Marie and Carl in North Fitzroy
Renovating with efficiency in mind
Carl and Marie completed a major renovation of their terrace house in North Fitzroy and moved in with their two children aged 6 and 3 in mid 2023.
Renovating gave them an opportunity to build-in much more efficiency for their heritage Victorian terrace house, and make it all-electric. Carl, a communications specialist, shared their motivations and key decisions with Electrify Yarra.
Why have you electrified?
We have always been environmentally conscious, and driven by a desire to consume less and responsibly. Working for an ethical super fund gave me insight into the ways we can have an impact - through our banking, superannuation, and life choices, including our housing.
When we had the opportunity to renovate, we made the decision to get off gas, choose efficient, electric appliances, and include insulation and double glazing - as far as possible with a heritage terrace house. We were fortunate to be able to find an architect who matched our tastes, but, surprisingly, we still had to do a lot of our own research and ‘stick to our guns’ on our efficiency goals - for example, on heating and hot water choices.
What has been your electrification journey so far?
The older parts of the house had typical challenges - two party walls, little or no insulation, draughty fireplaces with a traditional front window. Since we were restumping, we were able to add under-floor insulation. We added R6 ceiling insulation, sealed the fireplaces and added heat-pump heating and air conditioning. The council would not approve double glazing in our front room, so we added honeycomb blinds.
The house had a small (1kW) solar system when we purchased it, and we cleaned the panels, updated the monitoring and pre-wired for potential future expansion.
At the rear and upstairs, which were newly built, we were able to fully double glaze and insulate. Downstairs in the new kitchen and living area, we chose a bulkhead heat pump heater/air conditioner and induction cooktop.
Since we were building this part of the house from a blank sheet of paper, we had the advantage of designing the roof to accommodate a heat pump hot water tank and its condenser unit - as well as the two condenser units for all four of the house’s heat pump heater/air conditioners. This saved us valuable space in both our courtyard and light well.
We couldn’t be happier with our design decisions - the house has been transformed from an energy efficiency rating of less than one star to between six and seven stars. We have not needed heating in the upstairs spaces, and the house is cosy, quiet and almost totally draught free.
What’s on your electrification wishlist?
We achieved so much with our renovation, there’s not a lot we wish for!
We are monitoring our electricity consumption to see if we can justify adding more solar panels. Given the efficiency of the house and our consumption over the last 12 months, it looks like we would receive limited benefit cost-wise. For example, from December through to March, we are importing less than 5kWh per day from the grid because the insulation, glazing, cross-ventilation and external blinds keep the house so cool we barely need any active cooling.
For the same reasons, we can’t justify a battery, and we question the economics of a battery for a single house, given their high price.
Our principle of consuming less and living in the inner north means we haven’t had a car for more than 10 years and find we don’t need one - the kids love being on the back of our family-sized e-bike - so an electric vehicle is not on our wishlist at the moment. Having said that, when we do head out of the city to visit friends, it would be great if there was an electric car share vehicle nearby.
