Why the Greeny Flat? We built the Greeny Flat because we believe that the time has come to move towards a fossil-fuel-free future and to build small, simple structures that meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. We wanted to show that it is easy and affordable to build an energy positive house which will allow us to live comfortably in harmony with our environment. By proving that anyone can achieve this then the question really becomes, “Why not?”
 Video Tour of the Greeny Flat
 Video Tour of the Fibro Cottage Deep Energy Retrofit
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PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN – Click here for the Ten Simple Steps to good Passive Solar Design
HOME ENERGY RETROFIT – Click here to follow the progress our latest project via a series of short YouTube videos
PHEV! – Click here to read about our Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
The Greeny Flat is:
- Small (57 sq.m, 2 bed/1 bath)
- Simple (rectangular floor plan, gable roof, timber frame, concrete floor, off-the-shelf materials and equipment)
- Solar (passive solar design, solar hot water, solar power)
- All Electric (allows us to make our own energy)
- Energy-positive (exported over three-and-a-half times more energy to the electricity grid than imported during first year of monitoring using only a small, 3kW solar power system)
- Cost-effective ($130,000 to build, total running cost for entire year of $311)
- Low-maintenance and durable (no paint exterior, tough/ easy-care materials and finishes throughout)
- Comfortable (interior stayed between 13 and 27°C with no additional heating or cooling while exterior temps ranged from -5 to 41°C over a year)
- Healthy (careful attention to Indoor Air Quality, natural light and ventilation; encourages walking and biking; raised vegetable garden beds for healthy eating)
- Fire-resistant (no combustible materials on exterior)
- Water-efficient (rainwater harvesting, low-flow fixtures and appliances, low-water-use landscaping, used 60% more harvested rainwater than town water over a year)
- Adaptable and elderly-friendly (designed for single person, young family, or aging couple)
- Heritage Sensitive (built in the Mittagong Heritage Conservation Area and local council award winner for “Sympathetic Addition to a Heritage Place”)
- Infill development (increases density; conserves open space and resources; makes use of already developed land, roads, sewers, water and electricity supplies; easy walking distance to shops, restaurants, schools, supermarkets, churches, parks, and railway station; dramatically reduces driving; easy walking and biking)
- Sustainable (REDUCE-less materials, waste, resources and cost to build; less energy, water and cost to operate; less energy and cost for transportation; REUSE – doors, tiles, paving, retaining walls made from reused materials; RECYCLE – entire house can be unscrewed and reused or recycled; RENEW – energy positive with renewable energy; renewable materials used in construction including timber frames and EcoPly interior)
Conceived, designed, and built by Andy Lemann with lots of help from Jane, Martin, Cintia, George and Cate Lemann. The Greeny Flat is based on a Triple Bottom Line philosophy which aims to improve the Environmental, Financial and Social outcomes of the choices we make. A big part of what makes it ‘affordable’ is the low operating and maintenance costs which add up to huge savings over the life of the home (and its occupants) and a big part of what makes it sustainable is the fact that it is ‘energy positive’ i.e. it produces more energy than it uses over a year.
As you browse through this website, please bear in mind that it is not the ‘look’ of the Greeny Flat that is important but the ‘way it works’. We chose to use galvanised cladding on the exterior because it doesn’t hold heat and doesn’t require painting and we chose to use plywood on the interior walls because it allows the whole building to be taken apart and repurposed at the end of its useful life. These were personal choices and the same goals of building a small, comfortable, healthy, energy positive, low-maintenance, fire-resistant, water-efficient, elderly-friendly home can be achieved with different materials and a very different look both inside and outside if that is what you prefer.
To read more about the goals for the project and what they mean click here or on the ‘Goals’ tab at the top of the page.
Click here or on the ‘Gallery’ tab to view a photo diary of the project.
For those who like to get down to the nitty-gritty click here or on the ‘Details‘ tab for more in-depth information about the project, the philosophy behind it, and the systems used.
Click here or on the ‘Results tab to view a table of the Results of the Greeny Flat experiment.
