carpet, plastics, bricks and tiles are good to go around again – if not for you, then somewhere else.

It’s easy to find second hand suppliers or trade materials online. Try sites such as eBay, Trading Post, or Construction Connect Australia.

Matt Gibson Architecture + Design

When Matt Gibson was just a kid, he chanced upon an architectural blueprint. “I saw it and just thought it was so beautifully drawn,” he says. “Once I saw that, I wanted to do architecture.”

He started his own practice, MGA+D, in 2003 following stints working for other architectural firms in both Melbourne and London. In 2005, Gibson’s firm won Australia’s Best Emerging Practice.

It has since expanded to include five staff. They work on new, retail and commercial projects, but specialise in existing residential buildings. Gibson says he is fascinated by the play between old and new, and storytelling through design features that recur through a home. “There’s a trend running through our work, which is about utilisation of light, continuity of forms and patterns of movement.” 

www.yourhome.gov.au, www.arrnetwork.com.au

 

The green payoff

In Architecture and building, Environment, The Age on

First published in The Sunday Age, Domain

New figures show that making your house more environmentally friendly does indeed increase its value.

IT’S official – higher energy star ratings mean higher sale prices. Research released in December by federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett provides hard proof that the real estate market now values eco-efficiency.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) studied sale prices and star ratings in the ACT and found that for a house worth $365 000, increasing the rating by half a star would add, on average, nearly $4500 to its price.

For homeowners, the new evidence is just one more motivation to take up government rebates for household makeovers – from modest shower roses to grand solar panels. And this year, there’s a suite of extra regulations and incentives to get you thinking eco-smart.

Tony Arnel, Victoria’s Building Commissioner and the chair of the Green Building Council of Australia, says research is piling up – from the United Nations Environment Program and consultants McKinseys, among others – showing that aggressive investment in reconditioning our buildings would have a lush green payoff, even in the short term.

“The building sector, including housing, has been identified as being able to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least cost,” he says. “We’re having an economic recession but interest in sustainable built environments won’t waver. It will continue to accelerate in 2009. We’re seeing a whole new industry based on water- and energy-saving technologies.”

The insulation trade is running hot. As a part of its anti-recession spending, the federal government will pay for ceiling insulation (up to $1600) in homes that currently don’t have any. It has also increased the rebate for solar hot water systems (now $1600) and the rebate helping landlords insulate their rental properties (now $1000).

The federal government’s Green Loans scheme is also set to start mid-year. It will offer around 200 000 households a free sustainability assessment and then, access to a low-interest loan of up to $10 000 to put the recommendations in place.

While the details aren’t yet finalised, to be eligible for the loan, a household must earn less than $250 000 a year. The government estimates that the scheme will inspire $2 billion of environmentally smart investment.

Here in the wilting garden state, the government’s Victorian Energy Efficiency Target (VEET) kicked off on January 1. It requires that the energy retailers encourage customers to install efficiency measures. Overall, the VEET aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to make 675 000 houses carbon neutral for a year. With nearly all our electricity coming from high-polluting brown coal, any cut in usage will be good news for the atmosphere.

Governments aren’t the only ones encouraging us to spend green – the private sector is also beginning to rally. The credit union mecu now offers an ‘Eco Pause’ option on its home loans, where borrowers can stop their repayments for three months, or pay half rates for six months, if they spruce up their abode with enviro-friendly features. The credit union also provides discounted interest ‘goGreen’ personal loans to pay for home efficiency improvements.

That’s all good news for Lyn Beinat. With her husband Maurice, she runs ecoMaster, a home energy audit and retrofitting business with 20 staff. EcoMaster assesses the thermal, energy and water performance of buildings. It prepares detailed, costed action plans and has an installation crew that will put the recommendations into place.

The couple’s experience overhauling their own house prompted them to start the business. Years ago, they returned to Australia after a stint in the UK and moved into a very cold house in Mount Macedon. “Our kids used to cry in the morning, ‘Can we go back to England Mummy? It was warmer over there,’” Ms Beinat laughs. “You know there’s something wrong with your house when your kids think that!”

With lots of hard work, they cut their electricity use by 80 per cent and at the same time, raised their winter temperatures from an average of 14 degrees to about 21. “You can have a real win-win out of fixing up your home. Our house is rated six star now,” Ms Beinat says. “It was rated one star when we started, and we’ve done it for less than the cost of stamp duty.”

While the energy audit industry is about to take off, Ms Beinat says business hasn’t been easy. Many people haven’t seen the value of spending money on home efficiency. Energy and water prices may be on the rise, but they are still low enough that some retrofitting measures, especially the more expensive ones like solar panels or double-glazing, take years before they pay for themselves.

“People certainly don’t get a return on investment from new carpets, but they still buy them,” Ms Beinat says. “So why do we only apply an economic filter to ceiling insulation or changing to low energy lights?”

