Cape Homes Cruise Through Recent Heatwave Without Raising A Sweat

Energy efficient homes can be super stylish - as shown by the beautiful interiors of the 10 star home (Photo: Dan Hocking)

​The Cape Sustainable Housing Estate is proving it’s worth in being a great place to escape the heat. Saturday 6th January was a super hot day across Victoria, with regions across Victoria including Cape Paterson experienced temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. We were very happy to have our residents reporting their homes sitting comfortably below 25 degrees all day without needing to turn on their energy efficient air conditioners. This points to a great deal of effort by our designers and builders over many years in raising the bar to deliver better performing, passive solar, energy efficient homes, and our residents are set to reap the benefits.
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Homes at The Cape housing estate are currently averaging over 8 star energy efficiency, which is a national first for a housing estate in Australia. This is achieved through employing all the elements of good passive solar design – correct orientation, shading, double glazing, insulation, thermal mass and cross flow ventilation, and highly skilled builders who take extra care to ensure the homes are built to a high standard. 

The Cape features Victoria's first 10 star home by The Sociable Weaver (Photo: Ben Mulligan)

​Anyone who has lived in a high quality passive solar home will describe the benefits as “effortless comfort” – having a home that maintains year round warmth in winter and coolness in Summer. This is very healthy for the homeowner, enabling them to cruise through hot spells without feeling depleted, and also staying warm in Winter. It is also a prudent and sensible investment in your future comfort and wellbeing as we move into a future where we are more likely to see more more hot spells and heatwaves across Australia.
 
Cape homes feature a combination of energy efficient design and operating systems such as super efficient heat pump heating and cooling systems, and solar panels. Apart from health and comfort, this combination has the added benefit of reducing energy usage to a fraction of the costs of the average Australian home. With recent major rises in the cost of electricity and gas, the average home in Australia now costs over $3000 in annual energy bills, which is becoming a real affordability issue for many Australian householders. Super efficient homes at The Cape have annual energy bills that are measured in hundreds, not thousands of dollars, and leave a very light footprint on the environment. 

All homes feature the best elements of passive solar design - good orientation, shading, double glazing, thermal mass, insulation and cross flow ventilation

Cape homes demonstrate the benchmark that all Australian homes should be meeting to meet the challenges of rising energy costs, and hotter conditions and heatwaves expected with a changing climate. The community has the added advantage of being surrounded by the cooling effects of beautiful Bass Strait. Feel free to come and visit the Cape and see a great collection of best practice energy efficient homes in one place, and residents who are reaping the benefits of better health, better comfort levels and lower energy bills.
 
Feel free to visit our website and download energy efficient house designs for free, generously provided by our designers and builders in order to give ordinary Australians a leg up to have access to better designed homes. Hats off to the efforts of our quality builders such as TS Construction, The Sociable Weaver and Martin Builders, and designers such as Beaumont Concepts and Adapt Design Group.
 
If you feel like visiting, the Cape 8.2 star display home and 10 star display home are open every weekend 12 noon til 4 PM, and the 10 star display home is also open weekdays between 8 AM and 4 PM.
 
Best regards,
The Cape team

The Cape is surrounded by the cooling effects of beautiful Bass Strait (Photo: Coast Magazine)

Cape homes are averaging over 8 star energy efficiency - a national first