Or to immerse yourself in our shining wit (thank you Dr Spooner) about the ongoing status of the experiment click here or on the ‘Newsletter’ tab above (or on any of the links to the right).
If you are interested in building an energy positive home or business for yourself, or in what you can do to make your existing home or business more like the Greeny Flat, we offer consulting services for both new and retrofit projects. Click here or on the ‘Consulting’ tab above for more information about our Consulting Services
Thanks for visiting and feel free to contact us if you have any questions after you’ve read through all this malarkey.
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Recent Newsletters
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Apr 1, 2022: These floods are no joke
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Mar 4, 2022: Disasters of Our Own Design
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Nov 12, 2021: Free Zoom Screening of ‘Now’ Movie on Sunday
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Nov 5, 2021: The Times They Are A-Changing
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Oct 14, 2021: Sustainable House Day is Back… virtually
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Sep 24, 2021: Two Years In the Cottage
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Jun 25, 2021: Cheap and Simple EV
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May 14, 2021: 3D Printed Earth Home
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Feb 26, 2021: Doing Something About It
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Feb 12, 2021: Barangarooted
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Jan 29, 2021: Our House on the ABC
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Jan 8, 2021: Electric Vehicle Madness
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Dec 12, 2020: Water Works and Solar Cars
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Nov 13, 2020: Arts Trail Open House
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Oct 2, 2020: Another Year of Living Positively
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Sept 18, 2020: Virtual Sustainable House Day on Sunday
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Sept 11, 2020: Back in Mittagong
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Aug 28, 2020: One More Week in Port Macquarie
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August 21, 2020: Progress Report
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August 14, 2020: This week’s progress report
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August 7, 2020: Port Project Photos
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July 17, 2020: Port Macquarie Project Progress
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June 26, 2020: All Electric Workhorses.
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June 19, 2020: Port Macquarie Project
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June 5, 2020: Mount Gibraltar Stone Stairway
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May 22, 2020: Morrison Wants To Give $11M To A Coal Baron
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April 22, 2020: Happy Earth Day
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Mar 13, 2020: Coronavirus makes me feel lucky
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Feb 20, 2020: Kitchen finished
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Jan 31, 2020: How To Build a Fire-proof House
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Jan 24, 2020: Back To Work
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Jan 3, 2020: Childhood Beach Devastated By Fire
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Nov 22, 2019: Energy Positive Success
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Nov 1, 2019: Art Studio Trail This Weekend
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Oct 18, 2019: Solar Monitoring and Upcoming Events
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Oct 11, 2019: Queen St Renovations
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Sept 28, 2019: Greta vs Growth
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Sept 6, 2019: Sustainable House Day 2019 next weekend.
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Aug 30, 2019: Solar Installed
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Aug 23rd, 2019: Solar System Ordered and Other Notable Stuff
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Aug 16, 2019: Two Projects Finished and Sustainable House Day Coming Up.
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July 12, 2019: The Beauty of Bamboo
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July 5, 2019: Back To Russell Island
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June 28, 2019: Kitchen Upgrade
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June 21, 2019: What’s Your 2040?
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May 24, 2019: Public Meeting in Bowral on Friday 31st of May
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April 26, 2019: Reader Feedback on Granny Flat Economics
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April 12, 2019: The Economics of Granny Flats
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Feb 20, 2019: Russell Island Home Tour
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Feb 8, 2019: Russell Island Nearly Finished
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Jan 25, 2019: Progress and Other Good Stuff
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Jan 18, 2019: New Leaf and Progress Photos
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Jan 4, 2019: Doors and Architraves
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Dec 28, 2018: Russell Island house progress.
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Dec 12, 2018: Back on Russell Island
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Nov 16, 2018: Greeny Flat For Rent
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Nov 9, 2018: A Tale of Two Houses
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Oct 2018: Is The Housing Market Starting to See the Light?
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Sept 16, 2018: Greeny Flat Testimonial.
