Sustainability
Ancient Air Conditioning
I’ve just returned from the City of Yazd in Iran and as usual I have been looking at houses and buildings, I bet you thought air conditioning is a fairly recent invention but that is what these wind tower structures…
Read more
Freezing A Solar Hot Water System
Before you look at buying a Solar Hot Water System think about the freezing risk. It might not be a concern in many areas but in Victoria, Tasmania and the colder parts of other states freezing conditions can damage cheaper…
Read more
Lighting Levels
There are two elements when considering Lighting levels for your new house. Electrical Power (Watts) Amount of Light (Lumens) Watts In the old days with incandescent bulbs it used to be simple, bulbs came in 40, 60 and 100watts and…
Read more
Curb Your Power
We are currently customers of Powershop, and have decided to get involved with an interesting program they are running. The idea is that they will tell us by SMS when they are expecting very high demand. If we can reduce…
Read more
The Value of West Facing Solar Panels
Its almost 2 years since I installed a solar power system on my current house. The installation is 8 x 250 watt panels facing North and these 5 x 250 watt panels facing West. Over the time they have been…
Read more
Time To Rethink Sensor Switches?
Sensor switches used to be thought of as a big power saving measure but these days I’m less sure. 30 years ago when light bulbs were typically 100watts and had short lives a sensor like this could save some serious…
Read more
Are You Going To Have A Washing Line
When I was growing up all the washing lines looked like this. . . . long straight nylon ropes. Since then things have changed backyards have got smaller and some people don’t even have washing lines, everything goes in the…
Read more
Base Plan has 6 Star Energy Rating
But What Does it Mean? If you think it means is that your house will have a 6 Star Energy Rating you could be wrong! You could be up for thousands of dollars of upgrades to meet the required standards….
Read more
Will Your New House Be Electric Car Ready?
Currently in Australia, there are just over 4000 electric cars on the roads. They currently make up 0.1% of new car sales. Having recently visited China I think that those numbers are going to change as I was amazed at…
Read more
Busting some Myths about Solar
I have been hearing a few discussions about Solar power where people are repeating myths. . . . . So here are four commonly heard myths and the truth. MYTH You must have a battery with a solar system TRUTH…
Read more