Product Description

Issue Contents:

Issue 145 is hot off the press and full of advice for your sustainable home this spring. As always, Renew comes overflowing with articles to satisfy both the technically and the not-so-technically minded. Regardless of whether your interest is choosing a rainwater tank, understanding how to create a water saving garden, installing an energy storage system or what to look for when buying an EV, there is something for everyone in this issue.

Renew 145 has a special focus on saving water in the home. Inside you’ll find:

Special feature: Water saving

• Why I built a wetland

  With ‘her friend, the mattock’, Mara Ripani is planting out a wetland and reaping the benefits in diversity, beauty and joy.

• Waterwise in your  own backyard

  Tips from a WA garden designer on designing a waterwise garden.

• Choosing a rainwater tank – Buyers Guide

  Materials, siting, sizing, filters, pumps and more: what you need to consider when installing a tank. Plus rainwater tank case studies x 6.

• Stormwater reuse

  So many benefits from stormwater use on show in these great projects.

• Two decades of monitoring

  Where water gets used in the home.

Other articles

• Energy storage update

  Lance Turner updates what’s happening in the market and what to look for.

• Students get behind an infrared camera

  These high school students learnt how to test for air leakage and become proficient DIY-installers—leading to great results for the homes involved, and benefits for the whole community. Plus a case study household.

• Solar upgrades

  Do you have a failed inverter, failed panel or just want to get a bigger solar system? We survey the options and challenges.

• My brilliant (sustainable) career

  If you’d like to get involved in sustainability in your day job, where do you start? Alan Strickland looks at several fields with sustainability at their core. Plus a Renewable Energy Courses Buyers Guide

• Totally Renewable Yackandandah

  TRY is leading the way with a plan to be 100% renewable by 2022. Here’s what they’ve done so far and the exciting developments about to happen in Yack.

• When loyalty becomes liability

  Even those in the know can end up with a raw deal on their energy bill. Engineer Andrew Mitchell explains his own ‘wake-up call’ and what he (and you) can do about it.

Electric vehicles

• Electric vehicle options

  What electric vehicle types are available and how do you work out which will best suit your needs? Bryce Gaton offers a suggested ‘ideal’ usage pattern for each to assist your choice.

• Strata strategies

  How do you charge an electric vehicle if you live in an apartment or unit?