When was the last time you visited an op-shop?

Reducing waste comes in many forms and fortunately in Toronto we have a fine selection of op-shops that are assisting our community to make a sustainable difference. Council has recently released the Lake Mac Op Shop Trail guides.

The guide says that “Op shopping isn’t just about finding great deals; it’s a powerful way to protect our planet and support our local community. In a world where fast fashion dominates, the environmental toll is immense. Clothes are made cheaply, worn briefly, and discarded quickly, contributing to massive waste and pollution. By choosing second-hand, we can challenge this throwaway culture and promote sustainability.

Op shopping gives pre-loved items a second life, significantly reducing carbon emissions, and conserving valuable resources. Each purchase is a step towards a more sustainable and ethical fashion industry. Plus, op shopping supports local communities and charities, making a positive social impact.

Local Op-shops are

• The White Room- Carey Bay Shopping Village – an extensive collection of quality bags, accessories and vintage clothing,
• Allira House Op Shop- 116 The Boulevarde offers clothing for everyone, with manchester, accessories, books and a small range of homewares. Proceeds support domestic violence refuges and education programs for people experiencing homelessness.
• Salvos-67-73 The Boulevarde - clothing for all ages, homewares, books, larger furniture items and nick-nacks
• Vinnies 80 The Boulevarde - offers an exciting variety of clothing, plus homewares, shoes, books and accessories.
• Save the Children -Shop 2/49A The Boulevarde- offering preloved clothing, shoes and accessories, plus brand-new excess stock at discounted prices. Partnering with Upparel for textile recycling
• Lifeline -34 The Boulevarde- clothing, homewares, furniture and books

Is your House Sustainable?

Housing is changing rapidly. The cost is prompting many to renovate instead of relocate and new owners are looking to make their mark on their new home.

Both of these options provide an opportunity to build for a more resilient future to adapt and mitigate the effects of our rapidly changing climate on our living space and the broader community.

The Sustainable House Day organisation is creating a year-long program, culminating in an open house event on 19 March 2023 and commencing this October with a series of online offerings, Sustainable Design 101. 

This online series is an introduction to the fundamentals of sustainable design, perfect for those who are in the planning stages of a build, curious about improving their existing home, or even just dreaming of a future sustainable home.

The October topics include-

• Where to start? ONLINE, 4th Oct 2022, 7-9pm (AEDT) 
• What is low energy design?  ONLINE, 11th Oct 2022, 7-9pm (AEDT)
• The basics of building materials. ONLINE, 18th Oct 2022, 7-9pm (AEDT)
• Energy systems and efficient design.ONLINE, 25th Oct 2022, 7-9pm (AEDT)

Retrofitting for Resilience is the November theme.

The sessions are held online from 6:30-8:30pm and are either $10 or free for members of Renew. 

All the details are at https://sustainablehouseday.com/

• Getting Started - ONLINE, 9th Nov
• Protection from embers and radiant heat ONLINE, 16th Nov
• Water and landscaping ONLINE, 23rd Nov
• Energy setups ONLINE, 30th Nov

Are you thinking about how to keep cool?

Quite a few people have already thought about it.

The Cooling buyers guide to Active Cooling published in Dec 2018 by Renew magazine looks in detail at the options for active cooling such as fans, reverse-cycle air conditioning, evaporative air conditioners, hydronic cooling and ways to reduce cooling costs and impact on the grid.

The article provides a comprehensive table of air-cooling devices with brands, power ratings, airflow, features and RRP and links to other articles on heating and cooling your home.

Does Solar Cost? by Richard Turner

The Coal Point Energy Community Inc. is a group of residents of Coal Point who are exploring ways to make our electricity supply cheaper and more reliable. At the same time aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and establishing ways for the community to have more direct control over our local energy source.

Have you considered installing solar panels (PV) to your home? Even if you installed solar some time ago it is now time to revisit the issue as the solar landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years.

Solar panel and related management technology efficiency has improved significantly, to the extent that, even without subsidies or guaranteed high feed in tariffs, it is still worthwhile committing to installing solar.

