The Importance of Sustainable Housing - Case Study Example

Sustainable Housing Name: Unit: Course: Supervisor: Date of submission: Executive summary This report is about sustainable housing in Sydney Australia. The report included findings collected during the sustainable housing open day. The report covered the water harnessing processes, energy saving, permaculture gardening and waste management in Lewisham House and in Margaret’s Permaculture Garden. Lewisham house is one of the houses in Australia that have adopted sustainable housing which the main characterisation is the use of resources in an efficient manner by adopting environmental sustainability measures. The report dwelt on the water supply system which is used for irrigation and washing. It was found that the water is normally collected from rainwater and stored in three tanks. The Lewisham house uses solar energy to-power most of the operations in the house. This is backed up by a gas system that is used for hot water heating. The report also covered the permaculture gardening in Lewisham house and Margaret’s Permaculture Garden. Lewisham house plants herbs and citrus fruits in the nature strip as part of sustainable housing. The herbs produce is harvested and dried. In addition to the herbs, stingless bees are kept in which honey is harvested. There is a small flock of egg laying chickens which complement the sustainable housing and permaculture activities. The Margaret’s permaculture garden depends on water supply from the rainwater. The garden also conserves water by use of swales and mulching. The electricity powering the house in the Margaret’s Garden is generated from solar power. The permaculture garden has chicken flock, herbs, trees, and fruits’ that foster the ecosystem. Finally, the report concluded the report by emphasizing the importance of sustainable housing. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0: Introduction 4 2.0: Lewisham House 4 2.1: Water Supply System 6 2.2: Energy system 6 2.3: Lewisham house Permaculture Garden 8 3.0: Margaret Permaculture Garden 9 3.1: Permaculture 9 3.2: Margaret’s Permaculture Garden 12 3.2.1: Water system 12 3.2.2: Energy conservation system 14 4.0: Conclusion 14 5.0: References 16 1.0: Introduction The sustainable house entails the application of a good plan in the building of houses and living practices that are responsive to the environment by enhancing good use of the natural resources and reducing the wastes. The utilisation of natural resources that are locally available and integrating measures to promote environmental sustainability is the core concept of sustainable housing (Becker 200, p.15). This report evaluates the system of the water harnessing and supply, waste management, energy saving and permaculture gardening. The report is based on a site visit of Lewisham house that has adopted sustainable housing and permaculture gardening and Margaret Permaculture Garden, which is a model example of sustainable practices. 2.0: Lewisham House The sustainable housing entails the commitment to use of the resources in an efficient manner. This ensures that the practices adopted by householders promote sustainable practices and are geared towards cleaner environment for the future generations. The use of the resources efficiently involves the implementation of strategies that promote the sustainable practices in an environment that is marked by resource constraints (Thorns 2004, p. 52). This is achieved by efficiently using water, energy, improving productivity and reducing wastes in order to prevent environmental degradation. In Australia, the consumption of the natural resources has been taking place at unprecedented rate, which is way beyond the levels that can be renewed and conserved for the future generations. This has raised concern on the future of the natural resources and their availability for the coming generations. As a result, the construction and management of many houses in Australia have shifted to strategies that make use of the limited resources in a responsible manner by maximisation on the cost saving and putting the houses in a position that ensures growth. Sustainable housing thus involves the use of the cost saving measures and putting the environmental processes in a position of growth in order to save the nature. This process involves cooperation between stakeholders who have to work together and encourage the environmental conservation measures. For instance, the collaboration of the householder with the government, and the councils in which a partnership on good environmental practices is maintained. Through such a process, the authorities encourage the house owners to undertake conservation measures around their houses and rebates are provided for the various conservation efforts put in place, this include permaculture practices that make use of the locally available resources (http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/introduction-permaculture) Sustainable measures and collaboration have been undertaken in Lewisham House. In 2009, James and Priscilla moved into the Lewisham House. Over the following year, they undertook a renovation process that was to align the building to make the house and the immediate surrounding to conform to environmental conservation and sustainability. The renovation processes included the insulation of the roof by use of the solar panels and efficient gas hot water systems (http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com ). According to Becker (2001, p. 14) the creation of sustainable housing is based on the understanding of the connection that exist between design of the house, the neigbourhood and the social relation aspect of the house, This understanding fosters the self responsibility of that house owners in the endeavor to adopt conservation measures that are aimed at sustainable housing, Lewisham house is an example of the understanding. 