The Nunn’s car isn’t their only electrified transport option.
The Nunn family of five now live in a Passivhaus home in Sydney, designed and built by Passivhaus Design & Construct. This was a bespoke design and the first Australian home to also receive a GreenStar Homes pilot rating. How much of a difference has their new home made to family life? Huge! It’s energy efficient, all-electric, comfortable and healthy and their family thrives.
There’s room for rest, work and play here, and the house enjoys a lovely connection to their fruitful gardens and adjoining bush. Overseas family members are also welcomed for extended stays.
This home was the first in NSW to reach the coveted Passivhaus Premium standard, based on generating more energy than the home uses. The Nunns haven’t had an electricity bill since they moved, thanks to low energy usage and a solar PV system that exports excess energy back into the grid.
That’s all in stark contrast to before, when the Nunns lived in a typical Australian home on the same block. Chris Nunn says it was “cold in winter and patched with black mould, hot in summer with the lingering scent of bushfire smoke, all mixed in with high heating and cooling costs”.
The energy bills were about $3000 each year. Indoor temperature sensors showed it was mostly 15-20C during winter—even with heating—and too often 10-15C. In summer it was over 25C, reaching as high as the mid-30s.
In winter, the kids’ bedrooms had condensation all over the windows and mould formed on the window frames. “They wore down jackets and sleeping bags in the living room in the mornings because it was 7C outside and 12C inside,” remembers Chris.
But those days are just a distant memory now as the Nunn kids grow up healthy and comfortable in their family home, now and in the future. The home has been future-proofed: energy modelling at design stages gives comfort that it will stay cool even as the climate heats.
Watch a timelapse film of the Nunn family's home being built.