Recommended independent information: www.solarquotes.com.au

The solar review process involves an energy consultant viewing your property and assessing its suitability for the installation of solar panels and, with access to your power bill, designing a system which optimizes the return on your investment (ROI). That is, a system which gives you the shortest “payback time” for your investment.

However, depending on your circumstances and your property, that may not necessarily be the best economic outcome.

Consider the scenario where the optimum system for ROI takes up only a small portion of your available roof space. You could potentially produce more solar electricity than the optimum “pay back time” so a different assessment methodology needs to be applied to the extra capacity. Assuming a feed in tariff of around 12c/kWh one then needs to calculate the cost of production of 1 kWh to determine the feasibility of the investment.

Most quality solar installations come with at least a 20 year “performance” warranty so it would follow that you use up to 20 years as your pay back time on your extra capacity. If you buy Telstra shares today your payback time is 10 years, for CBA its currently 12 years and BHP 15 years.

Assuming a pay back time of 10 years (conservative) and an interest rate of 5% (generous) the cost of production of 1kwH is around 4c and you can sell it to the grid for around 12c. That generates a ROI of around 5%. And the cost of electricity is only going to increase over time.

Saving on your power bill by producing your own is only a relatively minor benefit when you consider the bigger picture benefit of a solar system including:

1. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, solar generated electricity is a totally renewable source of energy 
2. Improving energy security by local generation which reduces demand on the national grid and reduces the likelihood of overload and 
3. Enabling individuals and the community to take greater control of their energy environment. 

If you would like to explore local energy options

• come along to our meeting at Progress Hall, 197 Skye Point Rd on Tuesday June 26th at 7pm  
• email a message to changecoalpointelectricity@gmail.com 
• join the discussion on the Nabo social media site.

Dare to dream a new concept for the Carey Bay site?

The Carey Bay site offers an opportunity to implement best practice sustainable housing and demonstrate the 2050 visions for the city that LMCC is espousing.

It has the perfect location to provide a sustainably established community but to do this there needs to be common space for people to gather such as a meeting room or communal shed, or a community garden where neighbours can interact.

Houses designed for optimal energy efficiency to combat a changing climate, consideration for renewable energy generation and storage on site, a resilient internal energy network with energy sharing.

At what point will we as a community start to do things differently. We will not fix the bigger problems of climate change facing us all by doing the same things, the same way only bigger.

If you would like to explore a more sustainable concept plan for the land at Carey Bay please get in touch with the CPPA to arrange a time to meet and talk further. The future is what we make it.

What a spiffy sustainable Hall!

The $20,000 Community Building Partnership grant is bearing fruit. The 20 solar panels are on the roof as part of the SunCrowd bulk buy, the watertank is full and plumbed in and flushing toilets, the rusty roof has been replaced and we’ve acquired some newer chairs thanks to the Royal Motor Yacht Club. 

Only a few items left…a chair and table trolley and some more chairs. All these sustainable solutions will contribute to lowering the running costs on the hall and make it more user friendly. If you are a hall users you need to make sure the power is on to drive the pump to flush the toilet. Thanks to the NSW Government for making this all possible.

Lots to say about Carey Bay!

A total of 81 community submissions were lodged with 79 opposing the development at Carey Bay. Due to the number of submissions received the development application will go before Council for approval i.e. the decision will not sit with a Council Officer as delegated authority… but in the meantime the developer has some work to do. 

On 15/10/13 Lake Macquarie City Council posted a ‘Request for Information’ to the developer in order to adequately assess the proposed 26 dwellings on Laycock St. A 12 page document, identifying LMCC’s concerns about the proposed DA is available for viewing on LMCC’s Application Tracking website and via this link. 

LMCC’s ‘Request for Information’ stated in its conclusion (p3) “an assessment of the development application has found it to be deficient in terms of owner’s consent, information provided to enable a detailed assessment, and were an assessment has been undertaken the proposal has been found to be of poor quality design. Further, a number of the areas of deficiency or poor quality design where identified as significant issues to be addressed at a Pre-lodgement meeting of 27 February 2013. Also a significant number of submissions have been received objecting to the development proposal. Therefore in its current form there is no option but to determine the development application by way of refusal.

