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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Blake, 10 stars for the house but I ll have to take some stars from the article due to the misspelling of the inverter/storage system manufacturers name. It’s Fimer not Firmer.
Hi Matt, thanks for spotting that. It’s been corrected!
If they achieved 10 stars, good on them. However this article is very poor on information. You do not achieve 10 points by just having a solar system and storage of 5k plus some management. There is much more. So I would expect a bit more information about all the measures that allowed them to reach this rating.
I think if you have a solar array and battery system that makes your home grid free ,you should not have to meet any other building energy regulations, as they only add expense to building costs and do not reduce your homes carbon output in anyway.
It’s time to use the cheap availability of solar panels to help reduce building cost as well as power costs, most housing “experts” only want added building costs to makes homes greener rather the opposite which is no grid/low grid homes making building costs cheaper…
And yes I am involved in building and have built several homes for myself over the years so do know more than the “experts”
Also the star rating system is total nonsense as they discovered in Ireland a few years back, homes with higher energy ratings in Ireland can often use more power than low rated homes because the high higher rated homes can be huge 5 bed mansions compared to a low rated 1/2 bed cottage….
So wasting money demanding home builders achieve a certain star rating is pure waste of time and an added expense, because it’s about personal power use in a home use not applying a star rating which doesn’t change consumer behaviour..