Sustainable bathrooms

Coromandel House  - and see, too, The Sled House What’s a ‘sustainable bathroom”? It’s one where the water comes from the roof which serves it, the water is reused to flush the toilet and wash clothes. That’s easy enough; it happens every day at my place, Sydney’s Sustainable House, and has been for the last 16 years.  Ho hum. The tough part is this: what materials do you use for the walls, floors and ceilings?  To be sustainable they need... Read More

Tentative and decisive tent plans

Planning continues for living in a tent in inner Sydney. The tentative tent plans are mainly the Where to pitch? part. First off I’m planning a short stint in a community garden where there’s food growing to go and fellow gardeners to share the fun and join me on my to-be-built pallet verandah. Anyone who has a site they think may work is very welcome to contact me here on the blog or the website at:   archive.sustainablehouse.com… Decisions have been made... Read More

An example of a Lombok villa going green

Yesterday I saw some villas in Lombok where the owners have done their best to make them sustainable. High on a hill looking out to the Lombok Straight and over the village of Senggigi and others below, the Studio Villas, have a range of materials and designs to sustain the use of timber, soil, energy and water.  The rainwater is harvested into a total of 130 thousand litre tanks underneath the houses.  They are noticeably cool inside and use traditional design  - cross breezes,... Read More

John Connor, CEO, The Climate Institute endorses The Plan

John Connor, CEO, The Climate Institute, has read the Plan to make a suburb sustainable – the Sustainable Communities Plan – and has endorsed it in these terms: ‘Tackling climate change requires ambition and action from all directions: top down; bottom up, and; from all sides.  Your plan is fresh thinking from the ground up and a few laterals thrown in. It persuasively sets out a vision which reveals a prosperity that is smarter, cleaner, healthier as well as... Read More

Making units green

Article about making units green, positives, negatives, red tape, solutions and barriers to change: www.thefifthestate.com…   and here:   theplan.sustainablehouse.com…  Read More

Sustainability education courses in Australia

A question popped in my email some time ago but I lost track of it until reminded today: “Hi Michael Hope this email finds you well. In late 2010 I visited your house – thanks again for opening your doors. Since then I’ve read your book and am very interested to know whether there are any tertiary / TAFE courses (or otherwise) which focus on sustainable house design. I understand that architectural degrees do, to an extent. A permaculture course (PDC) I recently... Read More

Cool windows in summer, warm windows in winter

This question popped up in my mailbox this week: Dear Mr Mobbs, I heard your interview on ABC702 this week and you mentioned a glazing film which can be applied to glass to make it more insulated. Can you please tell me what product it is? So far, I have found a film made by Enerlogic and distributed in Australia by MEP films which claims to reduced heat loss through the glass by 90%. Unfortunately, this film has a slight golden tint to it which I would rather not have. Regards C   Here’s... Read More

Over 100 signatures and 19 cities have signed up . . .

? @sustaintheplan Luke has tweeted that over 100 people from over 19 cities around Earth have signed the petition to make the Plan for a sustainable suburb. That’s in the  first week before we’ve widely publicised the petition and the new web site. Great to know, for example, that people in Copenhagen love the Plan and want it made – it applies to any city on Earth – if we can get it made here in Sydney anyone anywhere may use that example to more easily... Read More

Genghis Khan in Sydney

Up early this cool Autumn morning. Showered in water hot from yesterday’s sun, savoured the simple animal pleasure of the steam of it on the windows.   Walked about 40 minutes to the centre of the city.  Along the edge of Darling Harbour, beside the water all lovely, asparkle, ashowing off in the clear, gods-given sunny, cloudless day.   Then finally to the top floor of the new renovation of the Museum of Modern Art at Circular Quay, functions only.  Isolated from... Read More

Great new vid about how to make Chippo Plan real for us all

Mikey Leung tells stories on video.  He’s just made a beaut vid about our plan to make Chippo sustainable and the people who love it so much they’ve spent hours and hours putting it on a new web page for anyone to use to make the place where they live and work sustainable, too: youtu.be/SHkMh8wwlXY…   Thank you, Mikey – you’re terrific and so’s your vid. Join with us to make the Plan happen and watch the vid and go to the link there .... Read More