Visit to the Sustainable House and met the owner Michael Mobbs – Sydney, Australia

After our discussions of the remaining chapters of the book, we all headed off for a brisk 30 minute walk to the Sustainable House…dam, Dr. Forgey walks fast!!  Upon rounding the corner of the street the house is located on, Dr. Forgey challenges us to determine which house it is and frankly it was difficult to distinguish.  We all looked to the roof to see if we could see solar panels but to no avail.  We came upon Michael Mobbs sweeping the leaves from the front sidewalk and he greeted us with a pleasant G’day mates.  We all introduced ourselves outside and he started the tour outside showing us how he retrofitted the drain pipes off the building to catch the rain water, the invertor box outside that tie into the grid and a fuse box.  He invited us in and gave continued to talk about the features of the house.  We stopped in the kitchen and he demonstrated how his placement of clear glass louvered windows above the sink and light wood colored cabinets allows for maximum light throughout the day whether sunny or cloudy.  While continuing to share all his great stories, he took us to the back yard where there is a multitude of things going on, including his two “chook” friends that were not informed of the tour until he let them out of their cage which is directly outside the window above the sink (their chickens as we know them in the states).  He feeds them the scraps from the meals he prepares rather than creating trash. There is also a community garden in the streets which anyone can pick the fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices and is tended by the locals.  There is also a community composting area in the park that appears to be well received by the community.   He then demonstrated the filtering system on the rainwater downpipes.  Basically it is ball that floats to a certain level and until then it sends the dirty rain water to one area and then once the rain water has washed off the roof debris it goes into the drinking water underground tank.  He shared a lot his trials and tribulations of which we were very familiar with b/c he sites them in his book we just digested before we got there.  I could go on and on about the features of the house but if you are so inclined, you can get a copy of his book and go to his blog to find out more.  It definitely opens yours eyes to what can be done.  Michael Mobbs, a lawyer by trade has carved out a niche career consulting on Sustainability.   As the saying goes, “if you are doing something you are passionate about, you’ll never work a day in your life…it’s clear he is passionate about educating and living sustainability.  Great tour.