In Australia another winter is over. As they prepare for summer Sonya Wallace shares some tips for those of us preparing for winter.

[This blog post appears in the November Relocalize Newsletter. See all past newsletters here.]

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Heating your home during winter – how do you do it in a way that is sustainable and least harmful to the environment? I was faced with this dilemma a couple of years ago. Okay, I’ll admit upfront, I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia. It never snows here, although we do get a night or two of frost each year. By many people’s standards, it’s not cold at all. But it’s all relative.

At home

Our homes in Queensland are built very much for our sub tropical climate and lose heat quickly – which isn’t good during winter when it is cold.  This winter we had a visitor from the UK staying here and she found it very cold so I did feel justified! We needed to stay warm in winter, but I didn’t want to contribute to carbon emissions, climate change and be reliant on declining supplies of fossil fuels – what to do?

I did like the idea of a wood fired heater, but thought that would be out of the question – that was until I read an article by David Holmgren in 2005. David Holmgren is the co-originator of permaculture together with Bill Mollison.

Permaculture is based on ethics and principles that if applied, provide efficiencies, energy savings, responsible resources management and care of the planet.

The article (which is available on an interactive e-book of David’s collected writings and presentations 1978-2006) was supported by research from the CSIRO (Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - impact and use of firewood in Australia – CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 2000).

Here Holmgren discusses the most effective way to use firewood for heating in Australia. He highlighted that about half of all Australia’s firewood is harvested from private land by private individuals (in contrast to the misconception that old growth forests are being used). He admits that harvesting this timber can range from being very beneficial to very destructive but emphasises responsibility and common sense in the process.

He promotes instead that home owners firstly buy the most efficient heater they can – in Australia there are now emission ratings for heaters (Australian Standard 4013) and buying a heater that is appropriate to the size of the space it must heat (could you shut an area off to heat thereby reducing energy and increasing efficiency?) – don’t overheat yourself!

And you do have control over how you fuel your heater. Choose environmentally sustainable, gathered timber or consider growing your own woodlot, ensure all the wood is well seasoned and well dried, use it sparingly and burn it efficiently. But even before all of that, ensure you have insulation and heat escape spots covered (windows, gaps around doors etc).

Rugging yourself up or exercising to increase your own bloodflow is one of the simplest and most environmental sound things you can do.

Multi-functionality

When we came to choose our new wood heater we wanted to apply permaculture principles to the purchase. So it had to have multi-functionality. We decided on the Nectre Bakers’ Oven. Made in South Australia it is a robust, strong little (we only have a small house) heater.

It has an oven for baking roasts and vegetables and a cooktop for winter soups and stews. We could have added a water jacket for hot water but we already had a solar hot water system, so we didn’t need that particular feature.

So, now when the heater is on it’s serving many purposes. It heats our house (we move our bed into the main living area to take advantage of the valuable warmth), it cooks our food, makes great wood fired pizzas, roasts our home grown coffee beans and provides a lovely ambiance too.

Design

But probably the best thing you can do to heat your home is to have a home designed to capture and store heat.  A house facing the right way is the most fundamental thing – north in the southern hemisphere and south in the northern hemisphere, rather than a house facing the street.

The right sized eaves, ones that take into account your location’s sun angles from summer to winter solstice, the right sized windows that have heavy drapes for winter and pelmets, insulation in the roof, the walls and under the floor if you’re building off the ground.

A very clever idea that can be included in the building process is factoring in the use of thermal mass - creating a heat ‘bank’ within the home – a floor made of concrete or stone that is in full sun during the day in winter or a wall built specifically for the purpose in just the right place. As late afternoon comes around, closing windows and drawing the curtains ensures the heat stored in the floor (or the wall) is slowly released overnight adding to the ambient warmth inside the home.

Capturing heat, storing it effectively and minimising loss of heat are all key in keeping your home warm and comfortable. Be clever and innovative – use design principles and save money in the process.

What ever you choose ensure it is the most efficient, most effective, most environmentally sound choice you can make – then use it only when you absolutely need it!

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References;
David Holmgren Collected Writings & Presentations 1978-2006 available www.holmgren.com.au
Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture – Rosemary Morrow

Photos:
burge5000