Dan & Manu’s Townhouse 2024

Dan & Manu’s Townhouse

My wife and I purchased our townhouse in 2018. The house was built in 2006 and already had basic ceiling insulation and a rainwater tank, hooked up to toilet flushes.

Since then we made a number of sustainable upgrades in an effort to reduce our impact on the climate, including making the home all-electric. We worked on draught proofing, sealing skirtings and window frames and also adding DraftStoppa casings over bathroom exhaust fans. We also installed a 3.79kW solar panel system, a Daikin US7 AC system and replaced our gas hot water heater with a Sanden Eco-plus heat pump. Our stovetop was already electric, and with the new AC and hot water heat pump we were able to completely switch off gas!

These upgrades are saving us ~$2,000 per year.

We have also purchased an electric car recently which is configured to only charge when our solar power is generating a minimum amount set by a mobile app. Our house also features secondary glazing, many indoor plants, an outdoors veggie patch, a native garden with drip irrigation, and a deck made with recycled material. We strive to be as waste-free as possible, buying most of our groceries from bulk whole food shops with our own containers and composting all our food and paper waste.

Sustainability Features

Years Open
2024
ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENT FEATURES
    • Energy efficiency:
    • Draught proofing
      Efficient lighting
      Energy monitoring
    • Active heating cooling:
    • Split system airconditioner
    • Water heating:
    • Hot water heat pump
    • Water harvesting and saving features:
    • Rainwater storage - Above ground
      Drip irrigation
    • Average water consumption per day:
    • 0.126
    • Energy Efficient Lighting
    • LED lights throughout
      Natural daylight
    • Electric Vehicle Type
    • Tesla Model Y
SUSTAINABLE & RECYCLED MATERIALS
    • Recycled and reused materials:
    • Decking
INSULATION SPECIFICATIONS
    • Insulation Type:
    • Ceiling
      External walls
RENEWABLE ENERGY SPECIFICATIONS
    • All-Electric Home?
    • Yes
    • Renewable energy used:
    • Solar PV grid connect
    • Size of PV system:
    • 3.79
    • Average Daily Energy Consumption:
    • 6.43
COSTS AND COST SAVINGS
    • Cost estimate of sustainable home/features:
    • 15000
    • Estimate of annual savings:
    • 2000
HOUSE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
    • Roof
    • Metal (Colorbond)
    • Wall Materials
    • Brick veneer
      Lightweight construction (timber frame)
    • Window and Door Types
    • Retrofit Double Glazing
    • Number of bedrooms
    • 3
    • Number of bathrooms
    • 1
GARDEN AND WASTE REDUCTION
    • Garden / Outdoors
    • Composting
      Drip irrigation
      Edible garden
      Permaculture
      Native plants
    • Waste Reduction Practices:
    • Compost all food scraps
      Plastic free household
      Recycle
      Repair
      Take own containers to the supermarket and for take away food
HEALTHY HOME FEATURES
    • Healthy home features
    • Carpet free - tiles/concrete/timber flooring throughout
      Indoor plants for air filtration
Location
Braybrook VIC 3019
    • Housing Type:
    • High Density Housing/Strata Development/Unit
    • Project Type:
    • Continual Improvement

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