I am constantly harassing my husband to switch off unused and standby lights in our house. Wherever he goes in our house he seems to leave a trail of lit, vacant rooms and a plethora of standby lights on.

The one light he especially loves to leave on is his computer monitor light, which I religiously turn off nightly.

So, he did make me giggle when he sent me this article about the Intelliplug. It’s a plug that contains a switching system that automatically switches off attached peripherals when the PC is turned off. In other words, when the PC is turned off at the end of the night then monitor and speakers will automatically power-off too. A PC monitor on standby overnight can use the same amount of energy as a microwave would need to cook six dinners. Although, my husband denies this

Anyway, the Intelliplug is available in the UK but not here yet. Hopefully, it is on its way – maybe in time for Christmas. Or maybe there is something out there already in Australia, which I don’t know about yet?

Last weekend my family and I visited some interesting places during Sustainable House Day. This year there were so many houses on offer, it was difficult to choose which ones to visit — our time was a bit limited because we had a four year old and a small baby with us.

We chose the Hawkesbury EarthCare Centre, an owner-builder house constructed from interlocking concrete blocks and a new house using many clever environmental elements.

(more…)

I’m really looking forward to next weekend because it’s Sustainable House Day (September 13-14). Finally, I’m going to be in Sydney to enjoy some houses in my area – and this year there seems like quite a lot.

A few years back I was in Canberra so I checked out a few houses there. The one thing that amazed me with the houses there was how cold it was outside, but how toasty warm (with no heating) it was inside due to solar passive designs and thermal mass. The houses also gave me some good ideas of what I could do in my own house.

The event is happening across Australia and New Zealand so check out some houses in your area for some good ideas and inspiration.

If you do, please tell us about the places you visited in the comments section below.

Despite installing insulation in our ceiling, our house is really cold in winter.

Unfortunately, the main culprits are bare wooden floor boards – complete with cracks - in our main living area and a huge evergreen tree in the backyard that blocks out all North facing sun.

Our bedroom is also freezing – thin carpet tiles lie on top of bare wooden floor boards and the wall mounted heater faces a window so most heat is sent straight outside through the glass. The roof to our bedroom is tin and uninsulated.

At the moment we can’t afford to insulate under the floorboards or in the roof of our bedroom and the tree…well the tree provides such fantastic shade in summer we just can’t face pulling it out.

So, we are taking some simpler actions to help our house cope better in winter. (more…)

I’ve just finished reading Making Your Home Sustainable by Derek Wrigley. It’s a really useful book for anyone wanting to retrofit their house to improve its energy and water efficiency.

When architect and solar consultant Derek Wrigley moved into a townhouse in Canberra in 1991, he began retrofitting it to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Throughout the book, Wrigley uses the house to show how homes in Australia’s southern states can be made more sustainable.

The book is ideal for home owners who can fit out and alter their house. However, there is a small and informative section that provides renters with ways to improve their home’s efficiency at minimum cost.

The book covers more than just basic green living tips – it provides detailed information (but easy-to-understand) about solar energy, energy efficiency, appliances, mass and thermal comfort, insulation, ventilation, minimising water and effective landscape use.

It’s a great resource for all us retrofitters out there. To buy the book, visit Scribe Publications.

This Saturday (March 29) at 8pm don’t forget to turn off all your lights and unused appliances at the switch to show your support for Earth Hour.

The event, organised by WWF, began last year in Sydney where over 2.2 million residents and over 2,100 businesses turned off lights and appliances for one hour to help reduce the city’s greenhouse gas pollution. WWF says that this lead to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city.

This year the event has gone global with another 23 world cities formally signing up.

With 24 global cities on board for Earth Hour, WWF anticipates that more than 30 million people will be involved this year.

If you haven’t already, sign up for the event on the Earth Hour website. You don’t have to be in one of the 24 cities to show your support.

Not sure what I’ll be doing yet. I think another candle lit dinner with my family.

What are you planning? Or what did you do for Earth Hour?

I love beer, especially now that I am pregnant and shouldn’t drink it

My husband brews a pretty good drop from our garage, which usually comes top of my list for taste.

But now there’s a new beer I’d like to try (when I can) and that’s Cascade Green, which Cascade claims is 100% carbon offset.

What does this mean? Well according to the Cascade brewery, all remaining greenhouse gas emissions from the beer are offset from the moment the company sources its hops to when the beer bottles are placed in recycling bins.

Cascade also says that it uses bio-degradable vegetable oil based inks in the beer’s packaging, and the carton is 100% recyclable.

Have you tried this beer? Let me know what you think.

Another good news solar story from Adelaide.

Work has finally begun on installing solar panels to Adelaide airport’s roof, producing the second-largest rooftop solar plant in Australia.

The panels will be attached to the airport’s Terminal roof 1, and will generate 160 megawatt hours of electricity a year, equivalent to the average electricity consumption of 30 houses. Read the full story on the Adelaide Now website.

Adelaide is one of my favourite Australian cities and recently I was lucky enough to travel there for a good friend’s wedding.

There are a lot of things I like about this city - good food and wine come top of mind plus a free city bus, but it also seems to be implementing some fantastic initiatives with solar energy.

One such initiative is the world’s first solar electric bus (also for free), which I saw driving around the city centre.

Yes, you heard it right -  world first!

Aptly named the Tindo (Kaurna Aboriginal name for sun), the bus is recharged using 100% solar energy. It also doesn’t have a combustion engine, which makes it a very quiet, zero emissions and carbon neutral vehicle.

It’s air-conditioned and can carry up to 42 passengers.

So if you are in Adelaide and you see a bright green bus called Tindo driving around, get on to check it out. Unfortunately, while I was in the city I kept missing it so I would love to hear what you think.

Although it’s in the UK, I just love this site. Such a great idea and many of the ideas in this online animation are similar to what is being, and can be, done in Australia.

Check out Greenpeace UK’s EfficienCity - an example of how towns and cities across the UK are using cleaner energy to fight climate change.