The houses that slash your energy bills to $500 a year

PHOTO: A 10-star home in The Cape. Photo: DANHOCKING.COM.AU

Victorian ecodevelopment The Cape has won the approval of sustainability experts for its efforts to set a new standard for low-carbon and low-energy living.

Homes in the estate are carbon-neutral, resilient in hot spells and have extremely low running costs, a study by RMIT University and not-for-profit RENEW released on Tuesday found.

“The results coming out of the monitoring of The Cape and other sustainable housing examples demonstrate this is the type of housing we need to be moving towards,” said Trivess Moore of RMIT’s Sustainable Building Innovation Laboratory, adding he was impressed with the project.

“We can now replicate it anywhere. They’ve put a number of their house designs freely online.

“There are some people who have just replicated the entire house from the plan in other locations, and they have seen good results too.”

It comes as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation last week revealed it would give out cheap home loans for houses that meet a 7-star rating, a move welcomed by housing experts.

The Cape director Brendan Condon said the homes were so efficient some residents made it through heat waves without needing to turn on air conditioning.

“These highly energy-efficient systems can eliminate energy bills and eliminate carbon emissions, increase comfort and let residents live to a high standard,” he said.