from the Climate Council last year she was in for a shock. “Half a dozen times, the monitor showed the amount of tiny PM2.5 particles in our kitchen soared to the same levels as the toxic air people were breathing in Sydney during the Black Summer bushfires.” Indeed, says Dr Kate Charlesworth, a GP who advises the Climate Council, “This is a major source of indoor air pollution in people’s homes, and it’s much riskier and much more harmful than we previously thought.
‘We’ve got leaks through the walls and we’ve got leaks through the floor. We are getting insulation installed very soon to help combat this.’Then there are the major purchases: double glazing, which typically runs into the tens of thousands, house batteries , electric cars that can potentially reverse-power your home, and renovations or new builds designed to be as energy efficient as possible.
Matt Piper and partner Steph Rich, a sustainability and climate change specialist, meanwhile, have cooked on a pair of portable induction cooktops for the past six months while they plan to install a permanent unit. This is the second house they have retrofitted to be off gas; at their last place Piper, an operations manager for a mapping service, spent months during the pandemic laying insulation in the roof cavity and under the floor in his free time.