2.1: Water Supply System The main source of water for the Lewisham house is the rainwater. The water is collected through three water tanks strategically located around the house. These tanks are connected by a 25 mm pipe that makes them to form one a single water system for the house. The collection of the water to the three tanks is through well-fitted gutters that ensure that there is maximum collection of the rainwater to the tanks during the rain season. The water system is then connected to the one toilet and washing machine. The three tanks are of different capacities of 5100L, 3100L and 1500L; therefore, the maximum capacity of the rainwater that is collected to the three tanks is 8700 liters at any time during the rain season. The rainwater that is collected in the Lewisham house is normally used for the washing purposes. The system of the rainwater from the three tanks rainwater is connected to a washing machine and to the toilet. The Lewisham receives rebates from the Marrickvillle council, the Australian government and Sydney water due to the measures taken towards improvement of the house and conservation (http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com ). The rainwater in the three tanks is also used to form a system that is used to irrigate the gardens. To ensure the maximum utilisation of the water, the irrigation system consists of 19mm polypipe that extends to the both the front and the side gardens. The system consists of water head with efficient showerhead and the irrigations system is fitted with spikes that supply the sub-surface water to garden. 2.2: Energy system The Lewisham house is installed with 1.6 kW solar PV systems on the roof. The solar modules used in the house are the 8x 250 Pluto Suntech. SMA Sunny Boy inverter with a maximum conversion capacity of 1.85kw does the conversion of the solar. This ensures efficiency and maximum harnessing of the solar energy for the use for different purposes. To achieve energy saving a wireless energy monitor has been installed which acts as part of the solar panel solution. Before the renovations, the roof was limited and thus James decided to use the solar electricity instead of the solar hot water system. However, after the renovation activities, the house was left with 99m2 of the flat roof in which gas system was installed, the hot solar tank was not discarded and James plans to retract to the use of the hot water solar due to the increasing cost of the gas (http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com ). The hot solar water system was procured from Endless Solar. The system consists of 30 evacuated tubes on roof, which connects to a tank fitted on the ground with a capacity of 300 litres. The hot water system in the house is connected to the pre-existing continuous system of the gas water system. This system ensures efficiency and eliminates the need for the manual boosting of the solar hot system. The house does not have an air conditioning system for cooling or warming, instead, it has a cool cupboard that is constructed in the pantry walk. This contains the an under floor gas heating duct that is draws in cool air, there is also a chimney that is on the roof, this forms a system that is energy efficient and which relies on the heat from the fridge and the gas heating system for its operation mainly in keeping warm during the winter. Before the commencement of the renovation, James dealt with the local council, the Marrickville Council to seek clearance on the renovations of the house. The issues that were raised included the need to come up with a sustainable house that forms part of the Australian conservation culture. This sustainability was to be carried in conjunction with the Australian government which has been providing rebates for some of the conservation measures that the householders have been taking. In the process of the modification, James has also had to deal with the Sydney water and Australian Government in addressing the issues that concern the water system that is collected from rainwater and the system for water supplied by Sydney Water Company, the water from the company is mainly used for the drinking and cooking (http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com). During the modification process, the householder has continually relied on the Marrickville Council which has been helping in providing guidelines on the modification process. For instance, in the parmaculture gardening, the puling out of the grass has been through the council help which also takes upon it as a cost saving measure for the maintenance of the grass by replacing it with native herbs and citrus trees that are beneficial to the householder. 2.3: Lewisham house Permaculture Garden James maintains a permaculture garden around the Lewisham house. Permaculture gardening is a process that combines natural landscaping by combining it with natural vegetation that is edible (http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/introduction-permaculture) . The main emphasis in permaculture is the use of the native plants that are well adapted to the local area (http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com). The Lewisham parmaculture garden is irrigated by the water system from the rainwater. The parmaculture crops are planted along the nature strip in the house. Across the nature strip, a section of the strip was dug and prepared for the planting the herbs and citrus trees. The herbs planted include the turmeric while some of the citrus trees include the lemon trees. These plantations have matured and made the area green. In addition, the house owners can now harvest the lemon and turmeric, dry it and store them for future use. To plant the herbs, the Marrickvillle Council encourages pulling down the grass which further saves the council the cost of maintaining the grass through the mowing. Around the house compound, James has turned the area to green by planting different types of the herbs and trees which include mint bushes, the dianellas, and correas (http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com ). Lewisham house has also integrated measures in the garden that enhance the sustainability of the house. As part of the conservation, the Lewisham house does bee keeping on the rooftop of the house. The keepers of the house have obtained the native stingless bees; the bees are kept through principles of natural beekeeping. The production of the honey averages 30-40 litres per year. At the back of the garden, there are also six chickens which are well taken care of. Damage of the environment has been a major concern for all environmentalists. This has been cited to be the cause of destroyed ecosystems and disappearance of certain plant and animal species. The systematic approach to improvement of the environment is an undertaking that house owners have to adopt in demonstration of due diligence and ensuring the effective conservations systems (Thorns 2004, p.52). For instance, through the practice of permaculture, house owners contribute to maintaining the ecosystem and ensuring proper use of the resources as demonstrated in Lewisham house. 