Big storm and no power in SA

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Originally Posted by vnx205

Something even simpler and cheaper was employed by a friend of mine.

Knowing that air movement can give a misleading impression about the temperature, he installed thermometers inside and outside the house. A slight breeze outside can fool you into thinking it is cooler outside.

He opened and closed the doors and windows when the thermometers indicated that there would be a benefit in doing so. He found that gave much better results than just flinging the windows open or closing them when he thought it might be cooler or warmer outside.

He was surprised at how much better he was able to regulate the temperature inside the house when he had actual data about the difference between inside and outside temperatures. All it cost him was the price of two thermometers. :)

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Actual air temp and how it feels yes, a small breeze can give the impression of 5-6degree less temp, hence ceiling fans!

My method is not quite that anal, Simply open the house completely of a night time, then lock it up tight at 6am, as thats the coolest time of the night...in summer time

And its better than sitting in horrible horrible air con, nasty dry stuff it is:mad:

I'd not do verandahs personally, I'd have shutters, especially with the crossover in spring and autumn, where some days you wish you had full solar gain, others you wish you had none.....nothing quite like the sun streaming in and light filling a house on a cold day! or better yet, not needing the lights on at lunchtime:D

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I believe the carbon tax included funding to shut down dirty old plants and move to cleaner sources, but of course that was axed.

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I don't know about shutting them down, but I do know that the brown coal generators received billions in subsidies from the government when the carbon tax came in to allow them to keep running. They were effectively given immunity from the effects of the carbon tax. One of dumbest parts of the whole program.

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Originally Posted by rovercare

... ....
I'd not do verandahs personally, I'd have shutters, especially with the crossover in spring and autumn, where some days you wish you had full solar gain, others you wish you had none.....nothing quite like the sun streaming in and light filling a house on a cold day! or better yet, not needing the lights on at lunchtime:D

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What looks like the front verandah on my place is an array of boards fixed at an angle so that they are edge on to the sun at midday on the shortest day.

The effect was to give us a full width verandah in full shade in summer and normal width eaves in winter so that the sun shone about 2/3 of the way across the floor in the lounge room and family room.

It more or less gave us the benefits of both a shady, wide verandah in summer and no verandah in winter. All that was achieved with no moving parts.

It worked pretty well.

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Originally Posted by vnx205

What looks like the front verandah on my place is an array of boards fixed at an angle so that they are edge on to the sun at midday on the shortest day.

The effect was to give us a full width verandah in full shade in summer and normal width eaves in winter so that the sun shone about 2/3 of the way across the floor in the lounge room and family room.

It more or less gave us the benefits of both a shady, wide verandah in summer and no verandah in winter. All that was achieved with no moving parts.

It worked pretty well.

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Oh for sure, certainly a massive improvement over what we seem as standard, I installed shutters on a customers house he was putting slates across every Equinox, as mentioned, they improved it yet agin....but, further cost involved, more internal comfort, all a compromise:)

My sister has a 3yo straw bale house on 250 acres in nth central Vic. Beautiful design based on an old house with a really high roof in Tarnagulla.

Does the day / night deal with ventilation. Inside is 22 when 35 outside and 25 inside when 42 outside.Wood heater for winter.

Off grid with a 3 kw system (I think) using SP pro and all the good stuff. Her driveway is 2km long to a road with no passing power so the grid was never an option.

The whole setup is just brilliant and really opened my eyes.

DL

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Originally Posted by 350RRC

My sister has a 3yo straw bale house on 250 acres in nth central Vic. Beautiful design based on an old house with a really high roof in Tarnagulla.

Does the day / night deal with ventilation. Inside is 22 when 35 outside and 25 inside when 42 outside.Wood heater for winter.

Off grid with a 3 kw system (I think) using SP pro and all the good stuff. Her driveway is 2km long to a road with no passing power so the grid was never an option.

The whole setup is just brilliant and really opened my eyes.

DL

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Amazing how nieve the public is and what can be done....the thing is, they are just a much nicer house to be in aswell

one the less, this doesn't help us at all with a national grid, it actually cause more issues than it fixes

...it's not naivety on the public's position.

I don't think any urban councils will allow you to build a new straw bale house in a new development.

It took years of legal fighting for my good friend in Marino in SA to have a Queenslander look a like built, just because the councillors didn't want a Queenslander built in an Adelaide suburb.

Many good environmentally friendly and power saving designs in houses are rejected by councils which gives the misconception that joe blow doesn't care.

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Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

...it's not naivety on the public's position............

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You're right and the nuffs doing appro's have no idea because they were taught by nuffs that probably worshipped Menzies.

What really got me at my sister's place was when I filled the electric kettle out of the mixer tap, turned it on, looked out the kitchen window at the hills 20 k's away towards Bendigo and had a cringe moment..........pump on then electric kettle on, big bucks. :D

Then it really dawns on you...... power has been prepaid for a loooong time, water happened to fall from the sky, all good.

No trailing commissions, no exec bonuses for any useless ****, no being 'farmed' so your wallet can be milked. Politicians claiming privatisation of utilities will lead to cheaper prices become irrelevant.

DL

Yep I grew up on a farm and we didn't get electricity until I was eight. We survived. It can be done.

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Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

...it's not naivety on the public's position.

I don't think any urban councils will allow you to build a new straw bale house in a new development.

It took years of legal fighting for my good friend in Marino in SA to have a Queenslander look a like built, just because the councillors didn't want a Queenslander built in an Adelaide suburb.

Many good environmentally friendly and power saving designs in houses are rejected by councils which gives the misconception that joe blow doesn't care.

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I'd disagree, how many new homes are you exposed to? numerous people I know have built houses and when I point out about west facing glazing, general shading, the simple things....they tilt their heads like puppies.

It's rare for people to know about thermal mass, solar passive stuff, we do heaps of work for builders, who have no idea

You are right, some developments have guidelines on what style can be built, and would be troublesome for someone wanting to build this style of residence, but I'll still with my comment and say lots of people have no idea, cross ventilation....what's that?;)