BICTON resident Guy Cameron has been weathering Perth’s winter chill with a hot water bottle and big cook ups in the kitchen because he has no heater in his new house; but that is just the way he likes it.
One of his life goals was to own a solar passive home.
The two-bedroom house, which he shares with his four-year-old son, has an 80sq m footprint made of conventional building materials put together in such a way that the house requires no supplementary heating or cooling.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWThe home relies on thermal mass using the sun for warmth in winter and through-breeze in summer.
“As a general rule, it is 25C in the house if it has been sunny, 21C when I go to bed and 19C when I get up,” Mr Cameron said.
“For each successive day of no sun it drops 2C.”
As a result, his power bill is a quarter of the home in front of his and he says the lack of artificial heating and cooling offers a better quality of air within the home.
He said the $180,000 house included some high spec finishes like polished concrete floors.
Prior to his sustainable home, Mr Cameron lived in an old-fashioned wood framed house.
“It had been a long term dream to build my own solar passive home of my own design,” Mr Cameron said.
“You don’t have to engage an architect, there’s information available that is readily digestible.”
“I deliberately built the house using conventional materials – it’s just about how you put the materials together.”
He encouraged other sustainable homes to open along with his next month.
Mr Cameron’s home will be open to the public from 10am-4pm on September 11 and can be found at 55A Murray Road, Bicton.
For more information, visit www.sustainablehouseday.com.