The Smart Home

The Smart Home is an initiative by Energy Australia and Sydney Water to showcase technology for energy and water efficiency. The house is in the former Olympic Village in Newington, a rather deserted-feeling suburb. It looks no different from any other house in the wide, eerily quiet streets of Newington, but it generates its own electricity on site and exports any surplus back to the grid; there are two types of solar panel, a rooftop solar photovoltaic panel and a solar pergola; and a ceramic fuel cell converts natural gas into electricity. The furnishings are made from recycled and sustainable materials and recycled water is in use. Clare, Michael and Ava live in the house, having won a competition to stay there for a year and report back on the experience via their blog. The electric car, whose battery had died on a trip to the Blue Mountains, was not in evidence. What apparently excites the interest of most visitors is the Roomba, which is a little disc-shaped vacuuming robot which spins off excitably into a corner and then comes out again.

The Smart Home

Kitchen: stools from wine corks

Kitchen - recycled glass splashback

Back yard - solar pergola

Water usage gauges

Kitchen surface - composite of bamboo and recycled paper

Dining room - bamboo table, chairs made from recycled car batteries

Reclaimed stainless steel shelves

LED pendant light

Ava and Spanish-speaking robot

Shower timer

Coffee table - recycled glass and redundant high voltage insulators

Bathroom floor - pebbles

The Roomba

Kitchen - recycled LED lights from motherboards

Kitchen drawers - reclaimed copper sheeting from electricity substations