It’s time to get what we need without buying it new.

THIS week, two plucky volunteers – “The New Joneses” – will move into a pop-up apartment at Federation Square.

“Mr and Mrs Jones” will enter on Monday in their undies and bathrobes, with a bag of toiletries, and stay there for four nights, until Friday.

They’ll also be clutching their household scavenger list, which calls for items such as bikes, bedside tables and board games, cushions, cookware and cutlery. They must source everything second hand, or by means of borrowing, renting or swapping.

Tamara DiMattina, the event’s founder, says the volunteers aren’t celebrities and it isn’t a crazy quest for reality TV; rather, it’s an exercise in thinking differently about the way we consume.

“When you move house, you tend to write a massive list and buy a whole lot of new stuff,” she says. “But anything you need, you can get second hand.

“The Grand Hyatt is bringing down the beds, sheets and towels. We’re aiming to get people out of the mindset that second hand is dirty. If you stay at a luxury hotel, you’re using a towel and sleeping on sheets that someone else has used. Second hand is not second best.”

But the New Joneses won’t only be procuring preloved goods. They’ll also learn to cook and shop differently, to reduce food and packaging waste. And the apartment itself is a low-waste, pre-fabricated building, complete with water capture and storage systems, as well as home composting and gardening.

School groups will tour the exhibition each morning, before it opens to the public in the afternoon.

One family in Hampton is already putting these ideas into practice. Nearly three months ago, Erin and Peter Castellas and their children began a ‘Buy Nothing New Year’.

These are their ground rules: they can purchase food and new health and hygiene products, such as soap and medicines; everything else they must borrow, inherit, or buy second hand.

“We wanted to take on this challenge because it fits with our values, as well as our budget,” Ms Castellas explains. “We’re raising a young family on one income. It turns a situation that could be a bit miserable into something that’s fun and helps us talk to our kids about consumption and environmental problems, and the value of money.”

She admits to some initial anxiety about running out of things: what would they do without simple items, such as sticky tape or aluminium foil?

So far, they’ve coped. But Ms Castellas says the small stuff doesn’t matter so much as the bigger realisations the experiment has afforded.

“We’ve shifted from thinking about what we don’t have, to being grateful for what we do have. That’s been really interesting for me,” she says. “And when we’ve asked ourselves whether we really need something, we’re surprised that we often answer: ‘No, we don’t really need that’.”

If you’d like to experiment with reducing your consumption, you could set a more modest (but still testing) goal: October is Buy Nothing New Month.

The Castellas family still have many months to go – including Christmas present season. But, to date, even the experience of giving has been richer. Recently, for their grandma, they hand-painted a photo frame from the opshop. “We figured out that what we really want to say is: ‘Nan, we love you!’ not, ‘Here’s a flash new digital frame’,” Ms Castellas says.

Illustration by Robin Cowcher

Read this article at The Age online

Footpath fossickers are inspired by both ethics and aesthetics.

EARLIER this year, Tania Lewis and her colleagues visited householders in Moreland, in Melbourne’s inner north, to ask about how they reuse hard rubbish.

Dr Lewis, an associate professor of media and communication at RMIT, happened upon a gem of her own – she observed a kind of “green materialism” at play.

She explains, by way of example: one of her interviewees, Mark, had picked up an old shoe-cleaning box, the sort you’d keep a brush and polish inside and put your boot on while you buff and shine. He repaired it and uses it, and also, daydreams about its history.

“He imagined the old Italian man who might have made it originally and used it through his life,” Dr Lewis says. “He loved the fact that it had been used before. He was very invested in that romantic ethic, the sense of having a connection with the material objects in our lives.”

Illustration by Robin Cowcher

She says people rummage through their neighbours’ refuse for many reasons, including frugality, sustainability and an opposition to throwaway consumer culture. But many of us also do it for the thrill and the pleasure.

“People often valued hard rubbish precisely because these objects had histories and lives before them; unlike new objects, which they felt were somehow sterile and alienating,” she says.

Dr Lewis is the co-editor of Ethical Consumption: A Critical Introduction, published in 2010.  She says her research revealed another perspective on life in the suburbs.

“They’re often depicted as places of hyper-consumption. I wanted to focus on people who are doing quite the opposite. I wouldn’t call them alternative; they’re just ordinary families who’ve opted to live differently and who are very critical of mainstream approaches to consumption.”

There’s good cause to highlight our everyday thriftiness: it’s more common than you might think. A survey of households in Frankston, conducted by Dr Ruth Lane in 2007, found that two in every five had gleaned something from hard rubbish in the previous two years.

In another recent study, Dr Lane, from Monash University, recruited householders to track the things they put out on their nature strip. They reported that more than a third of the items were nabbed before the scheduled pick-up (the most popular were white goods, sports equipment, furniture, electrical appliances and kids’ toys).

