Summer Ready Home is a practical webinar designed to help renters and homeowners prepare their homes for hotter summers and periods of bushfire smoke. The content will then be available as a four-part mini course designed to help attendees revisit and apply the webinar content at their own pace.
The session will explore affordable and achievable ways to keep your home cooler, improve comfort and reduce reliance on energy-intensive cooling. It will include temporary and low-cost options suitable for renters, as well as longer-term improvements homeowners and landlords may wish to investigate.
What we’ll cover:
- How to identify where and when heat enters your home
- External shading for problem windows
- Curtain, blind and pelmet options that help reduce heat transfer
- Finding and sealing unintended gaps around doors, windows and skirting boards
- Creating a morning, daytime and evening cooling routine
- Knowing when to ventilate and when to close the home
- Using ceiling and portable fans effectively
- Comparing evaporative cooling, portable air conditioners and reverse-cycle systems
- Preparing one room to use as a cool and cleaner-air retreat
- Reducing smoke entering the home and using a HEPA air cleaner
- Heat-stress warning signs and when to seek help
- Longer-term improvements to research, including insulation, water storage and cooler gardens
Participants will leave with four practical household actions they can begin before the next hot day, whether they rent or own their home.
Four-part mini course
Following the live webinar and Q&A, attendees will receive the webinar information as a four-part email series. Each email will contain a short section of the webinar recording, with the key information broken down into manageable action items and accompanied by a simple step-by-step guide. The emails will also include demonstration videos showing how to complete practical tasks, such as draught sealing.
The mini course is designed to help attendees revisit and apply the webinar content at their own pace.
Q&A
There will also be an opportunity to ask Jenny questions at the end of the webinar.