Katy Daily, with sons Arlo and Quinn, has retrofitted a circa-1930 house to become a highly energy-efficient home. Picture: Merri-bek City Council, Zero Carbon Merri-bek.
Australian households are using innovative environmentally-friendly practices to save an estimated $3bn a year on energy bills.
This equates to an average saving of about $1500 for each home, according to the not-for-profit Renew which is working to transform Australian homes for climate and energy resilience.
For Renew’s Sustainable House Day on May 17, hundreds of Australians who have adopted climate-smart updates into their homes will open their doors to the public.
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In addition to helping save both money and energy in the current cost-of-living and energy crisis, sustainable measures better assist residences to withstand extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and power outages.
Renew chief executive Helen Oakey said home upgrades such as solar panels, home batteries. insulation, heat pumps, passive design and electrification were already saving Australians billions in energy costs every year.
Renew analysis of Clean Energy Council 2025 figures, a University of New South Wales Solar Report and energy.gov.au data shows the 4.2m Aussie households who have taken up rooftop solar are saving $1500 annually in electricity – amounting to a total $3.15bn for Australia as a whole.
Solar panels, home batteries. insulation, heat pumps, passive design and other building modifications can help homeowners save money on their bills.
According to the Australian Council of Social Service, additional savings via electrification and insulation could save some households an extra $2000 to $6000 every year.
The analysis noted actual household savings could vary based on systems’ size, energy usage patterns, location and local conditions.
Ms Oakey said that Australian households were leading one of the fastest clean energy transformations in the world.
“People are feeling the impacts of extreme heat, rising energy costs, and unreliable power, and they’re looking for practical ways to respond,” she said.
“Climate action doesn’t just start in parliament, it starts in our living rooms, kitchens and on our rooftops.”
Katy Daily in her Melbourne family home, which has been converted into a sustainable house. Picture: Merri-bek City Council, Zero Carbon Merri-bek.
One of the homeowners set to showcase their residence for Sustainable House Day is Melburnian Katy Daily, who lives with her family – including two teenage sons Arlo and Quinn McDougall, and pet dog Ruby – in the city’s northern suburb of Coburg.
Since buying their circa-1930 California Bungalow in 2021, they have transformed it into a residence that has been dubbed one of Australia’s most inspiring sustainable homes.
Ms Daily said that after years of renting, they been delighted to find a home they could retrofit to make it more energy-efficient.
Katy Daily’s induction stovetop retrofit is one of several ways her family home has become more environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient.
Although it was not a cheap undertaking, Ms Said they were now saving thousands of dollars on bills every year – a fact she is extra appreciate as she plans her future retirement.
“It was about $15,000 for the solar and the hot water system and then it was another about $4000 for the added reverse cycle airconditioning that we got,” Ms Daily said.
“Then probably another about another $4000 for the stovetop and to get the electrical stuff it needed to support that.”
Adding a solar battery cost another $15,000 or so and they’ve incorporated other measures such as topping up the insulation, retrofitting all windows with double glazing and draft-proofing.
They’ve even bought an electric vehicle and hope to trial an Active Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) in the near future.
Such systems which allow an EV car to power a home or feed the grid to earn credits.
The Beachfront Electric Home, in Lennox Head, NSW, features rooftop solar, battery storage, a wall-mounted electric vehicle charger and energy monitoring systems. Picture: sustainablehouseday.com.
There’s also LED, daylighting and solar skylights, an electric cooktop and other energy-efficient appliances. Picture: sustainablehouseday.com.
Ms Daily’s advice for other families wanting to make their home more sustainable was to seek professional help, if they had no idea where to start.
“That should be able to identify what the biggest bangs for buck are and kind of give you an order of the best ways to move forward,” she said.
“In most cases, it’s probably insulation or draft proofing, where you get the biggest bang for buck and that you really feel it.”
Ms Daily said Australians should not be scared of energy-efficient technology and what it involved.
“People put a lot of money into updating, their kitchens and surfaces and all these things,” she added.
“I think if people invested some a little bit of that type of energy in renovations and thinking about the thermal comfort of their home, it makes their homes just so much more enjoyable to live in.”
The Biven family in the Mylor Bush Retreat, South Australia, They purchased the circa-1986 mud brick house a decade ago and have recently completed a passive extension recycled materials. Picture: sustainablehouseday.com.
Their extension won a 2025 Master Builders’ award, in a renovation category. Picture: sustainablehouseday.com.
SUSTAINABLE HOUSE DAY: OTHER HOMES
Boodjidup Brook Barnhouse, Western Australia
Featuring a 9.2-star Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) rating, rooftop solar battery, and water-efficient gardens.
Passive House on Canal, Victoria:
This home has a 9.6 kW solar, a Tesla battery and heat-pump, resulting in power bills of almost $0.
Cygnet, Tasmania
An experimental new build designed for extreme sustainability.
The home integrates passive solar orientation, high thermal mass, rainwater harvesting, and off-grid energy systems.
The Better Energy Lab on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Through a solar and battery system, plus an electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid car, the owners save thousands of dollars every year in electricity and petrol costs. Picture: sustainablehouseday.com.
Mylor, South Australia
An award-winning retrofit of a mud brick and recycled-timber home, originally built in 1986. The extension added two bedrooms and upgraded the original home with solar panels, underfloor heating, double glazing, improved insulation, and airtight construction.
Compact Nightingale Apartment, Victoria
A small apartment designed with a strong green outlook. Features include rooftop gardens, energy-efficient design, cross-ventilation and all-electric systems.
The Better Energy Lab, Queensland
A four-bedroom house with a solar and battery system, plus an electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid car which charges almost entirely from its own solar power.
Abdallah House in regional Victoria, formerly a rundown suburban bungalow, has been transformed into a sustainable home with a greywater system, composting toilet and permaculture garden. Picture: sustainablehouseday.com.
Rodway Passive House, ACT
This multi-generational home makes extensive use of wood-based products: timber-framed walls, Steico wood fibre insulation, Weathertex cladding, spruce triple-glazed windows, and reclaimed hardwood timber floors and ceilings.
Beachfront Electric Home, NSW
This beachfront family home was renovated by previous owners in 2022 with the current owners completing further minor internal renovations in 2025, including adding third and fourth bedrooms, storage space, a rooftop solar system with battery, an electric car charger and reverse cycle airconditioning.
Pip’s Superpowered Heritage Home, Victoria
The 1904-built house features high-performance insulation, double and triple-glazed windows, ceiling fans, heat pump reverse-cycle heating and cooling, rooftop solar, efficient lighting, an
electric cooktop and water-efficient features.
Sustainable House Day is supported by local councils, community groups and Bank Australia Ltd, which offers eligible customers a clean energy home loan reduced rate if they buy or build a new all-electric, highly energy-efficient home.
Tickets will cost $15 for the day, giving visitors access to as many homes as they like.
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