Last month, I attended the Urban Development Institute of Australia\u2019s national conference in Queensland and, coincidentally, spoke at the CRC Water Sensitive Cities conference in Brisbane the same week.<\/p>\n
I was speaking on our Aquarevo project in Melbourne, which has some amazing initiatives to save water, particularly using rainwater through the hotwater system and a smart meter called OneBox that also uses the rainwater tank as a flood mitigation tool.<\/p>\n
Another feature is that all the later stages of the project are being supplied with a five-kilowatt battery to really entice people to maximise their solar efficiency.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a real drive among the development community to install as many sustainable initiatives to save power and water in new communities as possible.<\/p>\n
For those who are serious about sustainability and want to visit a site that is ticking all the boxes, they should drive to the Cape Paterson eco village just past Wonthaggi.<\/p>\n
There are some display homes down there that have achieved nine and 10-star ratings. You can walk in the front door on a 36-degree day outside and the temperature inside is only 23 degrees, purely due to clever design, orientation and the thermal qualities of the fabric of the house.<\/p>\n
There are residents who have been living for 12 months in the homes with a negative power bill.<\/p>\n
The proof is in the pudding. You can live carbon neutral and, in fact, have power companies sending you a check instead of a bill.<\/p>\n
Some other really cool attributes include their stormwater system, which runs through a community garden system, acting as its filter before it exits to the sea.<\/p>\n
It might seem strange that one developer is promoting a project by another developer, but it is really worth the drive to Cape Paterson to see what I regard as a leading initiative \u2013 one that you can touch and feel that\u2019s far in advance of any metropolitan project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last month, I attended the Urban Development Institute of Australia\u2019s national conference in Queensland and, coincidentally, spoke at the CRC Water Sensitive Cities conference in Brisbane the same week. I was speaking on our Aquarevo project in Melbourne, which has some amazing initiatives to save water, particularly using rainwater through the hotwater system and a […]<\/p>\n