Following on from our SHD openings of Eco Home Stirling, this is the third year we will be opening our Footprint Garden Farm. This house is the fourth home we’ve built and incorporates all the latest sustainability features that we have been able to find and afford. Our new block is smaller than our previous home, but we have finished creating an urban Permaculture garden farm, and will be demonstrating this as well, to all who are interested.
Being constrained to a smaller footprint has meant using a ‘loft style’ plan and minimising waste space by combining bathroom/laundry and entry/stairwell, and reducing passageways.
We have incorporated higher-than-average insulation with a low-cost self-designed wall, sub-wall and roof system; plus high thermal mass, including a virtual ‘earth-coupled’ slab.
Our plan for ageing gracefully here includes low-maintenance cladding and top-quality fittings.
Though only gaining a medium NatHERS certified rating (7.7 stars), our passive design has already gone through 2 summers with little added cooling energy and we have not had to use much winter space heating either. We hope to display our power bills which indicate an actual rating nearer to 9+ stars! Our power bills over the last year with the benefit of our newly installed PV system have totalled $536.63 credit! We will demonstrate how switching the HW heat pump timer and running appliances including ‘pre-conditioning’ the house while the sun is shining, and changing other habits help sustainable living.
We firmly believe in helping people cope with the coming warmer climate and promoting ‘climate resilience’, and see opening our house and garden on SHD as a very positive way of doing this.
This home will be open with the support from Climate Ready Communities
Gold coin entry will support Sustainable House Day 2021.
This house achieved a NatHERS rating of 7.7 stars using NatHERS accredited software (FirstRate5). Find out how the star ratings work on the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) website.