Wondering how renewable energy can make your future home more sustainable?

Discover why reducing your home’s energy needs first is what makes your renewable energy dollars stretch further.

Learn also how to sequence your decisions before adding renewable energy to your new build or renovation, so you can supply a home that’s already performing efficiently.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 414, and Way #14 of the 44 Ways to Create Your Sustainable Home series here on the podcast. This episode completes Section Three: Sustainable Services and Infrastructure.

It may seem strange that we’ve taken a while to get to solar, given this is where many homeowners will start in their sustainability choices for their project. I understand why solar feels like the obvious first move. It’s visible. It’s tangible. Its benefits show up on the electricity bill.

But if you’re doing whatever you want in your home design and layout, ignoring the site and climate, and adding solar before you’ve addressed the energy efficiency of the home itself, you’ve possibly heard the saying: it’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

Way #14 is: Use Renewable Energy to Supply Your (Reduced) Energy Needs. 

Note the inclusion of the word ‘reduced’ there. That’s your first priority, and then your renewable energy can supply that lower need.

Imagine two homes sitting next to each other. Same size. Same number of people. Same suburb. One reflects the order of decisions laid out so far in this ‘44 Ways’ series: site-specific and climate-specific passive solar design, efficient appliances, a heat pump hot water system, correctly-sized heating and cooling. The other hasn’t taken any of that into account.

The standard home is using, let’s say, 30 kilowatt hours of electricity per day. The well-designed home’s energy use is radically less, at 15 kilowatt hours. Immediately there’s a significant difference in how big a solar system you’ll need to supply that usage. Twice the system. Twice the upfront cost. Twice the resources, on a home that is already consuming resources through its size and inefficiency.

Reduce the home’s energy requirements first through design, selections and specifications. Then supply the reduced demand with renewables. 

That is the sequence that gives you the best outcome at the lowest overall cost.

Renewable energy, in the form of rooftop solar or ‘green’ power you purchase from your retailer, generates electricity. But if you’re retaining gas supply for your hot water, heating, cooking or a combination of all three, any renewable energy supply can only make a minor dent in your energy use overall. 

Reduce your energy use, then go all electric with that energy supply, and then use renewable energy to provide it.

Rooftop solar PV is the most widely installed and most cost-effective residential renewable energy technology available in Australia right now. Around 40% of Australian homes now have it installed, with the USA, UK, Canada and New Zealand all sitting at considerably lower percentages of residential properties. 

Roof orientation, pitch, shading and your local climate all influence what your system will produce, so it’s worth getting advice specific to your project.

Battery storage makes a lot of sense if you’re in an area with grid instability, or if you’re establishing a new building site where grid connection is significantly more costly than an off-grid, battery-supported system. 

In urban areas, the returns depend heavily on your usage patterns, local tariffs, feed-in rates and upfront cost. Don’t dismiss batteries, but get independent advice specific to your household before committing.

Even if you don’t install a battery now, design your home’s electrical system to be battery-ready. It’s a low-cost future-proofing measure that your team can design and build in from the start, and many HOME Method members are considering this for their projects, especially given future electric car purchases.

This episode also wraps up Section Three of the ‘44 Ways’ series. 

The sequence of decisions across the first three sections is deliberate: 

• passive solar design first, to minimise the loads your home places on any services or infrastructure
• then efficiency in how your home uses energy
• then renewable energy supply, sized to supply a home that is already performing as well as it can.

In this Episode, I cover:

• The common mistake homeowners make with solar, and why the sequence of decisions matters more
• Why going all-electric is the prerequisite for running your home on 100% renewable power
• How to think about rooftop solar PV sizing, roof orientation, pitch, feed-in tariffs, and installer due diligence 
• The warning signs of cowboys in the industry
• What to consider with battery storage in urban vs regional contexts, and why making your electrical system ‘battery-ready’ is worth doing even if you don’t install one now
• How to evaluate the sustainability arguments around solar and battery materials
• The full Section One, Two and Three recap of the ‘44 Ways’ series so far, and why the order of these decisions matters so much

Plus a whole lot more.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

RESOURCES

Episodes 345 and 346: Get Off Gas with Brendan Lang: 

• Episode 345 ‘How to Get Off Gas: Electrifying Your Home’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-how-to-get-off-gas-electrifying-your-home-brendan-lang/ 
• Episode 346 ‘Electrifying Your Home: Solar Power, Heat Pump Hot Water and Air Conditioning’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-electrifying-your-home-solar-power-heat-pump-hot-water-air-conditioning-brendan-lang/ 

Get Off Gas (Brendan Lang) >>> https://getoffgas.com.au/ 

Clean Energy Council, solar and battery information >>> https://cleanenergycouncil.org.au/ 

SolarQuotes (independent solar advice) >>> https://www.solarquotes.com.au/ 

Your Home (Australian Government resource) >>> https://www.yourhome.gov.au/ 

Energy Rating (Australian Government appliance ratings) >>> https://www.energyrating.gov.au/ 

’44 Ways to Create a Sustainable Home’ e-guide >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/ways 

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my signature online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/