Building the extraordinarily energy efficient and affordable Iris House with Sophia Macrae

Author: BuildHer Collective
Published: Mon 28 Nov 2022
Episode Link: https://omny.fm/shows/building-with-buildher/building-the-extraordinarily-energy-efficient-and

Today we are talking to Sophia Macrae about her really interesting journey, from constructing a sustainable house, to working in the Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) sector through to her current job working in government on policy to improve energy efficiency outcomes. What I love most is how Sophia’s passion drives her career and life choices.

As a single parent, Sophia is driven by security for her son, sustainability and affordability. Sophia shares how she constructed her own first home, to achieve an as-built 7.7 NatHERS rating for $200,000. Sophia managed to increase this rating to around 8 Stars with a really interesting and (positively!) kooky post-construction installation of wine-bottle walls.

Sophia has a good base of knowledge through her town planning degree but she also taught herself a lot about how to build efficiently. She shares how the Renew and Sanctuary Magazines, as well as the Your Home publication, helped her on her journey. She also recommends that working with an energy efficiency professional early on makes a big difference.

Sophia shares how she started out considering Structural insulated panels (SIPs) panel and the issues and concerns she faced using these that meant she had to abort that building method.

She talks us through why she chose to install double-glazed windows that are thermally broken and the difference these have made in her home.

Sophia shares that in the future there will both be more support and more requirements for homes to be more energy efficient, and recommends everyone is on the front end of the curve when it comes to sustainability. She also reveals that there will be significant resources coming out on both the State and Commonwealth levels of government to support professionals move to more sustainable solutions.

Sophia proves that sustainability is affordable and achievable!

LINKS:

Renew & Sanctuary Magazines

yourhome.gov.au

Your Home book

Green Magazine

My Efficient Electric Home Facebook group

Connect with Sophia Macrae:

Instagram: @affordablesustainablehouse

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/sophiamacrae

Join our Renovating and Building for Profit event here