In any case, with her own experience in mind, she argues that retrofitting is one of the few things a homeowner can do to give increased comfort as well as a monetary benefit, in the form of lower bills.

The evidence that better star ratings mean higher house prices adds even more kick to her claims. The ABS research was conducted in the ACT where, since 1999, homeowners have been required to declare their house’s energy efficiency rating when they advertise it for sale. The rules were brought in to provide extra information for consumers.

According to the Federal Environment Department (DEWHA), the scheme helps buyers understand what they’re getting and improves the efficiency of real estate valuations. It also pushes owners to retrofit their homes. The study shows that the cost of adding stars will often be far lower than the extra payoff when it comes to selling.

DEWHA is now working with the states to develop a mandatory disclosure scheme that would apply nationwide, and may include houses up for lease as well as those for sale. 

The low-energy way to beat the heat

HARRY Blutstein and Carol Lawson moved into their Northcote townhouse in early 2007. It didn’t take long to realise something wasn’t quite right. “It got very, very hot,” Mr Blutstein says.

The neat brick townhouse has three levels, including an attic study where Mr Blutstein works. It was always a very comfortable house, the couple says – so long as they kept the cooling running constantly on warm days.  Even worse for their bills, the in-built heating and cooling system was all or nothing. It couldn’t be set to control just one floor.

“This house was architect designed,” Mr Blutstein says. “It was built about 12 years ago, but you almost couldn’t have done a worse job in terms of making it less environmental. So we decided we needed professional advice.”

Although Mr Blutstein works in the sustainability field, he didn’t have the hands-on building know-how to assess the problems and fix them. “Neither of us are handy people,” says Dr Lawson, a GP. “Neither of us does more than the most basic things around the house. It was a big plus to get good practical advice and then have the work done under the one hat.”

They hired ecoMaster to assess their home and recommend steps to cut their energy use. The first step (and the cheapest, at about $300) was draught proofing. The crew installed flip-down draught stoppers and foam seals on doors as well as timber beading around architraves. “In everything we did, that was the best,” Mr Blutstein says. He was surprised to learn just how leaky most homes are – ecoMaster estimates that draughts account for a quarter of all winter heat losses.

Next, they swapped two-dozen halogen downlights with low-energy replacements and put in heavy window drapes on windows that didn’t have them. They installed a 2500-litre water tank for their courtyard garden and switched the old electric hot water service for a super efficient heat pump system.

They also fitted a large external blind to shade the west-facing rooms from the hot afternoon sun. To cool the sweltering attic study, ecoMaster added insulation and recommended a sky window for the south roof face and blinds on north and west windows.

Mr Blutstein estimates that all up, they’ve spent about $10 000 and halved their electricity use. “We could have been comfortable the inefficient way, always heating and cooling the whole house,” he says. “But now we’re getting a much better result for the environment.”

 

Best footprint forward

In Architecture and building, Environment, The Age on

A carbon neutral home isn’t science fiction. It’s coming to Melbourne, and it will be on sale from next year.

Here’s the plan for a new house in our outer suburbs: an open plan living area, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus a theatre, an outdoor patio and a double garage. It’ll have a contemporary look, with a wood-panelled exterior and a flat roof.

Sounds unremarkable, right?

Actually, that’s the sketch of Australia’s first commercially designed carbon neutral house. With a combination of smart planning, passive solar design and whiz bang machinery it will generate at least as much energy as it uses.

The plan for the Zero Emission House was launched in late September at the World Sustainable Building Conference, held in Melbourne. The ground-breaking eco home is a joint venture between CSIRO, Delfin Lend Lease and Henley Property Group, with more partners yet to come.

The project’s foundations were laid over a year ago, when CSIRO began a study into low emissions housing around the world. Dr Greg Foliente, Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO’s Sustainable Ecosystems team, visited overseas prototypes, including some in the UK, where all new housing is planned to be carbon neutral by 2016.

His team also analysed efficient designs across Australia’s different weather zones, from tropical Far North Queensland to four-seasons Melbourne. “We looked at what we can do with the best knowledge we have, if we just change the way we build and put in appliances,” Dr Foliente says. “We found out that we can reduce the footprint by between 60 and 80 per cent. Right now.”

Next, the task is to bring the blueprint to the suburbs. Dr Foliente’s study tour taught him that most eco display homes look odd and don’t appeal to the mass market. Determined not to build a house “like a space ship”, CSIRO chose to involve a commercial developer and builder to tell them what buyers want.

At first, with those “weird looking” concept houses in mind, Peter Hayes, Managing Director of Henley Property Group, felt nervous about the project. “I thought it would be terrifying for a volume builder to try to do.”

Happily, it hasn’t turned out that way. “This is actually a regular house. It’s contemporary because we are doing a very contemporary range,” Mr Hayes says. “When you drive down the street you won’t know the difference.”

The design process wasn’t overly difficult. “Technically, we don’t see it as a very hard thing to do,” says Mr Hayes. The trick was to pay close attention the home’s orientation and use CSIRO’s expertise to fine-tune the details [see box].

