My darling husband has also caught the green bug. Maybe it's been my obsessive recycling and avoidance of plastic bags. Perhaps it was my relentless search for the most local of each product on the shopping list? Nah - he was pretty green to begin with.
Together we've watched An Inconvenient Truth (though I think it's time for a refresher) and the Story of Stuff. Last week he suprised me with a copy of Food Inc. This was one I'd been busting to see but none of the libraries had it and I didn't know where else to look. It just blew me away - and needless to say I'll have to watch it again before providing any comments as I was cursing alot so I missed half of it. All I can say is - why don't they show a double feature of this and An Inconvenient Truth in every school in Australia? Stay tuned for my thoughts on Food Inc.
And another suprise - while I was investigating the Green Power through our electricity supplier TRUenergy, Travis was taking a bigger step by speaking to one of his colleagues about the suitability of our house for solar panels. And it's looking good folks! We're planning to rent our place out when we expand in a few years time so it's important to understand that not only will we benefit from the switch now - but from next year not only will all properties for sale require a minimum energy rating, but so will the rentals.
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
World Car Free Day tomorrow
Yes folks, get on your bikes, trains, trams, water taxis - just get out of the car! Tomorrow is World Car Free Day and it's the perfect excuse you need to get your spring exercise started. I'll be out there riding to work whatever the weather!
Although we only share one car between us, Trav rides every day as he's so close to work, there's always more we could do - I've started riding 2 days per week but I can slowly increase this, and there are other more fuel efficient options out there for when you can't avoid the car - diesel and hybrid electric cars are becoming more widely available and perform just as well - if not better (just check out the new Subaru Forester turbo diesel!!! - but of course an Australian made vehicle would be even more sustainable) and you could try car-pooling too. Vancouver is one city which has improved its carpooling incredibly - and you can find carpools all over the world at Carpool World.
The Victorian government's Resource Smart website also offers lots of tips on how and why to reduce vehicle dependency so what are you waiting for?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sustainable House Day Part #2 - Peter & Natasha's Straw Bale Home
From Melton we headed into Merrimu - to visit Peter & Natasha's strawbale home. Perfect timing! Peter had just begun his house tour so we eagerly joined the group. It cost about $150K to build the 21 square house, including drafting, engineering plans and application fees. After 2 years of building, the family moved in with a provisional COO this March and are still finishing off some areas. Peter was very upfront about mentioning that they could have saved considerable funds and time if they'd done a few things different - isn't hindsight a beautiful thing?
Walking into the house gave me such a feeling of calm. The gently undulating walls create such a cosy, grounded space that you just don't get in a typical home these days. As we were shown through the house we learned that the louvre windows - which most people remember as draughty old things- seal 100% and are a product called Comfort Plus Glass. Two 6mm sheets of glass are toughened by a plastic sheet in the centre.
Peter and Natasha utilised some ideas from a book called Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander - such as having 2 light sources for each room where possible and the addition of the zen window in the studio. They scoured eBay for lots of reusable items - such as the kitchen, all doors, bathroom vanity and lots of other things. Their double sinks in the kitchen and laundry are drained to grey water and black water which will be useful once the irrigation is set up outside. Speaking of irrigation - their 22,000 litre rainwater tank has been full ever since it was hooked up.
Their solar hot water is an evacuated system, which takes no more than 30 minutes of sunshine to reach the day's requirements, and their wood fire has a wet back that can link to the solar system during winter and cloudy days. The composting toilets (Nature-Loo) were another interesting sustainable feature.
It was really interesting to see the west wing of the house, in various stages of completion - the bathroom and one of the bedrooms had only one or two coats of render on in some areas. Inside their WIR, the back wall was painted with Bio Paint, which was important to the couple as they didn't want the off-gassing from normal paints to affect their little son. When I asked about hanging pictures on the walls, Peter said they had considered running a length of timber along the inside frame of the house, before rendering but they'll probably hang the invisible picture cord from the wooden frame at the tops of the walls.
Some things are yet to be finished, including laying the recycled Tasmanaian Oak over their chipboard floors, and working out if/how to finish the rooms with skirting boards etc. They have begun lining their ceilings with calico, but are still working out how to hide the staples. Being quite new, the walls do shed some loose sand but Peter said this would stop over time, and is thinking about using a clear mineral silicate product to further seal the walls.
At the end of the tour we were so excited that we called Trav's folks to see if they'd come down and have a look - so we got to tour the house twice! It will be so exciting to see their progress as they continue to work on the house, all their photos and information can be found here.
On the way home we took a detour down Maidstone street in Altona to see some strawbale workers cottages that are still standing after being built in 1940 - you could easily miss them as you drive past - they look like any other cement rendered places along the same stretch, but they stand there as testament to the strength and endurance of strawbale building.
Thank you to both families for so generously opening your houses up on Sustainable House Day so the rest of us could learn a thing or two!
Walking into the house gave me such a feeling of calm. The gently undulating walls create such a cosy, grounded space that you just don't get in a typical home these days. As we were shown through the house we learned that the louvre windows - which most people remember as draughty old things- seal 100% and are a product called Comfort Plus Glass. Two 6mm sheets of glass are toughened by a plastic sheet in the centre.
Peter and Natasha utilised some ideas from a book called Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander - such as having 2 light sources for each room where possible and the addition of the zen window in the studio. They scoured eBay for lots of reusable items - such as the kitchen, all doors, bathroom vanity and lots of other things. Their double sinks in the kitchen and laundry are drained to grey water and black water which will be useful once the irrigation is set up outside. Speaking of irrigation - their 22,000 litre rainwater tank has been full ever since it was hooked up.
