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Michael Mobbs' Sustainable House

Home
My House
My journey
Electricity
Water
Wastewater
The Kitchen
Products & Services
Low bills living
Services
Book a talk
Off-grid projects
Off-grid fact sheets
Tours
General Public Tours
Model of my house at the Powerhouse Museum
Blog
About
Contact me
Media
Leaky drains and kerbside gardens
Food
4 December 2025
Michael Mobbs
Cucumber farming in the street

Story by two US interns, Michael Miniotas and Will Brandt, who are growing cucumbers in a Sydney street.

Cucumber farming in the street
21 June 2019
Michael Mobbs
Make a more natural nature strip

Here’s a simple, low cost , low tech design which keeps rain water where it falls to make a self-watering nature strip.

Let’s put nature into the ‘nature’ strips of our cities. It’s easy.

Make a more natural nature strip
2 April 2019
Michael Mobbs
23 years off grid for water in the centre of ...

What does the data tell us about living off-grid for water in the heart of Sydney?

Analysis of water quantity by an American intern in Sydney, Jillian Meehan.

23 years off grid for water in the centre of Sydney - what the data says
6 February 2019
Michael Mobbs
Aircon for on and off-grid houses

Here’s how to have aircon and be on or offgrid for electricity. Cool!

Aircon for on and off-grid houses
Michael Mobbs
25 June 2020

Free, healthy food from our Chippendale road gardens

Michael Mobbs
25 June 2020
Free, healthy food from our Chippendale road gardens

Anyone may harvest fruit, herbs, medicinal plants from our Chippendale road gardens. Green paw paw anyone?

Tagged: Compost, Draingarden, Food, Fast track off-grid, Efficiency, Recycling, Rainwater

Comment
Michael Mobbs
23 June 2020

How to get safer cheaper footpaths - prevent trip hazards

Michael Mobbs
23 June 2020
How to get safer cheaper footpaths - prevent trip hazards

Use water to prevent footpath pavement heave. Otherwise known as, ‘trip hazards’.

Tagged: Rainwater, Efficiency, Solutions, Draingarden, Stormwater

1 Comment
Michael Mobbs
11 June 2020

A garden in your window?

Michael Mobbs
11 June 2020
A garden in your  window?

Simon Molesworth, lawyer, farmer, radio journalist - and lifelong ‘doer’ for Earth and her environment - describes how he built a ‘garden in the window’.

Tagged: Solutions, Garden design

Comment
Michael Mobbs
10 June 2020

The Earthwalker's house, Patagonia

Michael Mobbs
10 June 2020
The Earthwalker's house, Patagonia

How Paul Coleman - Earthwalker who walked from Canada to Brazil for a UN climate conference - designed and built his home in Patagonia, to be cool in summer and warm in winter using . . . the earth on his small farm.

Tagged: Soil, Solutions, Rainwater, Energy, Efficiency

Comment
Michael Mobbs
7 June 2020

How to show love in the kitchen sink for fish in the ocean

Michael Mobbs
7 June 2020
How to show love in the kitchen sink for fish in the ocean

If we let our dish water into the drain we’re killing fish. Our kitchen sinks are connected to rivers and the ocean. Rivers and the ocean are for fish, not for our dish water.

Here’s how to put dish water to good use.

Tagged: Sewage, Recycling, Soil, Streetgarden, Low bills, Compost

1 Comment
Michael Mobbs
14 May 2020

To burn food is to burn soil

Michael Mobbs
14 May 2020
To burn food is to burn soil

Burning food waste to make energy burns future food

Tagged: Soil, Solutions, Energy, Food, Compost, Recycling

Comment
Michael Mobbs
23 April 2020

The solar and battery system at Phil Lloyd’s house, Sydney

Michael Mobbs
23 April 2020
The solar and battery system at Phil Lloyd’s house, Sydney

I think it is important to be aware of what was my driving motivation to install a system in the first place.

Tagged: Solar, Batteries, Efficiency, Off-grid

2 Comments
Michael Mobbs
31 March 2020

Speed up your compost

Michael Mobbs
31 March 2020
Speed up your compost

How to speed up your compost, and get rid of waste paper at the same time

Tagged: Compost, Recycling, Efficiency

4 Comments
Michael Mobbs
29 March 2020

We can grow our food - details for how to

Michael Mobbs
29 March 2020
We can grow our food - details for how to

Each of us may grow some or even all of our food. Here’s how.