3.0: Margaret Permaculture Garden 3.1: Permaculture Permaculture is a system that is designed for creation of environments that are sustainable for humans. The word permaculture arises from the three words the permanent agriculture and culture. The main concepts of permaculture are integration of the culture, agriculture and incorporate the aspect of forming permanent norms to the practice in order to design the households and communities that encourage productivity (http://www.permaculturenorth.org.au/). These activities are also aimed at ensuring minimising the negative impacts to the environment and ensuring self-reliance. This implies that a household can harness the important resources and set systems to ensure efficient utilisation of the resources. Such resources include water, energy and application of modern technology in carrying out processes at home that promote environmental conservation measures. The key principle behind permaculture is recognition that everything that is undertaken in the household has some effects on the environment and subsequently affect other people. Therefore, there is need for measures that ensure that the harm to environment is avoided. The permaculture is based on three ethics; the caring of the earth, caring for the people and ensuring fair share. The permaculture deals with the buildings, plants, animals and infrastructure that relate to water and the creation of relationship between the various elements to fit in a given landscape (http://www.permaculturenorth.org.au/). The sustainable housing and permaculture are designed on efficient energy planning for the house and the site, use of different elements to support each other, performing of multiple functions by use of the elements. In Australia and specifically Sydney, it is notable with much concern that the landfills have started reaching capacity. These have seen increasing costs in the maintenance of the landfills. With a lot of organic waste going to the landfill, there is a significant negative environmental impact, which can only be minimised by adoption of waste management systems. This can be achieved through the minimizing waste, increase-recycling processes and ensuring better recycling behaviors are adopted by householders Efficient energy planning in permaculture entail the dividing the site into zones and sectors that should reflect the housing needs for the given house. The proper utilisations of the zones ensure that every part is used to yield the benefits for the household and leverage the efforts of the environmental conservation and maintaining of the ecosystem. Efficient energy planning that includes setting systems in household such as collection of rainwater and channeling the water for different uses within the household. The efficient use of the site includes the zoning process in which portions within the house vicinity are used to benefit the owner and at the same time improve the environment (Snell & Tim 2005, p 24). For instance, one portion of the house garden can be used to keep chicken, another site used to plant herbs and some native trees and within the locality, native stingless bees can be kept. This leads to development of an ecosystem that is beneficial for the house and its inhabitants. The bees benefit from the flowers from the herbs and other plantations. The honey from the bee keeping can be sold to generate extra income for the house. The flock of the chicken ensures that they provide manure for the crops planted and at the same time supplement the nutritional needs of the household by providing eggs. The chicken are also allowed to scratch around the beds when the crops have been harvested, this helps to turn the soil for the manure. The turning also removes the harmful insects. The chicken thus acts to provide the labour by turning to the soil, provide fertilizer by the droppings, control the pests and provide food. This shows how permaculture ensures that one element supports many functions in a natural manner where the environment is not degraded (http://www.permaculturenorth.org.au/). 3.2: Margaret’s Permaculture Garden The Margaret’s Permaculture Garden is a vibrant sustainable garden that has been in existence for the last six years. The permaculture garden consists of four plots that have four different permaculture designs. This include the bungalow plus the front and back gardens and a small forest allotted part for a garden. In the small back garden, there is a wall house and bed where Margaret has planted herbs and salads. The wall also holds the wall trained fruit trees and minarrete. The front part of the garden that also forms the front of the house is utilised for tender fruit production. In the allotted plot, most of the vegetation and fruits are grown there. The back and front gardens are normally used to raise young plants which later are transplanted in the allotted plot. To ensure healthy relationship, the allotted garden in turn provides the kitchen with supplies of the herbs. To suppress the winds and ensure minimised water usage, Margaret’s Permaculture Garden applies sheet mulching to conserve the moisture and at the same time suppress weeds. Margaret attested that the sheet mulching plays an integral role in the water conservation and in regulation of the weeds in the garden. (http://sustainablehouseday.com/item/margarets-permaculture-garden/). 