Steele’s Home 2019

Steele’s Home

After attending at least 6 Sustainable House Days and learning how to make an efficient comfortable home we were ready to make a change and get out of our cold inefficient 20 yr old home.

Using traditional building materials and techniques to keep the costs down we relied on the passive solar design, double door entries, uPVC double glaze windows, heavy insulation, draft sealing, brick thermal bank to receive winter sun and able to be cooled in the summer and an earth tube to achieve at least a 7.6 star rating.

We installed a 5.4kw solar system which produced 7609kW/h for the year, our total consumption was 4275kW/h giving us a positive impact on the environment.

With the help of a Solar Vacuum tube hot water system and an efficient Daiken Split system A/C our total energy expense for the year is only $600 hence never needing a house battery.

45,000L Rainwater tanks to run the entire house and a raised bed vegetable garden and Sir Walter Buffalo lawn needing minimal watering and mowing.

On the day we will have at least 2 other families with Sustainable energy efficient homes to help answer questions and a uPVC window expert with his display trailer.

Download our Steele’s Home fact sheet here

This house achieved a NatHERS rating of 7.6 stars using NatHERS accredited software (FirstRate5). Find out how the star ratings work on the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) website.