Brendan and Khloe in Princes Hill
Brendan is a licensed electrician and as the founder of Get Off Gas, is passionate about electrification and helping others to electrify. Brendan and Khloe generously opened their house during the recent Sustainable House Day.
The Journey So Far
Khloe and I purchased the property directly from the landlord in July 2021 after having rented it since 2019 which allowed us some good time to plan our changes. We then went about making our changes steadily over 3 years.
Our first job was to replace the gas cooktop with a new 60cm Fisher and Paykel induction cooktop and the old oven. Both were 20 years old and were failing, so we simply couldn’t wait to get rid of them even though we knew our full kitchen renovations were a few years away still.
The last gas appliance in the house was the gas storage hot water system so in September 2021 we removed that and installed an all-in-one Heat Pump Hot Water System. This has timers built in so that it runs during the day when the solar is cranking.
Later in September, with summer coming and knowing how hot the house got, the next priority was to get solar on the roof and a heat pump reverse cycle air conditioner (RCAC) in the master bedroom. Ahead of installing the solar, we peeled up the roof sheets one at a time and installed R4.0 Earthwool Batts and a blanket as there was no existing insulation.
Next, in November, we installed 16 solar panels generating a total of 6.2 kW, with micro-inverters (for improved safety and performance) to practically cover the roof. We even installed three panels facing south at 20º and these have proven to generate about 65% of the north facing panels across the year. Surprisingly, they actually outperform the north panels in summer due to the long south western sunsets. We also installed ceiling fans to both bedrooms.
In the following year we focused on renovations inside with bedrooms and bathrooms for most of 2022. This included installing another three heat pump RCACs to the spare bedroom/loft/living room.
In mid 2023 we sold the work V6 Amarok and moved into a Tesla Model Y as my daily work “Ute”. It does a great job carrying all I need to deliver electrification services across Melbourne. We installed a WallBox Smart charger in the garage which has the smarts to optimise solar consumption by the car. We always have plenty of charge and use the highway super chargers a few times a year on road trips with zero range anxiety.
Lessons from the Electrification Journey
A great first step is updating kitchen appliances years ahead of doing a full renovation - don’t wait.
When it comes to solar, south facing solar panels produce 65% power as north facing panels so are well worth it when you have limited roof space
Electric vehicles (EVs) are incredibly cheap to run if you can afford the upfront capital investment
We calculate our energy savings to be more than $7,000 a year, including running the EV.
Heat pump reverse cycle air conditioners are so much cheaper to run than panel heaters so the house is kept warm through winter with a much lower running cost
Electrify everything! We also have an electric Weber which is amazing to cook on and feels great cooking a summer BBQ using energy from the solar panels.
Electrification Wish List
More gap sealing required. I’m going to buy a thermal camera attachment for my iPhone to identify these locations to seal up.
Perhaps we will install a home battery in a couple of years depending on energy markets and power prices.
