by Max Lindegger During a recent visit to Sydney I had the opportunity to be shown around a house which has made major inroads into self reliance. Michael Mobbs, his wife and two children live in a rebuilt terrace home in an inner city suburb. From the outside it looks like a standard terrace house but it is far from being ordinary. The Mobbs's have decided to be part of the solution, not the problem. After careful planning and consultation with experts in the field they have installed photovoltaic cells to fill the electricity needs of the household, recycle all the wastewater and re-use it to flush the toilet and wash clothes, collect rainwater for all their water needs and have only used timber from plantations. While refurbishing a house like this does not come cheap - the cost for the water and wastewater systems and solar installation added up to $48,000 - there are savings to be made too, with ongoing savings of $1500 a year in power and water costs. The big winner of course is the environment. The changes they have made means that more than 100,000 litres of water can stay in the rivers, 60,000 litres of sewerage does not flow to the treatment plant, 4.3 tons of coal are saved and 8.3 tons of carbon dioxide does not pollute the Sydney air. Imagine the impact if other people copied this example! Perhaps a whole suburb! The house is open (by appointment) for inspection on Mondays. |