Top line energy efficiency isn’t just possible; it’s affordable.

NEAR Lexton, in Western Victoria, a small white house looms large on the hill. While governments raise building efficiency standards ever so slowly, John Morgan’s home stands on a different plane.

Inspired by the need to respond rapidly to climate change, the retired schoolteacher and renewable energy installer has designed and built one of Australia’s first 9 Star homes. It needs next to no heating or cooling to stay comfortable.

“I wanted to demonstrate that you could build for a lot less than on the TV shows like World’s Greenest Homes,” Mr Morgan says. “You can get that level of comfort without any high-tech gizmos.”

The neat, two-bedroom house was completed in 2008 for Mr Morgan, his wife Belinda and their cat Millie. The dwelling is small and simple, at just over 100 square metres, including a sunroom and an office, which functions as an entry and air lock. But it doesn’t lack any of the usual conveniences: the washing machine, dishwasher and kitchen appliances, as well as Mr Morgan’s ham radio set up, all run on solar power.

Altogether, it cost about $160,000, including two 20,000-litre water tanks and a 2-kilowatt off-grid solar photovoltaic system.

“This home has no architectural merit,” Mr Morgan admits. “And it was deliberate. I wanted a house that was extremely comfortable and would cost nothing to run.

“I don’t get power or water bills and I don’t have water restrictions. I have a high-flow showerhead. When I have my morning shower the water goes absolutely everywhere and for most of the year it’s heated free of charge by the sun.”

He chose to use reverse brick veneer construction. “It’s a brick house with the bricks inside, not out,” he explains.

The exterior is clad with EcoPly (a non-toxic plywood made from plantation pine). Between the bricks and the cladding there is a 50 millimetre gap, and then reflective foil and batts – making a total insulation value of more than R2.

The ceiling and the slab floor are also highly insulated and the windows are double-glazed. This combination of insulation and thermal mass serves to keep the indoor temperature stable, trapping warmth during winter and protecting against the scorching summer sun.

“It means that in summer, the outside wall doesn’t heat up and stay hot all night,” he says.

The home is well oriented, shaded and draught-proofed, but there are no out-of-reach whiz-bang solutions. “All the books ever written about environmentally sensible design say these things. I’ve just put them all into practice. That’s where the nine stars came from,” he says. For more information about Mr Morgan’s home, there’s a detailed description in ReNew magazine (issue 112).

“My goal was to deal with climate change here to the extent that I can. This is, to all intents and purposes, a zero emissions house,” he says. He sometimes uses a small gas heater, but is planting and tending trees on his property that will more than offset his emissions.

“If anybody else wants to follow this lead they can. Lots of people do it,” he says.

His one indispensable tip is that would-be builders or renovators seek good passive solar design advice ahead of all else. “Talk to someone who knows their facts first. Do it before you write your first cheque.”

Pre-loved interiors change the story of stuff.

THE way you fit out and decorate your home is a matter of style, but also of substance – each purchase contributes to the size of your footprint.

October is the Salvos Stores’ Buy Nothing New Month. The campaign encourages people to buy only their necessities new, and for the rest, to scavenge, swap, or seek out second-hand goods.

Author Clive Hamilton says the campaign is about “spending our time and money more thoughtfully”.

Throughout the month, some Salvos Stores will be showing The Story of Stuff, a short animation on the life cycle impact of goods, from the extraction of raw materials to disposal.

“We usually think of our greenhouse gas emissions being associated with direct energy use, like heating our houses and driving our cars,” Mr Hamilton says. “But a lot of greenhouse gases are embodied in the goods we buy, because so much energy is used in making them.”

He says white goods and furnishings often have relatively high embodied energy. Overall, the indirect emissions of households (through the products and food we buy) are larger than the direct emissions (caused by our energy use).

We tend to spend what we earn, either now or later. “This is why high-income households always buy more stuff, generate more greenhouse gas emissions and produce more waste,” he says.

But that consumption is a matter of choice. “Changing what we consume can reduce our emissions in the same way as driving less or turning the thermostat down,” he says.

Artist and interior designer Christo Gillard argues that buying pre-loved not only reduces materials consumption and saves money, but also adds pizazz.

“Recycled things are fantastic because they hold a lot of character that other stuff doesn’t have. They’ve got instant personality,” he says. “As far as interiors and houses are concerned, recycling isn’t a new thing. Antique stores are emporiums of recycled products.”

There are many ways to avoid buying new. You can ‘up-cycle’: fix, re-furbish or re-upholster existing things to give them new life.

