Electric vehicles
Early adopters
Bruce Armstrong and Katherine McCann, based in Nedlands and Brentwood in suburban Perth, have been mostly getting around on electric bikes or in Bruce’s Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car since 2012.
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DIY
DIY: Insulating aluminium windows
Many Australian houses feature aluminium-framed windows, which perform poorly thermally. But performance can be greatly improved with a simple DIY project. Glenn Newman explains how his friend Lisa Rime came up with an easy system for DIY double glazing.
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Solar & batteries
Solar gardens
Can solar gardens help more people access the renewable energy revolution? And what are the financial and legal considerations? Pilot studies by the Institute for Sustainable Futures and Community Power Agency are giving some answers.
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Sustainable tech
A mania for monitoring: Beyond the smart meter
When you build a high-performance house, you want to know that it’s performing as expected. Cameron Munro has monitoring in place to do that—and he’s producing some lovely graphs in the process!
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Efficient homes
Emissions intensity of household electricity vs gas
Switching from gas to electricity for heating, hot water and cooking can favour your hip pocket. But what about emissions?
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Climate change
Don’t mention the emergency?
Climate change or climate emergency? At a Renew Melbourne branch meeting, clinical psychologist and climate activist Jane Morton explained that the language we use is important.
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DIY
DIY: Sheet mulch and hot compost
Fuchsia Branwhite explains the permaculture tricks she uses in her own garden, to both control weeds and produce beautiful non-stinky compost from a wide range of garden waste.
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Sustainable tech
Going electric with hydronic heating
One year after converting from gas to heat pump hydronic heating, Peter Hormann gives us a full account of the upgrades at his family’s Melbourne home and how they are staying comfy and zero carbon.
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Transport & travel
I love to ride my (electric) bicycle
Across the inner suburbs of Australia's major cities there is a growing number of people swapping the car and making an electric bike their vehicle of choice for the daily commute. Two electric bike owners explain why they love them.
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Buyers guides
Ending the ICE age, An electric vehicle buyers guide
As the world slowly wakes up to the need to electrify personal transport, the range of electric vehicles is starting to ramp up. Lance Turner looks at how Australia is doing in the move away from fossil fuels, and which EVs you can buy now and in the near future.
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Renewable grid
Hydrogen: help or hype?
Australia’s government is currently developing a strategy for including hydrogen in a future low-carbon energy system. Renew’s energy projects team has looked at where it has potential, and where it doesn’t.
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