Sustainable House Book Cover

Sustainable House

Michael Mobbs

<Rating: 4 stars>

In the 1990s, Michael Mobbs led a revolution in inner city sustainable living when he and his family renovated their small Chippendale terrace-house. Over 10 years later, this house is still an excellent showcase for what can be done.

Michael's book gives us a narration of all the decisions made in the renovation project. In the early to mid 1990's, no one had ever done such a sustainable renovation before. Michael was an environmental law and policy consultant and used this background to research sustainable options and challenge regulations. The development application was submitted in 1995 and the work was completed by end of November 1996.

The main areas of sustainable design are:
  • Water Harvesting: 10,000 litre rain water tank underground in back yard,
    leaf eater and first flush devices, disconnected from town water supply (first person ever to do it), Mini wetland collects stormwater overflow;
  • Waste Water System: Dowmus Wet Compost and Grey Water system,
    Disconnected from town sewerage,
    Grey water used for clothes washing, flushing toilet and watering garden;
  • Solar Hot Water:Annually harvesting 3,123 kWh,
    avoids 4.7 tonnes of CO2 emissions (cf an electric system),
    converted from electric booster to instant gas booster;
  • Solar Power:Annually harvesting over 2000 kWh,
    Grid interactive, 69% of energy used comes from the sun.
    avoids 3.36 tonnes of CO2 emissions ;
  • Energy efficiency: Energy Efficient lighting, pantry to reduce refrigerator load
    energy efficient appliances selected when required to be replaced ;
  • Sustainable and Non-toxic building materials: Radially cut sawlogs, No PVC piping, oil based vs polyurethane floor sealants.
I gave the book 4 stars not 5 as find it hard to quickly extract concise information from it. In Michael's defense, he say that the solutions he implemented were in part experimental may not be the right choice for your renovation. He encourages you to do your own research and has provided various supplier and service contacts at the end of the book.

more... www.sustainablehouse.com.au

For further info on sustainable house building and renovations you should also see
the Alternative Technology Association website www.ata.org.au and get some copies of their magazine 'Renew 101'. Eventually this site will have a Builders and Renovators page with other great ideas for any scale of renovation.

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Updated Feb 2008