“Textiles generally don’t outlast the framework of furnishings,” Mr Gillard says. “You can re-glue and re-upholster an amazing, rickety old chair. Spend a day’s work and it’ll last another 50 years.” When re-upholstering, choose the fabrics for durability and enquire about eco-friendly adhesives and foams.

The same goes for lampshades, because there are few craftspeople making high-quality ones. “If you’re lucky enough to find one in an opshop and re-cover it, you’ll have something intensely unique.”

You can also seek out pre-used materials. Mr Gillard has drawn drapes from old cinemas and lit upon French louvers in council collection piles. He especially recommends reclaimed carpets, floorboards and tiles.

“Recycled tiles are marvellous. One time I found a load of tiles for $150 and gave them to a client. I saw someone else who found similar tiles new and paid $8000 for them,” he says.

You can save on everything, from taps and fittings to kitchenware, and even hifi equipment such as record players. “The internet is a bottomless place to find stuff,” Mr Gillard says.

“Visit places like Camberwell market, trash-and-treasure stores and opshops. Garage sales are the greatest things in the world. There’s so much available from houses, shops and buildings that are being demolished. It’s all about how you mix and match it.”

Governments and councils are planning for fossil fuel–free cities.

OVER the last two decades, ‘sustainability’ lodged itself in our lexicon. Now, there’s a new concept to digest: ‘resilience’.

Peter Newman, professor of sustainability at Curtin University, says the two concepts come from “the same tribe”, but resilience shines a spotlight on how we “deal with the resource constraints that confront us”.

In his latest book, Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change, he explores those constraints, and many of the innovative responses emerging from cities around the world.

Peak oil refers to the point in time when oil production is at its highest, and beyond which, begins to decline. Most predictions suggest that the global peak is coming soon, or has already passed.

Professor Newman says the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates the greater difficulties companies now face drilling for oil. “Nobody disagrees that oil is getting harder and harder to find, and we’ve got to do more and more risky things to get it.”

He argues that this fact, along with the need to reduce carbon emissions, means that our cities will need to halve their oil consumption by mid-century.

“Both climate change and peak oil force us to think about different kinds of cities that are able to cope with less fossil fuels,” he says. “We’ve built our civilisation around the cheapness and easy availability of fossil fuels. That era is ending.”

A CSIRO report, Fuel for Thought, released in 2008, estimated that petrol could cost as much as $8 per litre by 2018.

Elliot Fishman, from the Institute for Sensible Transport, modelled the impact of CSIRO’s estimate and found that people living on the city fringe are the most vulnerable.

“It would mean that someone in Cardinia, in Melbourne’s outer east, would spend about 15 per cent of their total income on petrol if they maintained their current travel patterns,” he says.

It’s a troubling finding, especially in light of the state government’s recent expansion of the urban growth boundary. “We’re still developing outer suburban land into cheap housing where people have no options other than the car,” Mr Fishman says. “Where you live has a major impact on your transport costs.”

But buyers and renters are now catching on. “Real estate agents say that more people are asking about public transport availability,” he says.

To reduce car dependence, he recommends householders opt to live close to work and public transport, if possible. You can also cut fuel consumption by working from home one or two days a week, and riding a bike or walking for short trips.

Governments are also beginning to take the issue seriously, especially at the local level. Maribyrnong and Darebin Councils both released peak oil adaptation plans last year. The Queensland Government has produced a series of reports into peak oil since 2005.

Professor Newman argues that once there’s a critical mass, our cities can be transformed rapidly.

He points at the Vauban neighbourhood in the German city of Freiburg, which exhibits many markers of resilience: efficient buildings, walk-ability, good public transport, local renewable energy and a strong sense of place.

“In Vauban, you can see the future and it’s better,” he says. “It is carbon-free, car-free, more local and far more environmentally friendly. It’s much more community oriented and a lot more fun for the kids growing up there.”

Bulk buying can help you fit into a smaller household footprint.

WHEN Wendy Branagan puts out her rubbish bin, she takes note of the date. “I mark it on the calendar so I can keep track. I can normally stretch it out to once every two months,” she says.

The Blackburn resident has been unwrapping herself from packaging waste for over a decade. She has established relationships with local shopkeepers who are happy for her to bring reusable bags and containers. “I found a container at the opshop that fits two loaves of bread perfectly, so I take that to the bakery every time,” she says.

Nevertheless, Ms Branagan acknowledges the “embarrassment factor” of bringing your own bags and rebutting supposed health concerns. “Sometimes, even after all these years, I have to really take a deep breath and do it anyway,” she says. “People are normally very encouraging.”

