Angling your home to make the most of the warmth from the sun is the best thing you can do for energy efficiency. That’s the view of Rusty, who with partner Wal, has nearly completed “Earthwood” their adventurous home-built adobe (mud) brick house on the edge of Waimate in South Canterbury.
Rusty says the adobe brick takes advantage of the passive heat and energy from the sun.
“The sun is there – we should be using it. Your house is the biggest financial commitment in your whole life – make sure it’s good for the environment. Even if you took a normal house and faced it to the sun, it would increase energy efficiency roughly 40 per cent.”
Photovoltaic panels (which capture solar energy from the light of the sun) have also been installed on the house to heat hot water and generate electricity. Rusty and Wal say being independent of the electricity grid is another bonus of adding an alternative and environmentally sound energy source.
The couple carefully designed their eco house for themselves and their two daughters while living in Japan. Their desire for a more sustainable home came in part from wanting an original home, and in part from the desire to “walk the talk”.
“My personal philosophy is that ‘every bit counts’. It’s the small things that we all can do that count for the environment – and the small things can lead on to bigger things,” says Rusty.
She says they found out how to build an adobe house from a book on alternative building. Then they found there were national building standards for adobe, which also helped in the decision-making process. But the final piece in the jigsaw, was when having already bought land in Waimate, the pair discovered it had ideal clay for making mud-bricks.
“It was like when a flash goes off in your head and you say ‘that’s it! I’ll do it!’“
By design it’s a post and beam house with adobe brick infill. The new home has three bedrooms, an office, a bathroom with a composting toilet, and an open plan living and kitchen area. Grey water is processed on site with drip lines to a native garden.
The house has a smaller footprint than many newer homes, just 96 square metres and is long across the front to take advantage of the sun. “If you make the house smaller, it has less impact on the environment, fewer resources to build it and fewer resources to maintain it,” says Rusty.
The home was intentionally sited on three hectares of land for the family to develop an orchard. That has now been established and features pear, apple, quince, apricot and nut trees. There is also grazing land for sheep and the family plans to add some goats in the future.
Planning the house took a year, but finishing the work took nearly four years.
Rusty says the work was completed with the help of the local community who gave a big hand in the brick-making process and through the willing hands of WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). These international visitors helped with everything from laying the foundations, to brick-making, roofing, plastering, tree-planting and weeding as well.
“More than 120 people from eight different countries have visited so far. People are interested because it’s an alternative build, they’ve seen the blog (http://www.earthwoodwaimate.blogspot.com/) and want to come and have a look and lend a hand. It’s so popular we’ve been turning people away this year.”
For Rusty and her family the house is a dream come true.
“It’s a lovely house with a lovely ambience and it’s working out exactly how we wanted it. It’s cool when it’s hot – and warm when it’s cool. If there wasn’t so much fruit to bottle I could just sit down and enjoy it!”
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