Couple builds eco-friendly strawbale home

GEELONG Sustainability’s chief executive has recently completed construction on an energy-efficient and sustainable strawbale home.

Located in Teesdale on a 2.5-acre block, the home was built by Dan Cowdell and his wife Natalie over a six-year period.

As part of the construction, strawbales were attached to a frame and laid together not unlike large bricks.

Mr Cowdell said while the interest in using alternative building methods predated the decision build the home, it was a visit to a strawbale house in Ballarat that ultimately motivated the couple’s choice.

“It was in the middle of winter and as soon as we walked into this place, it was just this beautiful warmth and we just couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“We were talking to the homeowner there and he said, ‘Yeah, we haven’t run the heater for a week’.

“We’d just walked in from the ice cold, frosty winter weather in Ballarat and it blew our mind how comfortable you could be in a home just doing things a bit differently.”

Mr Cowdell said the building practice has been around for centuries and provides the home with a natural form of highly efficient insulation, so much so the couple opted not to install an air-conditioner.

The home has been intentionally designed to be small to reduce the couple’s footprint and, wherever possible, natural, low-chemical building materials had been used.

A strong focus was also placed on getting the orientation of the home right.

“Our living spaces and big open windows all face north and what that means is in wintertime, we get all the beautiful sunlight streaming right into the house,” Mr Cowdell said.

“We put a concrete slab on the floor so that sunshine warms up the concrete floor during the day and then at night-time, it just releases that energy back out.

“It’s called passive solar design and it’s just a way of using the natural energy of the sun to heat the house for you and then because it’s super insulated, and we also tried to make it as draft-proof as we could. It just really holds onto the warmth really well.”

Mr Cowdell said there were plenty of amazing examples of homes right across Geelong that had been built using sustainable materials and encouraged others to consider the many building options available to them.

“There’s just so many different options available for people, and I think that if people are looking at building a new house, or even renovating, just taking a little bit more time and doing a bit of research into what the most sustainable options are.

“For us, I know it’s resulted in being in a home that’s just so much more comfortable and the energy costs of running it are so, so low because we’ve been able to make it so energy efficient.

“I would just encourage people to try and do the best they can, even if it’s just doing one thing like getting the orientation of your home facing north.

“Just that alone will make such a massive difference and then from there, the sky’s the limit with what you can do.”

For those interested in learning more about sustainable home designs, Geelong Sustainability host an annual Open House event, along with a series of workshops and information sessions, allowing the community to experience first-hand homes across the region that have employed sustainable practises.

The event will take place in October, with details dropping in September.

For more information, head to geelongsustainability.org.au