In today’s day and time, helping to conserve nature by reducing our carbon footprint and wastage should be one of the first priorities as human beings. Therefore, I think the first step we can take is by setting up our very intimate living area in a sustainable manner. Which is why I have compiled a list of the best sustainable homes in Melbourne that take care of nature even while enjoying all the amenities to make life comfortable.
• Ferreira House, Hamilton Hill
This standalone house is supported by Solar Dwellings and The Forever Project. This spacious home has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Chris who is the owner of the house began retrofitting his house, which belongs to the 1950, and now he has opened the garden to visitors to show how it has bloomed to life! He has tours that provide food production workshops, soil improvement, fertiliser use and how to use different plants for natural heating and cooling purposes! Imagine the number of possibilities this house offers for all of us to take home.
• Lake Weyba Drive House, Noosaville
This house entirely runs on solar energy! This house has been built with one concept in mind, which is to maximise the electricity production and then minimise the consumption thus promoting economic use of energy. The house has also a very precise mechanism to charge a fully electric car. The surplus energy is transported back to the grid. The house has produced around 48 Kilowatt hours per day for three consecutive years and has used only 9 Kilowatt per day which is quite impressive! The house also processes wastage from food and the garden is used for food production and even the front of the house has some low-maintenance native plants.
• Ben Boyd Road House, Neutral Bay
This house was built in the site of a burnt out bungalow. The new house is built in the old house’s model. The house has a 5 Kilowatt photovoltaic system that provides energy to all the electrical systems in the house. When the house was built, the old common bricks were stored, the brick cavity was insulated that reduced wastage. The house has a rainwater tank built of cast concrete that captures the entire roof rainwater, which is then processed to be used as drinking water.
• Solar Sollew, Seaholme
This house has used sustainable methods to the maximum for making a very environment friendly house. The house has their essential features listing with the following: Food production with the help of seeding-raising greenhouse, the landscaping is completely indigenous; there are systems for water collection and re-use, implementation of grey water irrigation technique, and a lot more. The house comes with a 9.1 energy rating.
