Sustainable house
In July 2009, the City of Fremantle became Western Australia's first local government to become carbon neutral.
As part of the City's ongoing commitment to sustainability, the Meeting Place was retrofitted as a sustainable demonstration home and shows how a typical Fremantle home can be adapted to reduce energy costs.
The project is a City of Fremantle initiative and is partly supported with a grant from the state government Office of Energy.
What have we done?
The sustainable assets of the building:
- east-west orientation allowing for winter sun
- thick limestone walls which absorb heat from the sun in summer and can store warmth in the winter
- good orientation to capture the sea breeze from the south west.
The main restrictions of the building:
- northern wall on the neighbour's boundary meant that we were not able to install bigger eaves
- The building is heritage listed; therefore regard for the external look of the building was important.
The key sustainable changes to the Meeting Place included:
- replacing the gas hot water with a gas boosted, solar hot water system
- installing blinds and curtains to keep the summer heat out and winter heat in
- installing skylights to let more natural light into key rooms
- replacing the ceiling fans with more powerful models
- installing lights with daylight dimmers and movement sensors
- draft-stoppas on the exhaust fans, which close when the fan is not turned on
- replacing the tile roof with reflective zincalume
- installing roof insulation to complement the ceiling insulation
- a 2 kilowatt solar power system to generate renewable electricity on site
- installing a 7 000 L underground rain water tank
- water filtration so that rainwater can be filtered and supplied to the whole building
- replacing the old air conditioner with a more efficient system.
Contact the Meeting Place on 08 9335 3394 for more information.
Retrofit tours
The Meeting Place is not currently operating tours of the sustainable house. You are welcome to call them on 08 9335 3394 to enquire about visiting the house and viewing the features.