Greens Beach Solarhome 2018

House Notes – Greens Beach Solarhome

Possibly the world’s first actual zero-emission house. 100% off-grid, 100% electric, no wood fire or gas for heating & cooking, and no backup generator.

The aim was to design an affordable, high-quality house that would not only minimise operational energy consumption (allowing it to be powered entirely by solar-charged batteries with no need of a generator or grid backup), but also withstand the ravages of time and harsh weather (including severe storms and bushfires), age gracefully with little maintenance, and never go out of fashion, to create a stylish modern home that is durable, practical and comfortable in most climates, using standard building materials and conventional construction techniques, so that it can be easily built just about anywhere in the world.

Greens Beach Solarhome is the prototype of this concept, which was built in Tasmania in order to test its performance in a challenging climate. After more than 12 months’ trial it has exceeded expectations, remaining warm (around 20°C), comfortable and emission-free throughout a cold Tasmanian winter, and cool (less than 25°C) during the hottest summer days, while operating seamlessly, totally on solar-charged batteries with no grid connection, no generator backup, and no gas, oil, coal or wood fire for heating or cooking. It uses an average of less than 10kWh per day, which is significantly less than the theoretical primary energy demand required for German Passivhaus certification. The house is currently available on Booking.com and Airbnb so that visitors can try it for themselves.

This house achieved 9.2 Stars using FirstRate5 software, to find out more about the NatHERS (Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme) click here