Their solar hot water is an evacuated system, which takes no more than 30 minutes of sunshine to reach the day's requirements, and their wood fire has a wet back that can link to the solar system during winter and cloudy days. The composting toilets (Nature-Loo) were another interesting sustainable feature.
It was really interesting to see the west wing of the house, in various stages of completion - the bathroom and one of the bedrooms had only one or two coats of render on in some areas. Inside their WIR, the back wall was painted with Bio Paint, which was important to the couple as they didn't want the off-gassing from normal paints to affect their little son. When I asked about hanging pictures on the walls, Peter said they had considered running a length of timber along the inside frame of the house, before rendering but they'll probably hang the invisible picture cord from the wooden frame at the tops of the walls.
Some things are yet to be finished, including laying the recycled Tasmanaian Oak over their chipboard floors, and working out if/how to finish the rooms with skirting boards etc. They have begun lining their ceilings with calico, but are still working out how to hide the staples. Being quite new, the walls do shed some loose sand but Peter said this would stop over time, and is thinking about using a clear mineral silicate product to further seal the walls.
At the end of the tour we were so excited that we called Trav's folks to see if they'd come down and have a look - so we got to tour the house twice! It will be so exciting to see their progress as they continue to work on the house, all their photos and information can be found here.
On the way home we took a detour down Maidstone street in Altona to see some strawbale workers cottages that are still standing after being built in 1940 - you could easily miss them as you drive past - they look like any other cement rendered places along the same stretch, but they stand there as testament to the strength and endurance of strawbale building.
Thank you to both families for so generously opening your houses up on Sustainable House Day so the rest of us could learn a thing or two!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sustainable House Day Part #1 - Gavin's place
Our first stop was to visit Gavin and Kim Webber in Melton. We've been avid followers of Gavin's blog and what he manages to fit onto a suburban size block is really amazing - well it's actually just all about how you want to use your space really. Their family began a huge journey since first viewing 'An Inconvenient Truth' in September 2006 - now instead of cottage gardens they nurture a fruit orchard, vegetable gardens, compost bin and work farm as well as running a hybrid Honda Civic and photovoltaic solar panels and installed water tanks.
We were welcomed by Amy and Kim - and Kim took us on a fantastic tour around the gardens starting with the four 'grave' vegie beds. We talked about how they find vegetables popping up in different beds from the composting, the garlic and broad beans that were doing so well and warned us off the white beetroot - apparently they are an acquired taste. Through to the compost area and we checked out the wicking potato garden bed before visting the worm farm. Lightbulb - I asked Kim if she had any suggestions for all the flies around our wormfarm and she suggested covering the top layer with wet newspaper or an old cotton towel seems to do the trick. Can't wait to try it. Kim also said they prepare seedlings for sale at the annual Djerriwarrh Festival on Saturday 6th November.
We wandered past the hybrid car and solar inverter, the citrus in pots by the pool and to the pergola - with raised beds of cabbage and a newly planted bed of salad greens and herbs. The orchard is in the front garden with some young trees already blossoming. Kim is already planning where they could fit in more dwarf trees - she hasn't run out of room or inspiration yet! We got to meet Gavin as well - and I picked his brain on how to get more producers to use the Local Food Map, about his cheesemaking hobby and we looked at the charts following their main grid energy consumption before and after solar was installed. He suggested Cheese Links as a good place to start for information and courses and the guys at Energy Matters for his solar system supplier. What strikes me most about this family is that once they were just like any other consumption-driven family and now they are on new path - after one small change at a time, they are living proof that anyone can make a postive change.
Gavin also founded the Melton Sustainable Living Group - you can check out their blog right here.
I decided not to take any photos at either of the houses we visited - apart from the reason that they have a stack of photos on their own websites, I just felt it was kind enough of them to open their homes for us to visit, and I didn't want to impose any further.
Next up - the one we've been waiting for.....
We were welcomed by Amy and Kim - and Kim took us on a fantastic tour around the gardens starting with the four 'grave' vegie beds. We talked about how they find vegetables popping up in different beds from the composting, the garlic and broad beans that were doing so well and warned us off the white beetroot - apparently they are an acquired taste. Through to the compost area and we checked out the wicking potato garden bed before visting the worm farm. Lightbulb - I asked Kim if she had any suggestions for all the flies around our wormfarm and she suggested covering the top layer with wet newspaper or an old cotton towel seems to do the trick. Can't wait to try it. Kim also said they prepare seedlings for sale at the annual Djerriwarrh Festival on Saturday 6th November.
We wandered past the hybrid car and solar inverter, the citrus in pots by the pool and to the pergola - with raised beds of cabbage and a newly planted bed of salad greens and herbs. The orchard is in the front garden with some young trees already blossoming. Kim is already planning where they could fit in more dwarf trees - she hasn't run out of room or inspiration yet! We got to meet Gavin as well - and I picked his brain on how to get more producers to use the Local Food Map, about his cheesemaking hobby and we looked at the charts following their main grid energy consumption before and after solar was installed. He suggested Cheese Links as a good place to start for information and courses and the guys at Energy Matters for his solar system supplier. What strikes me most about this family is that once they were just like any other consumption-driven family and now they are on new path - after one small change at a time, they are living proof that anyone can make a postive change.
Gavin also founded the Melton Sustainable Living Group - you can check out their blog right here.
I decided not to take any photos at either of the houses we visited - apart from the reason that they have a stack of photos on their own websites, I just felt it was kind enough of them to open their homes for us to visit, and I didn't want to impose any further.
Next up - the one we've been waiting for.....
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Stuff, d'ya like stuff?
Not really, since stumbling across the Story of Stuff last night, why can't this sort of message be splashed across my Yahoo News page instead of Lilo's fingernails???
Watch it!
Watch it!
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