She found that much more stuff is reclaimed informally than through the official collections. According to the Department of Environment and Sustainability, almost all the hard rubbish gathered by councils goes to landfill. Only 13 per cent, by weight, gets another life.

Despite this, lots of councils discourage scavengers, both professionals and amateurs. Many have switched away from scheduled pick-ups. Instead, you must book your own, once or twice a year, when you need it.

“Unfortunately, many councils have moved to make hard rubbish scavenging illegal and I think that’s incredibly short sighted,” Dr Lewis says.

“We need to encourage these forms of reuse and encourage people to reflect on what they consume, where it comes from and where it’s going at the end of its life.”

If you’re looking for the low-down on footpath fossicking, visit the Hard Rubbish Melbourne Facebook group. It has over 5000 members, many of whom post details of their finds and ask for tips on repairs and missing parts. They’ve also collated information about the timing and conditions of collections all across the city.

Read this article at The Age online

Anyone got a good story of finding gold? I picked a laser printer/photocopier five years ago, and after a simple, no-cost fix, it’s still going strong.  

Bill benchmarking must go beyond the average.

WHEN householders hand Lara Olsen their electricity bills, they watch her with nervous eyes.

“We’ve spent lots of time doing residential energy assessments,” says Ms Olsen, from Energy Return.

“Everyone asks, ‘Is this normal?’ Some look at you as though they’ve received a test result and they’re handing it to a doctor. They’ve paid it for the past 20 years, but never really had a chance to read it and understand what it means. Using as much electricity as we like is something we’ve taken for granted. But I think that’s changing.”

That change, however, won’t necessarily mean lower bills or less brown coal electricity.

Illustration by Robin Cowcher

If you visit the Energy Made Easy website (set up by the Australian Energy Regulator), you can type in your postcode, together with the number of people who live in your home, and find out the seasonal average electricity use in your area. Electricity retailers are now required to provide this information on our bills too.

It’s a nifty site, but Ms Olsen says just stating the mean isn’t good enough. Average household energy consumption is skewed: it’s pushed up by a relatively small number of very high consumers. And that means we’re creating a social norm that’s higher than the typical home, and much higher than an efficient one.

“At the moment, that benchmark is the average and the majority of people actually use less than the average,” she explains. “If this information keeps going out as it is, we will create the social license to consume more.”

Energy Return has been working with the Moreland Energy Foundation and several councils in Melbourne’s north (and the Horsham Rural City Council) to test a better target.

The councils are part of the Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action. From now until November, they’re piloting the “Go 5” campaign, which promotes a target of 5 kilowatt-hours per person per day (for households with gas).

“We’re helping people think about their individual energy use,” says Judy Bush, executive officer of the alliance. “But we’re also creating targets and benchmarks for this region. We’re saying: ‘This is what you and your neighbours could all be aiming for’.”

The councils are testing different tactics, from community workshops to publicity campaigns. Some will focus on “bill busting” and others on using new metering portals to understand how we use electricity.

In Nillumbik Shire, the “Watts your power 3099?” campaign will encourage householders to set their own energy targets, based on 5 kilowatt-hours per person per day, and offer prizes and incentives for those who take part.

For most people, it isn’t a stretch target. Ms Bush, for example, says she uses “dramatically less than that” in her two-person household.

But, just as with the Target 155 campaign on water, they picked a number that’s achievable, rather than intimidating.

Ms Bush says the pilot campaign will help her team analyse whether “Go 5” is the right goal, and also, whether or not people will continue to cut their bills, even if they reach the magic number.

The target is harder for a one-person household than for a family of five, so larger households could comfortably aim much lower. “The more people you have in a household the more efficient it gets per person, because you’re spreading the use of appliances, like fridges and heating, across more people,” she says.

Read this article at The Age online.

You might be interested in this related article, about the effect of social norms on consumption. 

Householders are working on the alternative technology we need.

ON Wednesday 19 September, at Swinburne University in Hawthorn, you’ll find sun-tracking louvers, a nifty clip that helps you protect tomatoes from hungry birds, and two people who’ve made their own solar air-heaters (one of them from aluminium cans).

It’s the annual project night for the Melbourne Branch of the Alternative Technology Association.

The night’s organiser, and the convenor of the branch, Paul Fritze, says two-dozen people will briefly introduce their sustainability projects. Afterwards, they’ll exhibit what they’ve done, while everyone mingles and learns.

It’s a free event, supported by the School of Engineering at Swinburne University. “People who’ve been working away on their own can come along and display what they’re doing,” he says. “It’s about connecting ideas, skills and technology.

“Anything goes – there’s a permaculture food gardening course, a chap who builds battery packs for different uses by recycling old lithium batteries, and someone who’s been running a micro-hydro power generator for 30 years.”

Illustration by Robin Cowcher

Mr Fritze has been toiling at a number of schemes himself. With others, he’s planning a more permanent residence for the Melbourne branch, as well as the Association’s electric vehicle group and the Melbourne HackerSpace (a twice-weekly gathering of tech-hardware hobbyists), among others.

