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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
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
27 December 2020

How growing urban food is ending waste

Michael Mobbs
27 December 2020
How growing urban food is ending waste

Nature knows no waste. We can turn ‘food waste’ to a resource to grow food. But how? Let me tell you a story about moving to other planets to explain. Read on for Kristina Ulm’s blog about her study and work and pleasure gardening in the city of Sydney, Australia

Tagged: Compost, Recycling, Food, Solutions

Comment
Michael Mobbs
17 December 2020

Gardening for Earth, and me

Michael Mobbs
17 December 2020
Gardening for Earth, and me

A couple of years ago I decided to leave Sydney and find refuge in a remote valley from what’s coming. This is the story of that failed escape and the refuge I find in gardening, still living in the city.

Tagged: Food, Fast track off-grid, Rainwater

Comment
Michael Mobbs
19 November 2020

Outbreak of democracy in Chippendale

Michael Mobbs
19 November 2020
Outbreak of democracy in Chippendale

We’re playing with a new ‘town hall’ way for us to meet - it’s high tech but low IQ and easy for we citizens to use . . . join us . . . we reckon speaking truth to power can be fun

Tagged: Solutions

Comment
Michael Mobbs
18 November 2020

Waste not, want not in one part of the United States

Michael Mobbs
18 November 2020
Waste not, want not in one part of the United States

“I am writing to you from Minneapolis, in America. A year ago, I expect most Australians would have never recognized the name. Since May, however, my city has garnered international attention, even infamy . . . “

Tagged: Recycling, Solutions, Food, Compost

1 Comment
Michael Mobbs
17 November 2020

No legislation ever rises above the level of its administration

Michael Mobbs
17 November 2020
No legislation ever rises above the level of its administration

My shadow from the setting sun in Peace Park, Chippendale got me thinking . . .

Tagged: Rainwater, Red tape, Rate rebate, Draingarden

Comment
Michael Mobbs
9 October 2020

3 billion internet users, 2 billion play games there - an opportunity for climate action

Michael Mobbs
9 October 2020
3 billion internet users, 2 billion play games there - an opportunity for climate action

3 billion people use the internet. 2 billion play games there.

What if those who play games there could play using moves to save Earth’s climate?

Tagged: Solutions, Biodiversity

Comment
Michael Mobbs
8 October 2020

Food from local farmers to local buyers

Michael Mobbs
8 October 2020
Food from local farmers to local buyers

We love gardening. We both have gardens in our backyards. It is such a great way to reconnect with nature, in particular the soil. We garden with our children. Far from green thumbs, our success rates are about 50/50,

Tagged: Food, Efficiency

Comment
Michael Mobbs
17 September 2020

Five minute video of my house

Michael Mobbs
17 September 2020
Five minute video of my house

A drone photo of my roof showing the solar panels, 13 September 2020 - thanks to my neighbours, Graeme and Rupert

Tagged: Low bills, Sewage, Rainwater, Stormwater, Compost, Off-grid products, Red tape, Green energy

Comment
Michael Mobbs
31 August 2020

We compost over 300 kg a week in our road gardens

Michael Mobbs
31 August 2020
We compost over 300 kg a week in our road gardens

Each week our roadside solutions compost over 300kg of food waste to grow soil to grow food in our Chippendale road gardens.

Tagged: Garden design, Streetgarden, Food, Compost

Comment
Michael Mobbs
31 August 2020

Plastic unfantastic x 3

Michael Mobbs
31 August 2020
Plastic unfantastic x 3

Two interns working with Sustainable House, Ailis O’Sullivan and Brianne Kendall, join me as we tell our three Plastic Free July stories. I found their stories and the similar and different policies, practices and mores fascinating – thank you, Ailis and Brianne.

Tagged: Plastic, Solutions, Recycling

Comment
Michael Mobbs
22 August 2020

Solutions to burning food

Michael Mobbs
22 August 2020
Solutions to burning food

To burn food waste for energy is to burn soil in the making. No soil = no food. And, no us.

Tagged: Soil, Streetgarden, Compost, Food, Solutions

Comment
Michael Mobbs
30 July 2020

It's easy being kind to Earth, join me

Michael Mobbs
30 July 2020
It's easy being kind to Earth, join me

A US intern working from her home in the US counts why, how and what can be done in the little Sydney suburb of Chippendale to end food waste - thank you, Ailis O’Sullivan from West Massachusetts

Tagged: Compost, Food, Off-grid, Fast track off-grid

1 Comment
Michael Mobbs
11 July 2020

Uni lecturers invest in gas, oil, coal

Michael Mobbs
11 July 2020
Uni lecturers invest in gas, oil, coal

Uni lecturers who teach ‘sustainability’, and unis with “sustainable” policies put their super money into gas, oil, coal

Tagged: Energy, Biodiversity, Hot air

Comment
Michael Mobbs
11 July 2020

Sustainability fact sheet for students

Michael Mobbs
11 July 2020
Sustainability fact sheet for students

Here is a fact sheet for students studying sustainability - it’s about water, energy, and how plants and animals manage their water and energy needs

Tagged: Rainwater, Sewage, Off-grid

Comment
Michael Mobbs
2 July 2020

Cafe goes solar

Michael Mobbs
2 July 2020
Cafe goes solar

The Bogey Hole Cafe at Sydney’s Bronte Beach goes solar. One of the owners, Debra Gray, tells her story.

Tagged: Solar, Solutions, Energy, Efficiency

Comment
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
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Use this site to find and follow off-grid projects

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  • Michael Mobbs
    RT @jo_noCSG: One point >>> never take a gas co CEO’s word for anything - everything mentioned here needs a good ol’ fact check… https://t.co/43efbaqdoK
    18 May 2023, 6:26 pm
  • Michael Mobbs
    RT @openpoliticsAU: The new Member for Aston @MaryDoyleMP has disclosed her interests. The main ones are a house, mortgage and Camry.… https://t.co/QlS7nzCQlz
    18 May 2023, 6:25 pm
  • Michael Mobbs
    RT @FreeDanDuggan: This photo was taken on the morning that NSW #PoliticalPrisoner #FreeDanDuggan was suddenly #kidnapped at #Orange o… https://t.co/JqEbc4Yv8O
    18 May 2023, 6:25 pm

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

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