Powered up

As some of you know our family recently bought a house and are in the process of renovating. The great thing about it is all the opportunities we have to go green along the way. However as we have discovered going green is not always the easiest and cheapest option when it comes to renovations and buildings.

One thing my economical husband has always approved of is energy saving. More for the money aspect than the environment but he is committed which keeps me in line. This house however seems to be as energy conscious as my partner and has a tendency to throw the towel in if we turn on more than 4 appliances at once. Although frustrating for the first few weeks it has now become such an ingrained part of our life that I’m almost pleased. It has raised our families’ awareness of how much power we truly use each and every day.

Recently I was discussing my power issues with my 7th grade class as part of our sustainability unit and I posed the question to them of how many electrical appliances were turned on in their home in the afternoon. The number had my jaw dropping! Some students reported over 30 things being switched on or on stand-by in one hour long session in the afternoon. This discussion was pre-empted by my statement that electricity usage in our city is three times what it was ten years ago. So many things we consider (or rather don’t consider) important in our lives today are powered by electricity: cordless phones, computers, tv, gaming systems, mobile phones, ipods, CD players, DVD players, stoves, microwaves and dishwashers. The list is endless.

It was great to hear the students discussing their power usage and some even discussing the results of having an power monitor provided by the governments Climate Smart Home’s initiative.

So our energy issues prompted some action, obviously we were going to need an electrician! But at the same time it got us thinking solar. We have dabbled in solar power before; installing a solar hot water system in a previous house and at a recent home show we discussed the possibility of going all solar with this place however the dollar signs put the brakes on that one pretty fast. However with energy prices set to rise over the next five years we figured why not get the whole lot done now.

So over the coming few weeks we are having first the hot water and then the electricity panels installed and we’ll be powered up again. And the more we researched the more it seems like the country is abuzz with renewable energy ideas. With both state and federal governments offering incentives to homes, schools and businesses to install solar panels to feed into the power grid my mind was filled with images of energy self-sufficient towns and cities. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it became standard for all homes to supply some if not all of their power through solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. If every city was a solar city, not just a chosen few.

Already you can see examples of homes and businesses embracing the solar concept such as this house.


And this amazing building; the Sanyo Solar Ark, built out of reject solar pannels destined for the rubbish dump



And although our place is never going to be an architextual marvel nor 100% self-sufficient, the most exciting part is yet to come as we explore options for passive heating and cooling and continue to try and reshape our house into an eco friendly, sustainable home. My brain is just exploding with ideas regarding skylights, use of vegetation to direct airflow and sunlight and using simple things like windows, louvers and insulation to cool and warm our house - maybe even a green wall or green roof? The options are endless!