» The Confluence

House Notes – The Confluence

We have a unique off-grid mountain-bush home, that is 11km off the grid. It is well insulated, cool in summer and warm in winter, and is powered by a low-head micro-hydro in our river plus 2kW of PV backup. We have a wood stove water jacket to back up the solar hot water heater, and 2 composting rotating-drum toilets.

Our property is very fire defendable (we battled the ’03 fires, see video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kAMjSBak7I&t=2s), with deck sprinklers, cleared park-like area around the house, underfloor tin, a ‘fire truck’ and more.

Here’s a 45 minute walking tour of our property we put together for Sustainable House Day (full version): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yds5PGQG-w

We also have:

Two different types of rotating drum composting toilets
Greywater system
Solar plus wood stove with backup gas-boost hot water
Low-energy appliances
The best deck on Earth
Wood-fired hot tub
10mm polycarbonate panelled Greenhouse – which means tomatoes in the winter!

Sustainability Features

ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENT FEATURES

- Energy efficiency:
- Efficient lighting
  Efficient appliances
  Energy monitoring
- Passive heating cooling:
- Passive solar designed home
  Shading
- Active heating cooling:
- Ceiling fans
- Active heating cooling:
- 2 x wood stoves - one new style plus one made of semi-tractor-trailer brake drums (the best one!)
- Water heating:
- Solar hot water (evacuated tube)
  Wood fire wetback
- Water heating:
- Solar plus wood fire with gas boost when needed
- Water harvesting and saving features:
- Compost toilet
  Grey water system
- Energy Efficient Lighting
- LED lights throughout
  Natural daylight
  Skylight
- Window Protection:
- Awnings (external)
  Drapes/curtains
  Honeycomb blinds

INSULATION SPECIFICATIONS

- Insulation Type:
- Under-roof
  Ceiling
  Floor
- Ceiling Type:
- Fiberglass batts – 300mm thick
- Ceiling Rating:
- R4.0
- Floor Type:
- Bulk – glass wool
- Floor Rating:
- R4.0

RENEWABLE ENERGY SPECIFICATIONS

- All-Electric Home?
- No
- Renewable energy used:
- Energy storage/battery
  Micro-hydro
  Solar PV off-grid
- Size of PV system:
- 2kW solar + 48kW micro-hydro
- Average Daily Energy Consumption:
- household daily average is 8.5 kWh

COSTS AND COST SAVINGS

- Estimate of annual savings:
- $5,000

HOUSE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

- House Size
- 120m2
- Roof
- corrugated iron
- Wall Materials
- Lightweight construction (timber frame)
- Window and Door Types
- Awning
  Double glazing
  Pocket doors
- Universal Design Features
- Lever handles for doors (no knobs)
- Number of bedrooms
- 2
- Number of bathrooms
- 2

GARDEN AND WASTE REDUCTION

- Garden / Outdoors
- Composting
  Drip irrigation
  Edible garden
  Greenhouse
  Organic
  Native plants

The Confluence 2020

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House Notes – The Confluence

Sustainability Features

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