Neville Lockhart and Judy Mitchell’s sustainable Tarrawanna oasis will be opened for a guided tour, in the capable hands of Greg Knight (pictured), of how they’ve retrofitted it to save power and money. Photo: Zoe Cartwright.
You don’t need to build a new home to make it more energy efficient – and you don’t need to spend a fortune on gadgets.
There are affordable, simple ways to make your home more sustainable and cut your power bills, and you can learn about them while taking a stickybeak at some of the Illawarra’s most innovative homes this weekend.
Sustainable House Day is an annual event run by Renew that provides the opportunity to explore some of Australia’s most inspiring homes, and learn from the people who designed them, built them, and live in them.
It’s coordinated by Renew, a membership non-profit that has worked to transform Australian homes for climate and energy resilience since 1980.
On the day homeowners across the country will open their doors to show visitors what energy efficient and electrified homes can look like.
Neville Lockhart and Judy Mitchell will share the innovations they’ve put into their Tarrawanna home as part of the event.
Early adopters of energy efficient and sustainable technology, Neville and Judy initially planned to build their own home from scratch, however they couldn’t find a site to their liking.
In the end they purchased an existing home and retrofitted solutions to the challenges the building presented.
Their home is the perfect example of how, with a bit of ingenuity, it’s possible to make any home more energy efficient.
Two challenges for temperature management were a large west-facing brick wall which acted as a heat sink, and floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto the back deck.
Neville and Judy wanted to keep the home cool in summer without losing their views.
See-through reflective blinds helped stop the heat from making it through the windows while preseving line of sight, and a retractable shade cloth attached to the western side of the house meant the wall that acted as a heat-sink could be shaded in summer and opened up in winter.
A skylight that opens and closes by remote releases hot air that’s risen to the top level of their home, and Neville and Judy find that now even in the peak of summer the most they need from their air-con is to run it on the dry setting through the day.
Neville and Judy were first inspired by their own tour of a sustainable home decades ago.
“Simple things like insulation, sealing the gaps around doors and windows, they came first,” Neville said.
“People worry about the expense, but when something breaks you need to replace it anyway.
“You might as well replace it with something that will save you money in the long run.”
The solar panels on the roof and battery attached to the side of the house provide the power the couple need for their day-to-day lives, including charging their EVs.
Judy’s extensive garden, including a ‘frog bog’ full of native fish and tadpoles, is kept thriving thanks to three tanks and an irrigation system.
She said planting mostly natives served two purposes. Their yard is a haven for birds and the plants require less water than exotic species.
Once you get under the trees it’s several degrees cooler than the ambient temperature on the footpath.
“We started in Sydney about 2008 and I was mostly interested in the garden then,” Judy said.
“I was gobsmacked. In the end I was most impressed with the technology.
“To me it’s a no-brainer – there’s so much energy coming from the sky, why are we digging it up out of the ground?”
Convenor of the Illawarra branch of Renew Greg Knight will conduct the tours.
He said it was an opportunity to see what could be done by ordinary people, without a sales pitch attached.
“We talk to people about reducing the cost of living and making their homes sustainable,” he said.
“It’s a journey – solar panels, EVs, electric stoves and air conditioners – but people don’t always know where to start first.
“At Sustainable House Day you can talk to people who have done it and aren’t trying to sell you anything.”
The tours run on Sunday 4 May and tickets are available online for less than $10.
To register for an in-person or online tour, click here.
