When:
April 27, 2025 @ 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm
2025-04-27T13:30:00+10:00
2025-04-27T17:30:00+10:00
Where:
Narara Ecovillage
Cost:
$20-$69
Contact:
Geoff Cameron
This workshop is part of our quarterly Open Weekend – why not make a weekend of it? We have a range of accommodation options for you to stay on Friday and or Saturday evening – CLICK HERE – or drop in for the Saturday or Sunday – or for both days!
At Narara Ecovillage we have possibly the most eclectic collection of sustainably designed and built houses in the country. The village, in a beautiful, secluded valley on the Central Coast, bounded on three side by the Strickland State Forest, yet only ten minutes from Gosford and 70 minutes from Sydney, has now been under construction for a decade.
One of the first questions our ecovillage community had to answer was: “what is a sustainable home and how do you go about designing and building a sustainable community?” Over the past ten years we have learnt a lot about designing and building sustainable homes and an eco-friendly community.
In this seminar you will:
- Learn the principles of passive solar design
- Gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of a range of natural building materials and construction methods including rammed earth, straw bale, hempcrete and earth bag.
- Hear from first-hand experience the lessons of doing owner-builder from design, to DA approval, to construction (including natural building workshops) and certification.
- See practical examples of passive solar design and carbon neutral living.
- Learn how the village runs on its own solar energy 24/7 and the role that EVs will play in powering our future homes.
Geoff Cameron has an MSc in Applied Science from UNSW.
Geoff has been involved in design and construction of the village civil infrastructure, built his own 8.8 star hempcrete passive solar house as owner-builder, has served as a director of NEV Co-op and NEV Power, and is currently head of the village Water & Sewer utility NEV Water.