WestWyck News

The Cape Paterson Ecovillage is Australia’s first zero carbon housing project championing biodiversity, sustainability and community. Like WestWyck, Cape Paterson has faced delays due to planning issues, but it is finally happening.

The Cape Paterson Ecovillage has just undertaken a 'zero carbon study' commissioned by Sustainability Victoria which excitingly shows that sustainable technology has reached a tipping point where the financial benefits of building and living in environmentally friendly homes now far outweigh the costs. At last we can begin to be confident in saying that financial and environmental objectives go together.

The study assessed the performance of concept homes designed for the Ecovillage against conventional new homes and a pre-existing Victorian home. The study deliberately avoided assuming government support for sustainability features would be available. In brief, the study’s major findings (using the Cape Paterson Ecovillage as a model) include:

• Thanks largely to more efficient in-home technology, onsite power supply and electric vehicles, investing in sustainability features could realise up to 10% after tax returns per annum over 20 years;
• Continued improvements to house design, a bulk construction program, bulk buying program and delivery model innovation will drive down costs and further improve the financial proposition for residents;
• Extra investment in sustainability features is easily offset by energy and water savings that allow faster mortgage repayments.

You can read the full detailed study on the Cape Paterson Ecovillage website.