Construction will begin early in 2009 and be finished before the end of the year. Then, to test the house’s performance in practice, a family of willing renters will move in. CSIRO will monitor their energy usage patterns over a full 12 months.

The home will be open for display before the tenants move in and Henley plans to sell the design immediately. “We’ll be offering the home to the public with or without the [solar] cells, as a regular Henley home,” Mr Hayes says. “We hope to extend our product range to include more of them.”

The only catch for the enthusiastic buyer is, unsurprisingly, a higher price tag than that of a standard new home. Similarly sized Henley homes sell for between $150 000 and $200 000, and while the costs haven’t yet been finalised, Mr Hayes expects that the extra expense will be “in the tens of thousands of dollars”. His estimate doesn’t count the solar panels, which could add the same again.

Delfin Lend Lease acknowledges that higher costs are a concern for some people. “Our research indicates that the marketplace wants a more sustainable housing option,” says Bryce Moore, Chief Operating Officer. “But their preparedness to pay for it is another matter.”

He says that while the Zero Emission House project will mean some extra dollars, it’s a design that will become much more affordable over time. The home, to be built on Delfin’s Laurimar site, fits perfectly with the company’s goals for its new developments. “For the next generation of Delfin communities, we have an aspiration to achieve zero carbon [emissions]. This house is one aspect of that,” Mr Moore says.

Also, the big upside for buyers will be dramatically lower running costs and better long-term value, as Mr Hayes makes clear. “Energy is going to get more expensive. The resale value of these of these homes is obviously going to be greater than the resale value of a home that’s got five stars or no stars on it.”

With his plan about to come to fruition, CSIRO’s Dr Foliente hopes the design will catch on all over the country. “We hope to target the mass housing market immediately, not five or ten years from now.”

CSIRO’s goal is to significantly reduce domestic carbon footprints. “That’s our contribution to the global warming challenge,” he says. “Every household can potentially have a contribution. Hopefully it’s the start of a social transformation across Australia.”

Living clean, green and cheap

Although plans are not yet set in stone, the 25-square Zero Emission House will be at least an 8-star rating under the current system. It will use about 70 per cent less power than a 5-star equivalent.

It will run entirely on renewable electricity – no gas – generated from solar panels and possibly, mini wind turbines. The home will be connected to the grid but also have some battery storage. Over the year, it will produce at least as much energy as it uses.

Henley and CSIRO have designed the home especially for the block chosen on Delfin Lend Lease’s Laurimar site in Doreen, 30 kilometres north of Melbourne.

With precise local modelling, CSIRO has perfected the amount of insulation for the floor, ceiling and walls. They’ve balanced the insulation against the ‘thermal mass’ of the building materials (like the concrete slab, which helps even out day and night temperature changes) to make the home as comfortable as possible.

The designers have also attended to passive solar principles, like positioning living areas to soak up the northern sun, while calculating eaves to let in winter rays and shade the summer heat.

The house will be stocked with the most efficient off-the-shelf fittings and appliances available. Reverse-cycle air-conditioning will do the heating and cooling. A smart electricity meter and feedback system will tell the residents exactly how much energy they’re guzzling and where it’s going. The report cards can even be sent to the tenants’ mobile phones.

Out of the lab

The Zero Emission House isn’t the only eco building project under way at CSIRO. The nation’s top research scientists are working on a street of innovations that will change our real estate. Here’s a sample:

Solar cooling

The Residential Desiccant Cooling (RedeCOOL) project is a solar powered air-conditioner especially for the home. It’s in development at CSIRO’s Newcastle climate test facility, where the scientists can mimic different weather conditions to test their product.

RedeCOOL is a particularly nifty idea because we use our air conditioners when the sun is most ferocious, but it could be a few years before it’s publicly available.

Temperature control

RedeCOOL’s cousin, OptiCOOL, automatically controls the heating, cooling and ventilation systems in commercial buildings. These systems normally gobble about 60 per cent of a building’s energy.

OptiCOOL uses smart software to sense and respond to different temperatures and occupancy throughout a building. By starting and shutting down according to need, it chops energy use without compromising comfort. It’s already running in a number of commercial buildings.

Lightweight concrete

CSIRO’s Dr Swee Mak and his team were inspired by the structure of bone, which has a strong casing around a porous interior. Their product, HySSIL, weighs half as much as normal concrete, but is just as strong. And what’s more, their panels offer five times the thermal insulation of the standard grey stuff.

With far less embodied energy than brick, the efficient production process could help to demolish greenhouse gas emissions. It’s moving to the commercial stage, and the first HySSIL home is already under construction.

Develop smart

How do planners, developers, architects and builders find out the facts on sustainability? CSIRO’s researchers have launched a website, to help make sure our design and construction professionals are in the eco-know.

It’s got dozens of fact sheets, from wastewater planning to walkable neighbourhoods, as well as case studies of some the best developments in Australia and abroad.