18 May

Stories in the news this morning about how Australia’s homes are hopelessly cold in winter, because they’re built for summer heat. And how that’s bad for peoples’ health, many homes averaging only 10 degrees celsius over winter. We converted all heating to reverse-cycle over 5 years ago and cut our heating bills by about 80%. Now with the bloody good windows in, this is the temperature outside this morning. The room where I am is the same temperature as when I went to bed last night, without putting the heating on. Together the two changes transformed the house completely. Add solar and heating is costing us nothing at all now. I know burning wood is how many avoid the heating costs. But it’s terribly polluting, especially in built-up areas. Really toxic smoke, especially if you throttle the fire back overnight, which creates even more smoke and more toxic chemicals in the smoke. Plus you have to source, split and chop wood, and the wood pile is a magnet for termites.