By ANEEKA SIMONIS
ENVIRONMENTAL sustainability and youth care have come together in an innovative new project at the Kooweerup Community House.
The group is in the final stages of delivering its own Eco House, made entirely of environmentally viable materials to educate potential renovators how to refit their home without taxing the environment.
Brian Harlow, the Community House’s youth development worker, has been working on the project and said people would be amazed to learn about the many different, cost-effective ways they could create a more environmentally-friendly home.
“We took a house that was around 60 to 70 years old and took it from a half star rating to a five star rating of energy efficiency,” he said.
The hub which will soon be fitted with solar power uses solar water, down lights, environmentally-friendly insulation in the walls and floor and has double glazed windows.
“We used different types of reflective film that have temperature sensors to show kids that having different grades of film (on windows) can reduce the heat transfer over summer.
“It reduces power needs through insulation and design rather than having the air-conditioning going flat out,” Mr Harlow explained.
But the environmental education project has been just as much about providing support and guidance to at-risk teens.
Some 20 boys at risk of leaving school were given a taste of life as a carpenter, putting in weeks of work laying the verandah and decking around the Eco House.
Mr Harlow said 20 boys from Kooweerup Secondary School and Pakenham Secondary School gained an OH&S certificate as well as a range of skills that will support them if they decide school isn’t the path for them.
“School doesn’t suit every single kid. Some kids struggle in a classroom environment but bring them into a hands-on environment and they excel,” Mr Harlow said.
“If they are going to disengage from schools, they have skills and a certificate they can take into the workforce.”
Once the Eco House is up in running, Mr Harlow said the community will be welcome to join in a host of different workshops about different types of insulation, the benefits of window glazing as well as holding seminars on taking care of drought-resistant plants over the hotter months.
The group is also in the process of refitting the house’s former double garage into an educational space for local school groups.
