Catch and Store Water

Regulations that require the water supply to public buildings to be chlorinated, combined with the relatively low water use of these buildings, made the cost/benefit of plumbing these buildings in to their own tank supply to be marginal. However tanks have been installed to both buildings, at present for outside water use only.
18 000 litre tank at east end of Hall, showing first flush water diverter at left. The first flush of water off the roof washes it, fills this diverter, then cleaner water is allowed to flow into the tank. Diverter empties between rain events. Water from this tank is used to irrigate the entry courtyard garden, and to operate the misting cooling system.
Tanks being delivered. The black t-shirt says "I do whatever the voices in my head tell me to do."    : )    Delivering tanks is a good start.
Tanks at early childhood centre. The small tank at right is for the children's use, to fill little buckets for summer play in the sandpit. When it runs out, the children can be prompted to think about where water comes from, how it can run out, etc. Modern house design and reticulated services can leave young people ignorant of where supply comes from, of what is behind the tap or the switch on the wall.


David Arnold

Use electricity wisely

A very high quality and precious resource
But isn't electricity cheap, and don't we have 300 years of coal supply in the Latrobe Valley? Yes, it does come relatively cheaply to the householder, while the digging up and infrastructure maintenance to transmit it around the state is still being subsidised by cheap oil. As the coal resource becomes deeper and more difficult to extract, and extraction costs increase with fuel costs, we can expect electricity to become substantially more expensive. Electricity production from brown coal already creates enormous environmental cost with CO2 emissions and sulphur contamination over Gippsland.

Yallourn and Hazelwood power stations  photo: Brian Yap
Solar panels, wind farms, and hydro in Victoria will never replace the quantity of power that the Latrobe Valley produces. We will simply have to do better with less.

For these buildings electricity operates the computers, internet, telephone, data projector for presentations and movies, photovoltaic display monitor, small fan and electronic controller for the roof mounted solar collector, ceiling fans, lighting, and power tools for maintenance and the retrofit. All of these are 'small and clever' uses of electricity, where relatively small amounts of this high quality energy are used to produce great benefit.


 Electricity is not so well used for space heating, 'climate control' cooling, or hot water. These 'big and dumb' tasks can be better done by simpler energy sources such as sunlight (solar), firewood, solid shade, and the transpiring green leaf for cooling.

Reverse cycle heat pump air conditioners

Thoughtful use of the existing reverse cycle air conditioners in the smaller public rooms, for public events, with many people benefiting, is reasonably energy efficient. See below about combining these with the ceiling fans.
Visiting TAFE sustainability assessors group in the Supper Room, June 2010. Reverse cycle heat pump air conditioning for space heating is supplemented by warm sunlight through the roof windows, and the warmth is gently circulated by the ceiling fans. Moderate amounts of electricity for space heating is reasonably efficient when there are many people using the space.

There are twelve existing reverse cycle air conditioners across the Community Complex and Early Childhood Centre. To make sure these are at least turned off when the building is empty, we installed 2hr timer switches on all of them., and also on a very occasionally used little electric hot water unit in the meeting room kitchenette.

Timer switch on Supper Room air conditioner, with note encouraging users to think before using.
Air conditioner compressors on the WNW facing wall of the Early Childhood Centre. Placement of the compressors in a hot exposed position can increase power usage by 20%. We need these trees to grow, and more trees planted, to shade them. These air conditioners can use 18.4kW, while the maximum power that the $20 000 worth of photovoltaic panels on the roof can produce is 4.86kW.
The allure of 'climate control' with indoor air conditioning is understandable, but unfortunate as domestic energy use for heating and cooling generates massive CO2 emissions which are thought to be de-stabilising our climate. The more we seek 'climate control' the more our planet's climate goes out of control!
The permaculture principle of apply self-regulation and accept feedback is relevant here, as is the ethic of fair share.
Creating cool pleasant outdoor spaces can reduce our reliance on air conditioning. Here Graeme Dosser, Brian Mirtschin and Henry from Benalla Woodworkers are sitting on one of the two new seats they made for the internal courtyard that the Library and RSL have shared access to. With overhead vines and walls all around, this courtyard will be a great place for summer outdoor reading, or an RSL barbeque.
General principles of natural cooling 
Our skin is a natural evaporative cooler. Studies have shown that gentle air flow over our skin can make us feel 5 degrees cooler, even though there there has been no actual change in temperature. This does not require obvious sweating. In our often hot dry climate in NE Victoria we can be constantly evaporating moisture from our skin, and helping to cool ourselves, without ever actually feeling sweaty.
This kind of temperature regulation is what human skin has evolved to do. Being 'acclimatised' refers partly to our skin's fitness at regulating temperature. Unfortunately with common use of air conditioning many of us are acclimatised only to temperatures between about 21 and 28 deg C. We need to regain our capacity to cope with a greater range of temperature.