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Sept 7, 2018: Lighter Roofs and Cheaper PHEVs
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August 31, 2018: Windows and Cladding
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August 17, 2018: Adamant About Eaves
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August 3rd, 2018: Raising the Roof
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July 27, 2018: Progress Photos
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July 13, 2018: Project Progress
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July 7, 2018: Affordable Housing Project in QLD
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May 11, 2018: DIY Retrofit Double-Glazing
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May 4th, 2018: Greeny Flat Available to Rent – Jun/Jul/Aug
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April 20, 2018: Why you MUST monitor your solar system.
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April 6, 2018: 4th Earth Day Party – April 22
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March 30, 2018: It’s a Great Time For Solar
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March 23, 2018: Beware of Tradies In Your Attic
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March 16, 2018: More Sustainable Subdivisions
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March 2, 2018: More Solar For Landlords and Renters
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Feb 23, 2018: The Reroofing Begins
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Feb 16, 2018: Record Year for Rooftop Solar
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Feb 9, 2018: Cooking With Compost
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Feb 2, 2018: Waste-to-Energy Systems
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Jan 16, 2018: Should I Replace My Tile Roof
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Dec 12, 2018: More About Keeping Cool
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Jan 5, 2018: Keeping Your Cool
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Dec 29, 2017: Happy New Year
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Dec 22, 2017: Upside-down Season
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Dec 8, 2017: Bitcoin Climate Disruption
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Dec 1, 2017: The Coming Disruption
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Nov 24, 2017: Suncrowd Review – 0 Stars
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Nov 17, 2017: Tesla Tiny House Here Next Week
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Nov 2, 2017: Montana Off-grid Eco Tiny House
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Oct 27, 2017: Glorious Rain and Good Results
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Oct 20, 2017: Cattle… Good or Bad?
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Oct 13, 2017: The Snow Shows Where the Heat Goes
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Sept 6, 2017: Tesla Tiny House coming to Bowral
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Sept 29, 2017: Home Solar and Double-dipping on Carbon Emissions
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Sept 22, 2017: Time to Load Up On Solar
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Sept 15, 2017: Sustainable House Day This Sunday.
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Sept 8, 2017: Project Progress, Yellowstone, Etc
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August 31, 2017: Day Tripping in Montana
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August 25, 2016: Electric Vehicle Update
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August 18, 2017: State of The States
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August 11, 2017: Cool Stuff
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August 4, 2017: Going to Montana
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July 28, 2017: Episode 13 – West Side Shade Awning and Deck
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July 21, 2017: Now That’s True Sustainability!
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July 14, 2017: How To Choose The Best Electricity Retailer
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July 7, 2017: A Year of PHEVing It.
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June 30, 2017: Case Study – Holiday House Energy Upgrade
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June 23, 2017: In The News This Week
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June 16, 2017: Grow Your Bricks and Monitor Your Energy
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June 9, 2016: A New Ethical Energy Retailer
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June 2, 2017: Dark Days and Bright Spots
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May 19, 2017: Things That Caught My Eye
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May 12, 2017: The Sublime and the Ridiculous
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May 4, 2017: Episode 12 – Replacing the Sewer Lines
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April 28, 2017: Doing the Dirty Work
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April 21, 2017: Ban the Bag
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April 14, 2017: One Down, One Billion to Go.
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April 7, 2017: 3RD EARTH DAY PARTY – April 22
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March 30, 2017: Electric Shocks
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March 17, 2017: Big Changes Coming
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March3, 2017: Massive Erections
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Feb 24, 2017: PHEV Love
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Feb 2, 2017: Every Home Needs This!
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Feb 3, 2017: Episode 11 – How To Make a Solar Air Heating Wall
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Jan 20, 2017: Episode 10 – Why Build a Solar Air Heating Wall?
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Jan 13, 2017: Agents of Change and a New Local Brew
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Jan 6, 2017: Starfish and the Cost of Australia’s Poor Quality Houses
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Dec 23, 2016: Episode 9 – What’s a Trombe Wall?