“The idea is to create a shared project space for different groups doing all sorts of things, where they can hold meetings, exhibitions and workshops, and come across one another,” he says.

It’ll be fitted out with technical equipment such as a laser cutter and a 3D-printer, which will allow people to experiment far beyond what’s possible in their own backyard.

Much like the project night, the idea is to generate cross-disciplinary projects. “We could get 3D-printer enthusiasts to team up with a jeweller, or someone working in disability who needs something built,” Mr Fritze says.

He says there’s “a whole swag of passionate doers” all over the city, constantly tinkering with new ways to make their gadgets more efficient and reduce their environmental impact.

“You couldn’t stop them if you tried,” he says. “And if you can provide a place for them to meet face-to-face, without telling them what to do, things just happen. It’s wonderful. There are all kinds of environmental, social and artistic benefits that come out of it.”

The Alternative Technology Association itself is evidence of that. It was established in 1980 and now has over 9000 members and subscribers.

From its national office, also based in Melbourne, it produces two magazines, ReNew and Sanctuary, which cover passive solar design, water conservation and renewable energy for households. Last year it launched Tankulator, a free online calculator that helps you figure out what size rainwater tank you need, and provides information on tank materials, siting, installation, filters and pumps.

As well as the group in Melbourne, there are 14 other local branches around the country (and one in New Zealand), all run by volunteer members.

“They’re all doers – they’re not complainers,” Mr Fritze says. “They’d rather get on and make the things that we need to change the way we’re living.”

If you want to glean some of their good ideas, you can visit the households open for tours today as a part of Sustainable House Day (some of them organised by the Association’s Melbourne branch). There are 60 houses on show all over the state, from 10 am until 4 pm – and it’s free.

Read this article at The Age online

Electric bicycles can get people out of the traffic and into the bike lane.

WHAT if a bicycle could flatten the hills for you? Or help you commute sweat-and lycra-free?

A bike store in Carlton has begun a rolling, four-year trial into why and how people use electric bikes. In early July, Dolomiti handed over the keys for 17 of them, each one fitted with a GPS transmitter.

The participants get effort-free cycling for up to three months, before the two-wheelers are passed onto the next team of rider-volunteers.

Professor Geoff Rose, from Monash University’s Institute of Transport Studies, says the study is the largest field trial of its kind. His research team is helping Dolomiti analyse the results. “We’re going to get extraordinarily rich data about where people use the bikes, what length trips they take and the roads they use,” he explains.

(The Monash researchers are also looking for e-bike owners to participate in an online survey)

Battery-powered bikes are fast becoming popular elsewhere, especially in Europe and the USA, and above all, in China, where nine out of every ten are sold, and where many cities have banned petrol-powered two-wheelers.

But they’ve been slow to gain momentum here. Until recently, Australia had the strictest regulations in the world. In May, the federal government relaxed the power output rules to match standards in European Union.

Illustration by Robin Cowcher

Most e-bikes look just like a normal pushbike, except they’ve got a battery pack connected to a small motor that generates the extra zip. They can reach speeds of 25 kilometres per hour with power; to go faster, the cyclists have to pedal. On a single charge, the newer models can cover up to 70 kilometres.

“From a rider’s point of view, it’s like you’re on a normal bike,” Professor Rose says, “but, somehow, every time you ride you’ve got a tail wind.”

For that reason, his research shows that electric bikes appeal to many folks who’d otherwise drive or catch public transport: older people and people with medical worries such as heart conditions or rickety knees and hips, as well as commuters who are put off by the distance or the effort of pedalling a conventional bike.

“For some people, it’s a technology that allows them to get back on a bike. And the evidence so far also shows that they really appeal to women riders – the gender balance is a lot more even than with conventional bikes,” he says.

Because many e-bike riders are switching away from cars, Professor Rose says they’re likely to be a plus for the individuals’ health and their environmental footprint.

“If you have an electric bike and purchase green power or install a solar power charging unit at home, then you’re really operating with a sustainable urban transport mode,” he says.

But while the technology is good, it can only be as effective as our cycling infrastructure allows, he cautions. Without safe places to ride, people won’t ditch their car keys.

If you’re keen on an e-bike, you can either buy a purpose-built model (they cost from under $1000 to over $3000), or a conversion kit for your existing bicycle (from under $1000). As with any equipment, it’s wise to do your research before you buy, and make sure you choose business you trust. It’ll help with maintenance, or with purchasing spare parts when things go wrong. 

Read this article at The Age online

Have you ridden an e-bike? Got any thoughts about the experience? I’m interested in the idea that they get people on the bike who’d otherwise drive or take public transport. If so, that’s a big tick. I’m a pushbike rider, and I don’t commute very far, so I don’t have any need for one. But it seems possible that e-bikes could broaden the appeal of riding, with environmental and health benefits to boot.