Sustainable House - January 11, 2011

One of the major highlights of this trip for me was a visit to the sustainable house in Sydney Australia, and meeting Mr. Michael Mobbs, the visionary whose tenacity and hard work is probably a major contributor to the aggresive sustainability move in Australia (http://sustainablehouse.com.au/).  In first reading Mr. Mobbs’ book “Sustainable House”, it was refreshing to read about sustainability from a practical and realistic viewpoint.  Mr. Mobbs in his writing presents sustainability in a no-nonsense manner, and shares not only the positive, but the drawbacks of becoming sustainable.  Although Mr. Mobbs’ house was built in 1996 and his book first published in 1997, all of the practices that he presented and utilized in 1996 are applicable today.

The house is 100% sustainable, and at a glance appears to be a normal house.  Until Mr. Mobbs begin pointing out the sustainable features, one would not know that it was much different than the house next door.   Some of the major features of the house are:

1.      No public water comes into the house from the city. (Rainwater is harvested for use)

2.      No water or waste leaves the house.

3.      Gray water (water used for shower) is reused for toilet or washing clothes.

4.      No public electricity comes into the house, as it generates nearly twice the amount of electricity that it uses. (Solar Panels)

5.      Backyard fruit and vegetable garden used.

6.      Only four times since 1996, has the house required additional outside water due to lack of rain. 

Mr. Mobbs is very forthright about the challenges that he faced in making his house stainable in 1996, even though many of those challenges no longer exist due to a more educated public.  The major challenge was getting the project approved through city council and local code and zoning.   Mr. Mobbs now has not only the city council on board, but the entire neighborhood is benefiting from his vision.  Small community gardens exist throughout the neighborhood, of which people participate and partake.

Mr. Mobbs’ house represents a milestone in achieving sustainability, however realistically it is tantamount to going from 0 to 100 mph in 3 seconds!  All of the features that he built in his house can easily be duplicated, however most people would be more comfortable with taking a few features at a time.  I admire and applaud Mr. Mobbs, and I am truly inspired by his works.  I am moved to personally reach outside of my comfort zone to do more.