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Dec 16, 2016: Episode 8 – Retrofitting Passive Solar
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Dec 11, 2016: Episode 7 – New Windows in Old Walls
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Nov 25, 2016: Repower Excitement and Episode 6
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Nov 18, 2016: Community Renewable Energy Investment Opportunity
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Nov 4, 2016: Window Replacement and Tesla’s New Battery
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Oct 28, 2016: Suncrowd! What a Buzz!
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Oct 20, 2016: Episode 4 and Catchpower Answers
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Oct 14, 2016: Episode 3 – Borers, Rot and Underfloor Ventilation
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Oct 7, 2016: Episode 2 and SunCrowd Invitation
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Sept 30, 2016: Home Energy Retrofit Video 1
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Sept 23, 2016: Catch Power – So What’s The Catch?
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Sept 16, 2016: What To Do at the End of the 60c Feed-in Tariff
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Sept 9, 2016: Happy Sustainable House Day!
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Sept 2, 2016: The Beginning of the End of Solar Subsidies in NSW
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August 25th, 2016: Lessons from an Infrared Camera
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Aug 19, 2016: Open Source Tiny Homes
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August 12, 2016: Sustainable House Day 2016
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Aug 4, 2016: Solar Bulk-buy with SunCrowd
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July 29, 2016: ‘Free’ Power with Repower
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July 21, 2016: Fibro Cottage Energy Retrofit
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July 15, 2016: Science With a Conscience
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July 8, 2016: Election Day – Droning On
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June 25, 2016: ‘Renewable Electricity’ is NOT ‘Renewable Energy’
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June 19, 2016: The Power of TV and The Rise of The Machines
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June 12, 2016: Magnetite, Drones and Climate Action
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June 4, 2016: Stools to Fuels
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May 29th, 2016: The Future of Energy?
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May 21, 2016: Concrete Alternatives and PCM’s
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May 15, 2016: First the Good News
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May 8, 2016: Underslab Insulation
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May 1, 2016: Counting Comfort and Costs
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April 24, 2016: Celebrating Two Years of Energy Positive Living
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April 17, 2016: Gimme Three Reasons
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Apr 10, 2016: Second Earth Day Party, 4-7pm April 22nd.
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April 3, 2016: Home Battery Updates
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Mar 26, 2016: An Electric Transportation Revolution
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Mar 18, 2016: Mould and Other Fun Stuff
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Mar 12, 2016: Reader Feedback and Lithium Issues
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Mar 6, 2016: Beware of ‘Standard Practices’
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Feb 28, 2016: Fossil Fools
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Feb 20, 2016: Grow, Cook, Eat – Offgrid Power – and Welsh Cars
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Feb 14th, 2016: Gotta Love These Little Houses
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Feb 7, 2016: Renewable Energy Prepares For Take Off
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Jan 24, 2016: PHEV Goes Bush
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Jan 17, 2016: 1.5L/100km
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Jan 10, 2016: How To Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
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Jan 3, 2016: PHEV Goes Camping
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Dec 27, 2015: Electric Driving Less Than Half The Cost of Petrol
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Dec 20, 2015: Our First Week With an Electric Vehicle
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Dec 13, 2015: Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is.
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Dec 13, 2015: Paris Talks Waffle?
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Nov 29, 2015: Walking for Climate Action and Driving Electric Vehicles
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Nov 15, 2015: Battery Storage Options
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Oct 8, 2015: The Big Disconnect?
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Nov 11, 2015: 7,377,870,064 Elephants in the Room
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Oct 25, 2015: Pros and Cons of Granny Flats
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Oct 16, 2015: Greeny Flat Wins Green Globe Award!
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Oct 11, 2015: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
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Sep 27, 2015: Build Tight, Vent Right
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Sep 20, 2015: Driving Sustainability
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Sept 12, 2015: Greeny Flat Named 2015 Green Globe Awards Finalist
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Sept 6, 2015: Sustainable House Day
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August 27, 2015: Water, Water Everywhere!
