Here’s a list of useful resources to help you on your way to creating a climate ready home. We will add to this page as we learn about new resources, so please be sure to check back in!
Categories:
Home design guides, tips & tools
Buying & using new energy technology
Energy efficient homes
How resilient is your home to climate change?
Gardens, landscaping & water
Home Design Guides, Tips & Tools
Designing and Constructing Your Home booklet, Mount Barker Council (booklet)
Get tips on how to reduce your environmental impact when building a new home, renovating an exisiting home, or for everyday living.
Green Book, ASBN (book)
For a reliable range of sustainable solutions in South Australia, check out the Adelaide Sustainable Building Network's (ASBN) Green Book. It’s filled with local businesses to help you make the best choices for your sustainable projects.
Your Home, Australian Government (website)
Australia's Guide to sustainable homes. It covers every aspect of buying, designing and renovating, including passive design, materials, energy, water, living and adapting. Browse house designs, case studies, and more! An excellent first stop.
My Cool Home, AdaptWest (tool)
Adapt your home to suit Adelaide’s changing climate conditions. Check out the:
- 3D interactive house walk through, with tips about design and retrofitting; and the
- My Cool Home Assessment tool, to find out how well your house is designed, before or after it is built!
Green Rebuild Toolkit, Renew (tool)
Resources to help people rebuild their homes and increase resistance to future climate disasters. It’s a project by Renew, a not-for-profit organisation who have been providing expert, independent advice on sustainable solutions since 1980.
Sustainable House Day (website)
Sustainable House Day provides an opportunity to explore some of Australia’s most unique and inspiring homes, and learn from the people who designed, built, and live in them. There’s an array of resources to explore.
Buying & using new energy technology
Installing solar power, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Sourcing energy from the sun can be a smart move, for your wallet and the planet. This step-by-step guide outlines what to look out for, what questions to ask and how to make the right choice for your home.
Using solar power, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Now your solar power system is up and running, you’re getting energy from the sun and helping your wallet and the planet. This guide outlines how to make the most of it, what your rights and responsibilities are, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Installing solar batteries, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Home batteries allow you to get even more out of your solar power system. This step-by-step guide outlines what to look out for, what questions to ask and how to make the right choice for your home.
Using solar batteries, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Now that your battery is up and running, you can store electricity to use later. This step-by-step guide outlines how to make the most of your home battery, what your rights and responsibilities are, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Going off-grid, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
With solar and batteries cheaper than ever, you might be thinking of going off-grid. Here’s what to consider, what to look out for, what questions to ask and how to make the right choice for installing an off-grid system.
Being off-grid, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Now you’re enjoying the benefits of living with off-grid power, this step-by-step guide outlines how to make the most of it, what your rights and responsibilities are, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Buying electric vehicles, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Driving an electric vehicle is a smart move for the planet, and can also be good for your wallet. This guide outlines what to look out for, what questions to ask and how to make the right choice for you.
Using electric vehicles, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
Now you’ve got your EV, you’re on the path to low-emission and lower-cost driving. This guide outlines all you need to know about charging your EV, what your rights and responsibilities are, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Virtual Power Plants, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
New technology has led to new types of energy services that you may have heard of but not know much about. Here we give you the lowdown on Virtual Power Plants, a new offering that is growing in popularity.
Energy monitoring, Resilient East + Energy Consumers Australia (factsheet)
People want to know more about our energy usage than every before. How can we reduce our usage, bills and impact on the planet? Energy monitoring systems help us to better see and understand our usage. Find out if installing a system is right for you.
Energy efficient homes
10 Free things to do in your home, Resilient East (factsheet)
A quick and easy guide of ten free things you can do in your home to saving money and energy.
9 Things on a budget you can do in your home, Resilient East (factsheet)
A quick and easy guide of nine things you can do in your home to saving money and energy.
Using and saving energy, SA Government (website)
A handy site to help you use and save energy wisely.
Check out the Summer Cooling and Winter Heating Guides while you’re there (under documents).
Existing Homes: Creating an energy efficient home, Resilient East (factsheet)
Building or buying a new home? This snapshot is of key things to think about before you start the process (or early into it) to help you live your best life! There’s a checklist to help you customise what’s best for you.