Ceiling fans

We can use breezes, draughts, and ceiling fans to generate air movement. Even if an air conditioner is used, it is more energy efficient and just as comfortable to set the unit to a slightly higher temperature, so it doesn't have to work so hard, and run ceiling fans to move the air over your body. The relatively big ceiling fans generate air movement more efficiently and quietly than the fan in the air conditioner.


Ceiling fan installed in the kitchen. This can also be used in winter, on low, to move heat down, and to push excess heat from the kitchen out into the supper room. Warm beam of winter sunlight from the roof window can be seen on wall behind.
The big fan

Just as domestic ceiling fans can move more air more efficiently than the smaller air conditioner fans, for big spaces one big fan can be much more efficient than lots of smaller ceiling fans. 
Macro-Air 6m diameter fan in the Hall. This operates on 250W, turns slowly, and moves more air with less noisy turbulence than 9 x 90W domestic ceiling fans. The controller, mounted in the foyer switchboard cupboard, creates three phase power to operate it. The fan was described as 'silent' or as noise not being a problem, but there is a high frequency background noise emitted by the controller and fan when in use. Many people do not notice or are not bothered by this noise, but some are. At a busy event with background noise no-one would hear it. Mostly this fan has been very well received and appreciated.
The big fridge

The big 2 door fridge in the kitchen draws between 580 and 830W, and runs hard and noisily. It is a terrific asset when catering for occasional events of 100, or even 30, people. In 2008 it used about 2.4MW/hrs of power, creating 3.2 tonnes of greenhouse gas production, costing about $230 on the power bill, and for most of that time was either empty or had one carton of milk in it for most of that time.
The big fridge is now only turned on when needed. The little bar fridge runs all the time, and uses 204 kW/hrs per year, less than 1/10th of the power that the big fridge was using! The $309 spent on this new little fridge was cost effective.
David Arnold

Control Vents and Draughts

Existing Ventilation and Draughts
Many rooms in the community complex building leaked like a sieve. In the 1970's, when this building was constructed, regulations for buildings where public gatherings are held required very high levels of ventilation, including permanently open vents. These regulations were changed in the 1980's, but they left us with a Main Hall and other rooms that were excessively well ventilated. Some of these vents just needed to be covered with insulation and closed off, while others could be useful sometimes.
Ridge Vent in Main Hall

The main hall was built with a permanently open ridge vent that runs the full length of the building - 7m along the top of the stage, and for 18m above the hall. 
Trevor Northey setting up for the big fan in Hall, with stage behind. The ridge vent runs right along the top of the space. It is ideally placed in some conditions for releasing excess heat inside, but made it very difficult to warm the space in winter. There are stories of people dancing in their overcoats. The two pairs of double doors to the foyer and courtyard can be seen at left.

 A
s each person's body heat can emit 500W of heat, a hall full of 200 people generates - just from the people - 100kW of heat. In summer this needs to be vented, but in winter the body heat alone can warm the room, provided most of the heat can be retained in the room.

 Another aspect of the building design makes the ridge vent potentially very functional, in some conditions. The main entry to the Hall is through the well sited entry courtyard, open only to the south, then through 2 lots of pairs of double doors, through the foyer into the Hall. In some wind conditions, we expect be able to use the ridge vent and open-able high windows to act as a thermal chimney, venting heat and drawing cooler air in from the south courtyard.

Graphic, not of this building, showing the general principle of a 'thermal chimney', using high vents to release hot air, and drawing in cooler air, usually from a shaded area to the south.
View of south entry courtyard, being re-landscaped with new pergola to carry a canopy of grapevines for shading and transpiration cooling. Entry doors to foyer and hall can be seen behind. Misting sprays on this pergola will further cool the air in this space, when cool air is needed for a public event.


Close-able covers for the ridge vent
We needed to a means to control the operation of the ridge vent, so we can close it in winter. Local engineer and inventor Murray Ellis devised a mechanism for this, and will be installing these close-able covers in June 2010 with Trevor Northey.


More thermal chimneys
The roof windows above the kitchen and supper room can vent heat, and on occasion draw cooler air from the entry courtyard space adjacent to those rooms.
Kitchen roof window opened to vent heat, and possibly help to draw cool air into the supper room from the entry courtyard.