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August 23, 2015: Back in Brazil
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August 14, 2015: Ranch Life and Sustainable House Day
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August 7, 2015: Greetings From Montana
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August 8, 2015: Renewable Choice for Oz Voters
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July18, 2015: Whoops, I Spoke Too Soon
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Jul 12, 2015: Nice Weather for Eskimos
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Jul 5, 2015: Solar Planes, Trains and Automobiles
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Jun 28, 2015: Greeny Flat Welcomes Sustainable Lifestyle
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Jun 21, 2015: Happy Winter Solstice!
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Jun 14, 2015: Test Drive the Greeny Flat
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Jun 7, 2015: Visit to a Local Food Forest
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May 31, 2015: Exciting Times!
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May 24, 2015: The Heat Goes On
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May 17, 2015: DIY Solar Air Heater Prototype
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May 10, 2015: K.I.S.S. My House
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May 3rd, 2015: Tesla Reinvents Electicity
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Apr 26, 2015: Party Pics and Random Bits.
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Apr 22, 2015: Experiment Declared Resounding Success!
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Apr 19, 2015: Greeny Flat’s 1st Earth Day Party this week
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Apr 12, 2015: Sand Wars, Floating Solar Farms and other Fun Stuff.
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Apr 5, 2015: Invitation to a Party
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Apr 4, 2015: UK’s First Carbon Neutral Town
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Mar 21, 2015: Latest Results and Reader Feedback
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Mar 16, 2015: Our Double-glazed Windows
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Mar 8, 2015: Form Follows Function
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Mar 8, 2015: Reader Feedback
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Mar 1, 2015: Some Fun Stuff
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Feb 22, 2015: Proof Positive
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Feb 15, 2015: Case Studies – Heat Doesn’t Rise
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Feb 8, 2015: In all sorts of hot water
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Feb 2, 2015: Rethinking the way we design and build
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Jan 25, 2015: Latest Results and Electric Vehicles.
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Jan 20, 2015: The GreenPower plot thickens
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Jan 18, 2015: Switching to Green Power
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Jan 11, 2015: Our surface-mounted electrical system
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Jan 4, 2015: Our Solar Power System
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Dec 28, 2014: Sandwiches for Cathedrals
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Dec 24, 2014: December Results
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Dec 16, 2014: Eco-home Display Village Concept
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Dec 14, 2014: All New Homes to be Energy Positive by 2016.
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Dec 7, 2014: $41 Energy Bill for last three months
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Nov 25, 2014: Think light for a cooler roof
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Nov 22, 2014: Staying cool in the heat
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Nov 9, 2014: The benefits of a small home.
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Oct 26, 2014: Last Sunday the Greeny Flat made 4 TIMES as much energy as it used!
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Oct 12, 2014: Lessons learned so far
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Oct 10, 2014: Why an all electric house?
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Sept 22, 2014: Great Day for Renewable Energy
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Sept 21, 2014: Greeny Flat Cost Analysis
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Sept 11, 2014: $10.63 worth of energy in 3 months.
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August 30, 2014: Greeny Flat open for Sustainable House Day
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August 22, 2014: Four months and going strong.
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July 22, 2014: Three month’s results… All Positive!
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July 4, 2014: Energy Independence Day!
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June 11, 2014: Cintia’s winter
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May 27, 2014: Greeny Flat on ABC
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May 27, 2014: Cool Fridge Wins Energy Star Wars
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May 23, 2014: Testing the air-tightness
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May 19, 2014: First month’s results… VERY promising!
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Apr 22, 2014: Earth Day marks the start of one year of monitoring
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Mar 24, 2014: start of a big week
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Mar 7, 2014: BASIX is a JOKE!
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Mar 6, 2014: starting on the kitchen
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Mar 1, 2014: Pumps and Solar Hot Water: decisions, Decision, DECISIONS!
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Feb 24, 2014: Greeny Flat in the news
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Feb 20, 2014: surface mounted electrical system
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Feb 19, 2014: end in sight for the construction phase.
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