How to retrofit your home for sustainability
David Holmgren and partner Su get most of their food from 120 fruit and nut trees, chooks and goats on their one-hectare property in Hepburn Springs, Central Victoria. Passive solar design, solar power, wood heating, cold-storage cupboards, composting toilets, grey water systems and other measures mean the couple have few household costs and a low impact on the environment. In a COVID-19 locked-down, energy-descent and globally warming world, it’s a lifestyle many of us increasingly aspire to. “It takes a lot of work to keep it all ticking over,” Holmgren (the co-originator of permaculture), admits. “But no more hard work than the sort of things people pay money to do in a gym.”
Tours to Holmgren’s property, Melliodora (one of the nation’s best permaculture demonstration sites), are booked out. Holmgren believes the household nonmonetary economy has suddenly become a priority for people. Feeding into this paradigm shift are the challenges of rising costs, shortages in energy, food and housing, economic recession and climate change. On average, our homes produce more than 18 tonnes each of greenhouse gases per year — over a fifth of Australia’s total contribution, according to the Environmental Protection Authority Victoria.
Holmgren, the author of suggests refocusing our energy to become more