Double hung windows are a traditional design that can help to create natural air circulation, with hotter air exiting above and cooler air coming in below.
Tall double hung windows in the Kindergarten, with new flyscreens behind. New heavier safety glass in these windows had made these too heavy for their spring balances, and they were out of use.
Trevor Northey was able to make these windows work again by counterbalancing the top and bottom windows with this little pulley arrangement, so they now work well.


Operating a building space for passive or assisted ventilation
This requires building users to think about opportunities to work with breezes, or a cool air source and high vents, before taking the easy but energy expensive option of putting on an air conditioner if there is one available. With natural ventilation there are benefits of fresh air, already partially filtered by the courtyard space.


Window flyscreens and flywire doors installed at the Community House to encourage use of natural ventilation.



Courtyard air access to supper room
One of many little signs around the building to encourage thoughtful use.


David Arnold


Use Energy from the Sun

We aim to make as much use as possible of the sun energy that falls on the building each day, and to deflect unwanted heat. This reduces the amount of electricity and gas that need to be brought in from outside, which come at a financial and environmental cost.
We use the sun to generate electricity, to make hot water, and to warm the inside of the building in winter, including by growing trees for firewood.
North Windows in Main Hall














These windows were an appropriate part of the original building design. Blackout curtains will be removed and overgrown Photinia bushes have been cut back so that the windows can again function as solar collectors for winter warmth into the Hall. [The Photinia bushes are dense, attractive, hardy, soften the outside face of the wall, and the work of cutting the tops back can be repaid by a valuable animal fodder yield from the branches.]

North face of Hall, May 2010. Photinia bushes growing back across the high windows, need routine trimming, ideally in Autumn, which is usually a time of feed shortage so the branch fodder can be well used. Blinds across windows at right hand end stage need to be raised when winter heat gain is desired.











Roof Windows

The Kitchen and Supper Room had old skylights in the ceiling/roof which did not seal against draughts, were not insulated, and allowed the heat of the summer sun to come straight through into the room. Modern upgrades to these skylights were investigated, which are better sealed, insulated, and deflect summer sun to some extent. However the available options all came with disadvantages to do with lack of durability, relative expense for small benefit, complicated moving parts, and the unavoidable compromise for flat or low angle skylights between desirable light and unwanted heat gain.

We decided to replace the skylights with substantial North facing vertical roof windows. These have the advantage being designed with an appropriate eave, so that unwanted high angle summer sun is excluded while the low angle winter sun can shine directly in below the eave and warm the room. This is the 'magic' of solar design using north facing glass and appropriate window/eave relationship. The eave is matched to the height of the window to control when in Spring the sun is excluded for the Summer, and when in Autumn the sun is allowed to shine in for the Winter.



Supper room roof window, midday on 14th May, showing the low angle winter sun shining into the room below. The triangular piece of flashing at the ends is to keep out early morning sun in summer. The eave had to be larger than normal, as the building (and windows) are not oriented perfectly north, but face NNE. Morning sun in summer would have come in under a smaller eave. This was designed partly in theory, with a scale drawing, and partly also just by modelling different eave positions on-site on a summer's day.


These roof windows are excellent big skylights, giving good natural lighting to the rooms without need for additional daytime lighting. Andrew Otto Woodworks used Australian hardwood for the window frames, to avoid having to use large amounts of energy expensive aluminium – sometimes described as 'congealed electricity'. We feared that future maintenance of this public building could overlook painting the outside of these window frames, since they are out of sight from ground level, so Andrew flashed the entire outside frame with lightweight metal flashing, sealed to exclude water with silicone.



Double glazed timber roof window fully flashed with lightweight metal flashing, sealed to exclude water with silicone beading. 














These open-able and fly screened roof windows also serve as valuable high vents, operated by a remote switch. (Manual winding operators, through installed cables, could have been a good option if they were more easily available)

Overall the construction of the roof windows was more expensive than simply upgrading the skylights to modern energy efficient ones, but the big roof windows have so many additional benefits that they give much more value for money. Their construction did depend on having access to an experienced and adaptable carpenter such as Trevor Northey, who was willing to solve problems and custom build. And the flat roof/ceiling framework was reasonably easily adapted to carry the roof window frames, with existing steel beams there to carry it.


Supper room roof window framing, showing the existing steel frame (painted light green) that was available to carry the newly framed roof. This new framing is no heavier than the roof tht it replaced, and the new heavy double glazed windows are carried by the wall at left.





Wood heating


How is wood heating related to using energy from the sun? Because plants are our fundamental solar converters. The sun is the main driver of planetary life systems. It is the energy source that powers weather, including rain, and plant growth.










So we can think of fuel wood as embodied solar energy, provided
  • it is harvested locally, otherwise it might be embodied transport fuel
    • it is grown and harvested sustainably, preferably through forest or woodland management that results in a net increase of stored carbon, biodiversity and habitat values, and overall biological productivity, while also giving a yield of wood products along the way.

