Book talk, Hurstville Library, Thursday 22 September

At 7 pm, Thursday 22 September, I’ll be talking about what worked and didn’t at my sustainable house over the last 15 years. How has the house kept over 1.5 m litres of sewage on site? How have the solar panels worked over these years? How can four people live in an ordinary house for energy and water bills for less than $300 a year? Bring your questions, doubts, curiousity and project ideas to the evening and come and discuss my book, Sustainable House, which has... Read More

Book talk, Gleebooks, Dulwich Hill Saturday 17 September

At 3 pm, Saturday 17 September I’ll be talking about my sustainable house in Chippendale at Gleebooks, Dulwich Hill. Hear what worked and didn’t over the last 15 years. How has the house kept over 1.5 million litres of sewage on site? How are the solar panels going? How can four people live in the house for energy and water bills less than $300 a year? Booking details: Venue: 536 Marrickville Rd Dulwich Hill NSW 2203 Cost: $20 gleeclub free Book: gleebooks –... Read More

New York plans for 3 degree heat rise by 2020

In The Daily Beast: “New York, which is looking at an average temperature increase of up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit by 2020, is planning to paint 3 million square feet of roofs white, to reflect sunlight and thus reduce urban heat-island effects.” See the full article here: www.thedailybeast.com… Change we can believe in, M  Read More

Book talk at Shearers On Norton

Shearer’s On Norton talk The bookshop, Shearer’s On Norton, Leichhardt, is putting on a talk evening where I’ll talk about the new book, what worked and didn’t over the last 14 years; this is a story of the house where no sewage has left the site (how can you keep over 1.5 million litres of sewage on your house lot?), energy and water bills are less than $300 a year, and lots of mistake and lessons were made and learnt that can help you go sustainable at... Read More

New Chippo group supports Sustainable Streets Plan

A new group has been set up to support the City Council’s Sustainable Streets and Community Plan. Called, Sustainable Chippendale, the idea for the group and the moving force behind it are Andrew Jacobs and Thais Nascimento.  They’ve set up a Facebook page and say this is how to find and join the group or obtain information there: - The link is: www.facebook.com… , but if you go on Facebook and just look up for SUSTAINABLE CHIPPENDALE , you will see us and... Read More

Terrific new insulation

Here’s a new insulation that I’ve been introduced to by a friend who builds her buildings sustainably, and owns one a few doors up from me, Sarah. It’s called, Polyair: -1300767776 - www.reflectiveinsulation.com….au There are five options.  All use the same design approach:  reflect the hot summer sun with the top layer, have a multi-layer inner core for insulation, use a lower layer to reflect and retain the winter warmth within the building. Use it... Read More

Workshops for Sustainable Streets & Communities Plan

Sustainable Chippo Public Meetings Info On Wednesday 16 March at 630 to 8 pm Sydney City Council will hold a public meeting to provide information and hear feedback on the Sustainable Streets and Communities Plan that’s being prepared. Information is in the flier from the Council which you may download above; it’s about 1 MB – if you’re a ChippoIte then do try to get there, ask questions, offer ideas and help us work together to sustain where we live and... Read More

Architect who gave up ‘architecture’ to work with ‘garbage’

In the documentary called, Garbage Warrior, we can see the story, vision and passion of Michael Reynolds who for the last 30 years has been building houses in the US that are self sufficient for energy, water and recycling sewage.  There’s a 3 minute vid here: www.garbagewarrior.com… May the warriors be with us, Michael  Read More

Sustainable and unsustainable streets

A flooded street For some reading about recent thinking about how our climate is changing, this is a useful article: www.economist.com… The photo above is from that article. It shows an unsustainable street, and it seems how we live here in Chippo, and Australia generally, is partly the reason there are streets like those.  Hopefully, the work being done to trial sustainable streets in Chippendale will reduce the number of unsustainable streets elsewhere.  Read More

Mayor Moore’s letter about making Chippendale sustainable

Final Letter On January 2011 Mayor Clover Moore MP wrote to let us know in Chippendale about the plan to make the suburb sustainable.  The Mayor’s letter is in this blog, above. May the sustainable streets be with us, Michael  Read More

  • Michael Mobbs

    Michael is a former Environmental Lawyer who is uniquely placed to consult in four main areas:

    • Sustainability Coach and Speaker,
    • Sustainable Urban Farm Design greening, watering and cooling the cityscape, roads, parks, suburbs,
    • Major Projects Consultant Commercial and Industrial,
    • Residential Sustainability Consultant.
    For permission to re-print any articles or to book Michael for a speaking engagement go to Contacts. Please ensure all quotes from Michael's blog include a reference to sustainablehouse.com....au.