According to Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart website, Australians use about 71 kilograms of plastic every year, on average. Our manufacturing industries may have declined, but our rubbish production is booming – per head, we rank second only to the USA.

Ms Branagan is motivated by the link between household waste and broader environmental concerns. “Packaging contributes to land clearing, mining and water use,” she says. “There’s a connection between the packaging we accept at home, the giant pool of plastic accumulating in the Pacific Ocean, and climate change.”

Among other waste-minimising habits, Ms Branagan always prepares a shopping list, doesn’t buy too much food at a time and tries to cook from scratch rather than using more highly packaged processed goods. For more tips, she recommends the Simple Savings website. “I’m amazed at how much money I save by shopping this way and not wasting food.”

Nick Ray, from the Ethical Consumer Group, says that while many people make an effort to minimise packaging, we tend to take a certain level of waste for granted, rather than change our habits.

And while he advocates recycling wherever possible, he notes that it’s still the third preference in the “reduce, reuse, recycle” hierarchy.

“There’s a myth that we can recycle plastic – it’s really a process of down-cycling,” he says. “Food-grade plastic isn’t recycled into food-grade plastic. So if we can avoid it in the first place, that’s something I’m keen to do.”

Mr Ray and his family are part of the Western Organic Collective. They purchase a box of veggies once a week directly from the wholesale market, and order dry goods, including flours, nuts, dried fruit and honey, every few months. “The collective buys in bulk and we take our own sealable containers along and divide it all,” he says.

The Ethical Consumer Group’s website has a list of commercial outlets where you can buy in bulk without packaging, as well as more information about how to start and run a buying collective.

More broadly, Mr Ray argues that we need to recognise the significance of our shopping habits in our overall household impact.

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Consumption Atlas measures the greenhouse gas pollution, water use and land footprint of Australian households. “It turns out that food component is very high,” he says. “In Victoria, it’s about one quarter of household greenhouse gas emissions. And there’s another third behind the other products we buy.”

Learn from people who’ve shrunk their footprint.

IN the last three years, Alan Cuthbertson has halved his family’s consumption of electricity, water and gas. Next weekend, he’ll open his door to the public at large, and reveal the tips and tactics that have made all the difference.

The family’s Lower Plenty home will be part of Sustainable House Day on Sunday, September 12.

It will be one of about 180 houses on show throughout Australia for the free event, including 50 in Victoria and 12 in Melbourne. The homes will be open from 10 am to 4 pm.

The event’s coordinator, Judy Celmins, says the residences range from those with simple, low-cost alterations, right through to new dwellings complete with every imaginable innovation. Details of the homes are available on both the Sustainable House Day and shmeco websites.

Ms Celmins says visitors find it invaluable to see first hand the way people have altered their homes, and ask them how they did it. “Whatever stage you’re at, you can learn something,” she says. “It’s our ninth year and even the people who come every year say they always learn something new.”

Mr Cuthbertson and his family have been living in the same house for two decades, but only began retrofitting in the last few years – prompted by their daughter, who was then completing her engineering degree.

“We had lots of discussions about climate change and it convinced me that we should be doing something,” he says.

His message for visitors is that it’s not difficult to make improvements. “It’s not something you do overnight, but you just keep working on it.”

The Cuthbertsons have ticked off all the usual retrofitting measures, such as thorough ceiling insulation and draught sealing around windows and doors. They’ve also stopped the gaps left inside the kitchen cabinetry and around skylights.

By way of big-ticket technology, they’ve installed solar photovoltaic panels, a solar hot water system and a large water tank that fills from a collection point in the stormwater drain.

When their old central heating system needed to be replaced, they paid an extra $2000 for an efficient model that could heat in zones. “We only heat the core of the house and turn on the other rooms as we need them. That’s made a big difference,” he says.

Mr Cuthbertson is a computer programmer, and a tinkerer, so visitors will also be privy to a number of his nifty innovations, including a mirror that reflects sunlight inside during winter and a retractable blind over the clothesline that lets the washing dry on rainy days.

He’s also done some DIY double-glazing, and fitted cardboard pelmets that rest between the curtain rail and the architrave. “It’s a nice solution – they’re effective and a lot cheaper than putting on proper pelmets,” he says. “I’ve been concentrating on things that don’t cost a lot but give a reasonable return.”

A series of eight temperature sensors around the home feeds data into Mr Cuthbertson’s computer, informing him about the efficacy of the changes he’s made.

“I’ve put in a bit of effort and achieved a fifty per cent reduction in energy and water use, so I feel the politicians are selling us short on climate change,” he says. “There’s nothing special about what we’ve done. It’s all applicable to other homes.”