Forget 7-star luxury, Adelaide is now home to a 10-star sustainable home

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Sometime in the recent past, people of consummate taste and sagacious insight (by which I mean bloggers, influencers, and the inexplicably rich and famous) decided that five-stars simply weren’t good enough to denote the sheer level of luxury they enjoyed. So these people, clearly rich in imagination too, came up with the idea of seven-star luxury – think of hotels like the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. 

But, of course, the seven-star ranking was never official. Five-stars remains the top tier, a few extra chocolates on the pillow or whatever the Burj Al Arab provides isn’t that much better than the traditional five-star treatment. But perhaps now there is real cause for a new entrant into the star system – the ten-star home – a home that demonstrates what sustainable design is truly capable of. Ten-stars not because it’s twice as good as a luxury hotel, but because it’s twice as environmentally sustainable. After all, there are few things as luxurious as living without guilt, as being beyond criticism. 

South Australia’s first ten-star home

Last month, building consultancy firm Suho and its partners completed the construction of South Australia’s first ten-star home in Adelaide. The house, which consumes almost twenty times less energy than the average Australian household, was accredited by Australia’s Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme with ten stars. 

Suho designed and submitted the home to Design Matters National Body 10-star design challenge, for which it was commended, and motivated the firm to do whatever it took to make this house a reality. 

To do this Suho partnered up with Fimer, a leading manufacturer of inverters for solar systems, for the installation of a React 2 5.0 kW solar and battery system which incorporates a 5.0 kW hybrid inverter and 4 kWh of energy storage. 

The React 2’s hybridity means that it can achieve up to 90% energy self-reliance and more energy output than some systems of a lower voltage. 

Of course, like a five-star restaurant or hotel, the key to a ten-star home is seamless synchronicity behind the scenes. Hence why the React 2 connects to the house’s home automation system, the ABB-free@home, with its behind-the-meter style management of energy generation and consumption for the home’s heating, lighting, and appliances. 

Jason Venning, Fimer Australia’s Country Manager said that he has a React 2 on his home and “can see the value it brings my family every day, I encourage anyone interested in getting solar or battery for their home, have a virtual tour of the 10 star home.” 

Virtual tours of the ten-star home (and the 8.2 star home which also features a React 2 solar system) will be available during Australia’s Sustainable House Day on September 20. 

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