Michael Mobbs - Sydney's Sustainable House

Pyrmont road gardens

The photos in the post above show some rain gardens in Pyrmont.

The gardens have been constructed between 224 to 308 Harris Street by Sydney City Council to address issues on:  

• stormwater runoff management  eg to address both water quantity and quality issues from the roofs and footpaths
• keeping the runoff near where it falls, thereby roughly restoring the natural water cycle
• using gravity to store and hold water, mainly for irrigation of the trees and vegetation

Good on you Council, the more the merrier,

Michael

Conservative think tank says oil will run short soon

This is an interesting recent post in one of the leading energy blogs, The Oil Drum, which refers to a finding by a conservative policy analysis firm, Chatham House, that the world’s oil supply will run short in the next few years:

“Lloyd’s hired Chatham House to prepare a white paper on the risks of peak oil called Sustainable Energy Security: Strategic risks and opportunities for business. It seems to me that this new report gets quite a few things right, but it misleads in the direction of thinking things are better than they really are, when it comes to timing and alternatives.

First, what does it get right? The big thing it gets right is what it lists as Conclusion 2:

‘2. Traditional fossil fuel resources face serious supply constraints and an oil supply crunch is likely in the short-to-medium term with profound consequences for the way in which business functions today.’ “

See the full blog at:  http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6743

Using public compost bins in Chippendale

There are green compost bins in some of our streets like the one in the photo in the post above.  They are for anyone to use.  Please feel very welcome to put your food and garden waste in them at any time.

There are seven in Peace Park, one for each day of the week.  Just put your food waste in the bin with the day that matches.

Several other bins are in Myrtle and Shepherd Streets.  Some bins are provided by Sydney City Council others are paid for by businesses and residents. Let us know if you would like a bin in your street.

 Here’s how to use the bins:

• Any food waste except meat may go in
• Any lemons, onions or other acidic fruits may be put in, too
• Table napkins and torn-up small bits of paper can be put in
• The compost made by the bins stops pollution caused by sending garbage to landfill
• The compost is used to grow plants in the road gardens and Peace Park; anyone may use the compost
• The bins are called, ‘Aerobins’: see, https://www.aerobin400.com/about.aspx

Sydney City Council now has a formal policy approving public composting and road gardens and is strongly supporting village communities like Chippendale in stopping waste and growing local food.

If you would like to join us in maintaining the compost bins, to learn how to compost, or to garden you would be very welcome.  Mostly a few of us garden every Friday from 9 to 12 noon, and sometimes on Saturdays from 10 to 12 noon.

For enquiries:  Michael             -            michael@sustainablehouse.com.au

Council’s waste officer is Michael Neville and Michael is often in Peace Park Friday mornings checking the bins there.

27,000 wells and counting

As oil and gas bubble up from the seabed around BP’s well there’s a growing amount of discussion of oil drilling in the coast off the USA, and this short note is interesting:

There are around 27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf. One of them is within two miles of BP’s blowout, and there is a second well in the area that is not in production. 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GULF_OIL_SPILL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-07-19-15-49-38

Phew, that’s a lot of wells,

M

Two road temperature monitors go up in Chippo

• Temperature gauge on post with black winding box at base

Sydney City Council has put up two road temperature monitors.  

One is in Myrtle, on the north side of the street, near the intersection with Abercrombie.  It will continuously record the temperature of the road caused by direct western and eastern sun and no tree cover with black tar on the road.

The other is in Buckland and will continuously record the temperature of the road there shielded from the western and eastern sun by trees and buildings.

This data will be published on the Council’s web page and I’ll blog again when it is.

The data will help Council develop roadwork, planting and building design and maintenance policies so that it can cool down our cities from the avoidable heat waves in summer: for more information, analysis and a plan for cooling Australia’s cities visit: http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/archives/14236.

The temperature monitors was an initiative Councillor Chris Harris and I put to Council which Councillor John McInerney and others agreed to as part of the new road works in Myrtle and Buckland.  It’s a great opportunity to get some realtime, local data and another beaut example of what happens when our local community partners with Council.

There’s one deliciously funny note and we want to keep it.  There’s a sign at knee height, “Adults Only”, which has got passers-by fascinated.  Is there something pornographic down there, one wonders?

Unfortunately, it’s nothing so enticing.  The off-the-shelf pole enables the temperature gauge to be raised and lowered for maintenance.  It’s main market is playground and other school yard equipment and the sign comes with the product.

Oh well, still it’s a beaut sign and I love it.  Great to see folks pause, look at the whole contraption and speculate about it’s function.

May the data be with us, and thanks again, Sydney Council,

Michael

Inspiring city planning

On ABC Iview for a week or so there’s an inspiring example of city planning at Portland in the US where the city:

- is reducing city traffic, increasing public transport

- making the car a guest on many roads

- cutting transport related pollution

and much more.

To visit it on the web:

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/589468

E 2: Transport: Episode 5:  Portland: A sense of place

Enjoy,

Michael

New raingarden in City Road

There’s a new raingarden in City Road.  There are photos of it below.

It’s a fine improvement on the ones recently installed in Buckland, Myrtle and Meagher streets; congratulations to the designers and the authors of the project, Sydney City Council.

This one is better because it:

• drains water from the road by gravity and keeps it near where it falls, thereby roughly restoring the natural water cycle here
• uses gravity well to store and hold water, hopefully so it will be available to the trees nearby
• has a clear hydraulic logic to it to store and hold water.

It should be cheaper to maintain and use less resources than the others.

It’s not finished yet but so far so good.

Thanks to all those involved.

Michael