3.2.1: Water system The main source of water for the Margaret’s Permaculture Garden is the rainwater. This water is normally collected through a specially prepared system that leads to a tank with a capacity of 10000 litres. Most of the rainwater is used for the household cleaning processes and it is also connected to form the irrigation system for the permaculture garden. The flow of the water from the tank to the points of the various uses is through gravity. The use of gravity has been applied as a measure to minimize energy use in the pumping of the water. The water for drinking is normally supplied by the water Sydney Water Company. The approximate usage of the water per days stands at 100litres per day. The cost for the supplied water for usage and the power cost for the Margaret’s Permaculture Garden is $ 200 on the yearly quarterly basis. The rainwater that is collected to the storage tank is mainly from the rooftop of the house and other two structures that are found in the garden. This water is then channeled to feeding taps that lead to the garden, the laundry point and to the toilet. To ensure maximisation of water capture in the garden, there are swales, mulch and composting pit that are used to capture the run off water. Water is a very important component of permaculture processes and plays a significant role in the urban gardening. The design elements that support the support continuous water supply process include the setting up of water tanks that can be used for the harvesting the rainwater, use of swales to collect runoff water and application of mulch to reduce the water evaporation. Permaculture thus focuses on the simple practical things that house owners can apply to ensure sustainable living (Snell & Tim 2005, p. 27). The main focus for Margaret is the sustainability of the parmaculture garden. The Margaret’s parmaculture garden is situated on a steep hill, the garden is designed with the main aim of ensuring that the environmental conservation is achieved and at the same time to provide the owner of the house with food and medicinal plants. The growing of the vegetation in the house is through raised beds which are designed in a manner to ensure self watering wicking beds. The produce from the permaculture is consumed fresh or preserved by drying in energy saving ways such as solar drying, this ensures that the produce from the garden does not go to waste and can be stored for future use. The fruit trees which form part of the garden are integrated with native perennial vegetation and mixed with flowing plants to attract beneficial insects. This creates an ecosystem that is very beautiful and that adds colour to the garden. The garden also consists of a flock of chicken, mainly egg laying hens that are part of the permaculture gardening (http://sustainablehouseday.com/item/margarets-permaculture-garden/). In the Margret’s Permaculture Garden, there is no waste that leaves the garden, the materials that are not edible are collected from the garden and composed in bays and worm farms. Through this practice, there is minimization of waste that otherwise could have been taken to already landfills that are reaching capacity. The non-edibles are also used within the garden for the mulching and building of the plant supports. 3.2.2: Energy conservation system The electricity to the building is normally provided by the grid and from the solar panels fitted in the house. The capacity of the solar panels is 1.5 kW. The house is designed in manner that there are eaves, window awnings and shatters that serve to protect the house from the hot summer sun. Through this special design, the house limits the use of the energy for the cooling system. During the winter season, the house is heated by wood heaters; these are slow combustion heaters that depend on the firewood that is collected locally. The design of the low combustion ensures that the firewood used is minimised and serves as a measure to reduce the cutting of the bushes and trees to provide the firewood. 4.0: Conclusion Living responsibly within the environment is a means towards realizing the greater Australia’s culture, building economy and ensuring a happy community that co-exists with natural environment. Living responsibly is part of sustainable housing that minds about the future generation. According to Thorns (2004, p. 53) the natural resources are being depleted at an alarming rate and if measures are not taken the future generation will find a very harsh environment that will be difficult to sustain them. Responsible care of the environment ensures that the natural ecosystem is maintained and makes the environment colourful for everyone. Therefore, sustainable housing is anchored on four environmental initiatives, which the house owners need to adopt by using resources efficiently and responsibly, improve environmental risk management, minimize waste and by embedding, engaging and inspiring change. Embedding conservation processes into the core process activities of home living can achieve the progress in sustainability of environment. The culture of conservation needs to start with each householders, this can be achieved through implementation of the activities around the house that boost the home conservation measures and act as inspiration to others. Through the sustainable open day, these activities can be showcased to inspire the public into the sustainability processes. Lewisham House and Margaret’s Permaculture Garden are good examples of the sustainable practices. 5.0: References An introduction to permaculture: How to put the practices of permaculture to use in your own back yard. Available at: http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/introduction-permaculture [Accessed on September 29th 2014] Becker, E. and Jahn, T. (eds.). 2001. Sustainability and the Social Sciences: A Cross- Disciplinary Approach to Integrating Environmental Considerations into Theoretical Reorientation. London: Zed Books, pp. 12-18 Lewisham House: Exploring suitability in Sydney. Available at. http://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com/ [accessed on September 26th 2014] Margaret's Permaculture Garden. available at http://sustainablehouseday.com/item/margarets-permaculture-garden/ [Accessed on September 26th 2014] Permaculture Sydney North: Sharing sustainable solutions with community. Available at http://www.permaculturenorth.org.au/ [Accessed on September 26th 2014] Snell, C. and Tim, C. 2005. Building green: A complete guide to alternative environment conservation. New York: Lark, pp. 23-41. Thorns, D. 2004. Creating Sustainable Housing: The challenge of moving beyond environmentalism to new models of social development. New Zealand: Social Science Research Centre, University of Canterbury, pp.51-63. Read More