New Homes: Efficiency by design, Resilient East (factsheet)
There are many things we can do in our homes to reduce energy use and bills. This snapshot contains key things you can do to create a comfortable, energy efficient home. It comes with a checklist to help you customise what is best for you.
Do your own Home Energy Audit, SA Government (online tool)
As energy bill aren’t itemised, it can be hard to tell how energy is used in your home. By doing a home energy audit you can understand what are the main energy users in your home and find ways to reduce use and keep your energy bills to a minimum.
You can do your own home energy audit, or borrow a Home Energy Toolkit for a more detailed audit.
Home Energy Toolkit, SA Government (tool)
Home Energy Toolkits contain tools and information to help you discover how energy is used in your home and what you can do to make savings.
The Toolkit is available from all metropolitan libraries and most regional libraries in South Australia. Contact your local library to check availability and book.
Carbon Neutral Adelaide, City of Adelaide (website)
Carbon Neutral Adelaide represents a community with a shared ambition to make the City of Adelaide one of the world’s first carbon neutral cities. To achieve this goal we all need to rapidly reduce our carbon emissions. There are many ways you can reduce your emissions.
Check out the partner directory for a list of organisations that can help you on your carbon neutral journey.
Rebates for energy efficient appliances, Essential Services Commission of South Australia (website)
See if you’re eligible to receive a rebate when purchasing energy efficient materials and appliances. You may be eligible if you’ve installed insulation, secondary glazing, new energy efficient heating and cooling appliances, water heating, lighting, fridges, stand by power controllers and more!
Energy Rating System, Australian Government (website)
Energy rating labels provide consumers with information on the energy efficiency of a product. Compare energy use and efficiency of similar sized appliances. The more stars, the better, and will most likely be cheaper to run.
Energy Efficiency Guide for Renters, Better Renting (guide)
If you're a renter, you may appreciate this guide to help reduce bills and improve the thermal comfort in your home.
Better Renting is a community of renters working together for stable, affordable, and liveable homes.
How resilient is your home to climate change?
Where We Build, What We Build, Resilient Hills & Coast (factsheets)
This demonstrates how to apply a repeatable methodology for assessing the types of homes in a region, identifying climate archetypes and the resilience of homes to climate hazards, and undertaking economic analysis to determine the benefit cost of new build or retrofitting homes with climate-ready home specification.
Bushfire Resilient Homes Toolkit Residents Guide, NSW Government (tool)
This toolkit provides guidance and advice to homeowners wishing to take action to improve the bushfire resilience of their homes.
Future-proof your strata, City of Adelaide (forum)
A forum for strata management committee members was held in Adelaide to discuss opportunities to pursue whole of building upgrades, that make them more sustainable and resilient.
Gardens, landscaping & water
Water Smart Home, Resilient East (website)
Saving water is something we can all do, but sometimes it's hard to know where start.
A water-efficient home helps you minimise water use, conserve energy and reduce your water and sewer costs.
Urban Heat Mapping Factsheets, Resilient East
Explore high-resolution surface temperature data and tree canopy cover and height data for metropolitan Adelaide. Enter your address into an online tool to see how hot or cool your property is and how it relates to nearby trees.
To assist you in using the online tool, we’ve developed six fun and interactive Urban Heat factsheets!
Gardening Hub, Green Adelaide (website)
Gardening is not only a great way to add a little green to your home, it’s also a way to create a cooler, greener and wilder Adelaide that better responds to the impacts of climate change. Plus, nature is great for our wellbeing.
Here, you’ll find a hub of gardening information around choosing the right pot plants for your patio, to a step-by-step guide on building green walls, and tricks to attract animals, butterflies and bees to your yard, plus more.
Adelaide Garden Guide, Plan SA & Green Adelaide (guide)
This guide provides small garden designs and planting ideas to help make it easy to implement the Planning and Design Code’s mandatory tree and landscaping requirements for new homes and renovations in metropolitan Adelaide.
It aims to inspire people who are building new homes or extensions to add more greenery and improve the liveability of homes and Adelaide’s neighbourhoods.