Canberra is in the deep freeze this week but the days will soon lengthen. Photo: Karyn Starmer.
Year in Review: Region is revisiting some of the best Opinion articles of 2024. Here’s what got you talking, got you angry and got you thinking this year. Today, Ian Bushnell questions whether Canberra homes are built for the environment.
It was July when I made the call enquiring about working in Canberra. The response was a little bemused, even incredulous.
For him, it was the depths of winter, while I was up north, where the temperatures were still in the 20s.
We came anyway, of course, and that was nearly 30 years ago. But when, like this week, the air turns frigid, the light fades, and things turn literally SAD, the doubts return.
It will pass, like always.
But it does remind me how staying warm in Canberra has been a challenging, expensive task, whether it be forests of firewood, fields of gas, or substations worth of electricity.
Friends who endured sub-zero winters in Europe told us they had never been colder than in the average Canberra house.
Nor paid so much to still feel cold.
Especially when the utility estimates your bill or when it does actually send out someone to the property they misread the meter.
This is why we looked forward to a new townhouse with reverse-cycle air conditioning, insulation, double glazing, and a high EER, which is even higher now with shutters and insulating curtains.
Yes, we did everything right. So why is it still cold?
I swear the air-con is going to be blowing non-stop till September.
What happened to the BOM’s “warmer than average” forecast? Maybe this is as bad as it gets. I live in hope.
OK, our expectations were probably a little unrealistic, and we didn’t account for the sun going missing in action for most of the day. And the leakage. That’s where the cold air seeps in and the warm air leaks out.
It’s the enemy of energy efficiency and a common denominator in most Australian buildings.
When you see the light sneaking through the garage and front doors, you know where the icy air creeping up the stairs to the living room is coming from.
But really, if the frost is crackling outside, the place just becomes a cooler.
We will find a solution beyond thermals, but probably not in this cost-of-living crisis winter of discontent.
That’s the problem. Energy efficiency is great, but it comes with upfront costs that have to be recouped down the track.
Is it better than the 50-something-year-old house we left after 16 years, where using the gas heating was like putting a match to a pile of money?
Absolutely. But it shows the extent of the challenge Canberrans face when even new housing still can’t be as efficient as it could be.
Design and aspect are everything, and the Passivhaus people have a lot to teach us about building for climate and leakage.
In my dreams, though, we have a northern bolthole by the sea to winter in and a cool mountain retreat in the summer.
But seriously, spare a thought for those living in ice boxes who can’t afford to use the heating, don’t have any heating, or worse, are without a roof over their head. Take a look in the linen cupboard or the garage for the spare woollen blankets or a heater no longer needed. There are some grateful strangers out there who would find your unused items a good home.
This Thursday (20 June), Canberra’s leaders will bed down for the night in the chill for the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout to fight homelessness, a cause worth supporting.
The good news is that the next day is the solstice, and Sol starts his journey back into our courtyard.
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