In this regard, it is required that the development application be withdrawn, the required specialist reports be prepared, the design be reviewed and a Pre-lodgement meeting be convened prior to re-lodgement of the development proposal. Should additional information be submitted for the application Council may proceed to determine the application without any further negotiation.”

There was a suite of concerns that need to be addressed under headings of Ecological values, Ecological Corridors, Scenic values, Tree Preservation  & Management, Bushfire Risk, Sloping Land & Soils, Erosion Prevention & Sediment Control, Energy Efficiency, Noise & Vibration-Air Quality, Stormwater Management/On-Site, Stormwater Harvesting, Operational Waste Management, Vehicle Parking provision, Car Parking Areas & Structures, Access, Streetscape & local Character, Landscapes, fences, Building Siting, Form  & Design. Many concerns also reflected the proximity of the Childcare Centre to the proposal.

The Progress Association and Sustainable Neighbourhood Groups are keen to use this opportunity to discuss what could be possible on the site. If you have an interest or expertise in sustainable development please contact either group via Nico Marcar by phone 40231978 or email nico.marcar@gmail.com . 

Ultra-Low Carbon Housing & Sustainable Living

Wednesday 10 October 7.00-8.30 pm @ Progress Hall
 

Is it really possible to have a high standard of living whilst dramatically reducing our carbon emissions?

John Shiel, a PhD researcher at the University of Newcastle's Centre for Energy, will present the results of sustainable research into issues that are urgent and important, and that should concern all of us. 

The talk will include recent evidence of rapid global warming; common myths; global trends and efforts; practical ideas from a housing development workshop held at Eraring Power Station a few years ago; features of impressive 9 and 10 star Australian houses; and local suggestions from attendees of a Lake Macquarie University of the 3rd Age course, run earlier this year. John will follow-up questions if they cannot be addressed on the night.

Contact  Toronto Area SNG:  tasngsecretary@gmail.com. 
For more info contact jafshiel@gmail.com or on 4952 5209. Some of the slides from the talk are available at  http://www.envirosustain.com.au/page21.php.

Interested in Reducing your personal Carbon Footprint?

John Shiel, will present a talk on the Ultra-Low Carbon housing development with a summary of Sustainable Living at Progress Hall on Wednesday 10th October at 7– 7.45pm, with 45 mins for a Q&A. John will research questions that are not satisfactorily addressed on the night, on behalf of those enquiring. Please RSVP by 1st Oct to jafshiel@gmail.com or 49525209. John has Degrees in Engineering and Computing and is currently researching a PhD on rapid reduction of Housing Greenhouse Gases.

At a recent presentation given to the local U3A ideas were gathered on Keeping Warm Sustainably – the class agreed these tips would lower energy use with the benefit of having lower bills.

• Allow the sun in the Northern windows, by having the eaves protrude at the top of the window no more than approximately ½ the height of the window from the eaves (this cuts off the sun in summer)
• insulate ceiling to R4
• zone your living room to only heat a small volume eg. additional doors or curtains across corridors;
• put closely-fitting heavy lined curtains with a pelmut on windows and ensure it reaches the ground, wraps around the edges and overlaps in the middle to act like double-glazing and draw the curtains at dusk and don’t fully open until the sun is coming in windows;
• add thermal mass to the living room with a large wine cellar rack, or remove the carpet on a concrete floor or add an internal brick wall;
• draught proof external doors with metal strips on base and plastic foam around door edges, but watch mould issues, and also air quality if there is gas in house;
• monitor humidity for mould with a temperature and humidity USB monitor with LED or open up doors and windows regularly or use ozone or Damprid;
• close adjustable wall vents;
• use more clothing and blankets.
• Another tip could be to use an air conditioner to heat one room instead of a radiator, but to keep the thermostat low to say around 20 degrees with additional clothing or increased activity.

More Sustainable Neighbourhood Workshop Outcomes

  

You may be wondering what sort of people attended the workshop. You can find out at http://www.hackdays.com/knowwhereyoulive/ .  

Know Where You Live is the prototype of a data mashup that displays a range of Australian Government data based on your geographic location along with a Google satellite map. 

The initial prototype was created in under 24 hours as part of the inaugural Govhack event in Canberra in October, 2009