In 1996 we planted the Violet Town Community Forest on unused land at Shadforth Reserve in Shiffner St. This is designed to integrate sustainable forestry with amenity/ recreation use and biodiversity values. The high value forestry products will be long term sawlogs and durable poles for building. As the forest develops it can benefit from thinning and management, with a continual yield of fire wood.


This stand of naturally regenerated Grey Box at the Community Forest is approximately 20 years old. It already has construction quality poles available, which could be 'pruned' from multi-stemmed trees as in the foreground. 'Thinning' – removal/harvesting of some trees – from the dense parts of the stand would allow selected trees to grow on, and fast track the evolution to a mixed age, multi-level and biodiverse stand with more of the qualities of an old growth forest or woodland.


Ken Whyte, plumber, installing the flue for the wood heater at the Community House. Dec 2009



Jan Howe and Pete enjoying the new wood heater at the Community House. May 2010. This room had no other heating, and only small solar gain through its mostly shaded north window, and west window at back left where the heat reflective blind would more usefully be up in winter. A Nectre 'Baker's Oven' was chosen to make better use of the heat for a cooktop, and for baking, in Community House programs.








Roof Mounted Solar Collectors

In the Meeting Room, and Day Care room at the Early Childhood Centre, we installed 'Sola-Mate' solar collectors, for warmth and cooling. These are another option for spaces that cannot catch the sun's warmth through north facing windows. An electronic controller directs a small electric fan to blow warm air into the room from a roof mounted solar panel, when needed to warm the room.

Sola-mate panel above meeting room, May 2010.

The solar panel also sheds heat to the night sky much more quickly than the interior of the room can, so on hot summer nights the controller can direct the fan to blow cooler air from the panel into the room.









The incoming air is fresh, and is pushed though a filter [changed every 12 – 18 months] which removes pollen and dust.








Solar hot water

The Community Complex building uses very little hot water, mainly for occasional kitchen use. It was appropriate to keep the existing and fairly new instantaneous gas hot water service for this occasional use. Instantaneous units only use energy when hot water is used, which is efficient for this situation.





















However there was a 40m hot water pipe to the hand basins in the Men's toilets, and a 20m pipe run to the Women's toilet handbasin. This was very inefficient. People washing their hands would turn on the hot tap, wash their hands, and turn it off again long before any hot water would reach their basin through the long pipe run. Hot water would be left in the pipe to cool before the next person washed their hands, and the energy used to heat that water was wasted. So we simply disconnected the hot taps in these toilets.

The Early Childhood Centre had an electric storage hot water service. This consumed about 8kWhrs/day when hot water was used, and still consumed about 6kWhrs/ day when no water was used! This is apparently fairly standard for electric hot water units, so we replaced this with a gas boosted solar unit. We chose evacuated tube solar collectors for their greater efficiency in winter – it is easy for solar collectors to make hot water in summer, even normal garden hose can do it. And again, the instantaneous gas booster only uses gas when hot water is used.

Three types of manufactured solar collectors on the WNW facing Early Childhood Centre roof. Evacuated tubes for solar hot water in foreground, photovoltaic panels for electricity at right rear, and at the left rear, slightly shaded in the late afternoon, is the sola-mate panel for heating and cooling.





Solar electricity


In early March 2010 Clear Solar put 4.86kW of solar panels on the Main Hall roof, and another 4.86kW on the Early Childhood Centre [ECC] roof. A west facing area of the ECC was the least shaded space, so these panels were put on frames.



Matt and David from Clear Solar installing the panels on frames on the west facing Early Childhood Centre roof.








The inverters were installed in May 2010. The installation does not have battery storage, but is grid interactive. When the sun shines power is supplied to the grid, and recorded as credit on the meter. When the building uses power it takes power from the grid. A 'bi-directional' (two way) meter will be installed that records how much power flows in either direction. If the building produces more power than it uses, then the power company pays money to the account holder (Shire of Strathbogie). At the very least these panels will reduce the amount of the power bill.




In our climate we can expect each kW of solar panels to produce, on average throughout the year, about 4kWhrs of electricity per day. So on average these two buildings will generate about 39kWhrs of electricity per day. To put this into perspective, in 2009 the average daily household electricity use was about 20kWhrs per day – which is actually quite wasteful. Energy conscious Australian households have their electricity consumption down to below 5kWhrs per day.

The grid interactive installation is efficient because it makes use of and supports the existing grid network instead of having to install an (energy and financially) expensive array of batteries, maintain these, and replace them every seven years or so.

David Arnold