Tagged: Garden design, Draingarden, Streetgarden

Comment
Michael Mobbs
25 March 2020

How to go off grid videos

Michael Mobbs
25 March 2020
How to go off grid videos

Brief ‘how to’ videos for going off or partly off grid - how to cool a fridge, recycle plaster, respect and use stormwater . . .

Tagged: Plastic, Stormwater, Efficiency, Recycling

Comment
Michael Mobbs
24 March 2020

Zoom your project with Michael

Michael Mobbs
24 March 2020
Zoom your project with Michael

Let’s work on your project ‘virtually’ - you in your house or site or building or garden - me in my house, garden

Tagged: Garden design, Biodiversity, Batteries, Urban Heat Island, Energy, Efficiency, Prefab, Off-grid products

Comment
Michael Mobbs
19 March 2020

Intern(s) invited to analyse data

Michael Mobbs
19 March 2020
Intern(s) invited to analyse data

Intern(s) invited to research sustainable projects

Tagged: Red tape, Green energy, Rate rebate, Rainwater, Recycling

Comment
Michael Mobbs
11 March 2020

Three interns compare their Australian and USA experiences

Michael Mobbs
11 March 2020
Three interns compare their Australian and USA experiences

Three interns working with Sustainable House give their early impressions of Australia compared to the USA

Tagged: Rainwater, Recycling, Energy, Green energy, Efficiency, Electricity

1 Comment
Michael Mobbs
11 March 2020

Wonderful success story - Village Homes, California

Michael Mobbs
11 March 2020
Wonderful success story - Village Homes, California

Village Homes has been running since the late 1980s in Davis, California. The completed development includes 225 homes and 20 apartments. Here’s how it works . . .

Tagged: Stormwater, Soil, Solar, Solutions, Energy

3 Comments
Michael Mobbs
7 March 2020

How little I know

Michael Mobbs
7 March 2020
How little I know

Of humility brought on by watching stingless bees come and go today in my back garden . . .

Tagged: Biodiversity, Off-grid, Energy

Comment
Michael Mobbs
25 February 2020

What am I proud of . . . and what can I do better?

Michael Mobbs
25 February 2020
What am I proud of . . .  and what can I do better?

The time has come to speak of many things . . . of moving from the country to the city, of using solar energy, and turning human ‘waste’ into soil and water . . . A guest blog by Diane Green from Bathurst, NSW

Source: 2020/2/25/what-am-i-proud-of-and-what-can-i-do-better

Tagged: Solar, Solutions, Energy, Electricity, Off-grid

1 Comment
Michael Mobbs
13 February 2020

Express interest in my off grid prefabs

Michael Mobbs
13 February 2020
Express interest in my off grid prefabs

Please let me know if you are interested in my prefab off-grid houses .

Tagged: Prefab, Low bills, Off-grid, Off-grid products, Fast track off-grid

2 Comments
Michael Mobbs
2 February 2020

How to make a leaky drain

Michael Mobbs
2 February 2020
How to make a leaky drain

You don’t want a leaky bladder . . . but you DO want a leaky drain . . . here’s how to get and build it for less than $20

Tagged: Stormwater, Rainwater, Garden design, Leaky drain

Comment
Michael Mobbs
30 January 2020

Rain is our lifeblood . . .

Michael Mobbs
30 January 2020
Rain is our lifeblood  . . .

There’s hope to be found in our gardens and on our streets but we need to change the way we design rainwater runoff, and we need to do it now.

Tagged: Rainwater, Stormwater, Streetgarden, Garden design

Comment
Michael Mobbs
30 January 2020

Farm fencing revolution

Michael Mobbs
30 January 2020
Farm fencing revolution

Farm fencing revolution offers reduced costs of repairing and building new fences along with power to protect creeks and vegetation

Tagged: Solutions, Soil, Low bills, Rainwater

Comment
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Sustainable House, 58 Myrtle St, Chippendale, NSW, 2008, Australia

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