As we mentioned in the first blog posting, we started with a blank canvas when we first purchased the 146 acres from some famous Chinese movie stars who never set foot on the property.
As anyone who has built in the country knows, you not only need to have the buildings constructed in our case 3 tourist villas. We also needed to establish all the infrastructure. First the driveways. Next the water supply – two 20,00 litre tanks for each villa collecting rain water harvested from the roof. Then the sewer system for each villa – we chose to adopt an Advanced Enviro-septic system that treats the waste to a much higher level than traditional septic system.
However the most important decision was power. We chose to go off-grid rather than connecting to the grid. It worked out cheaper but more importantly we were attracted to idea of being energy self-sufficient (the mains power is often out in Kangaroo Valley and is likely to get worse in the future) and to minimising our carbon footprint. We also thought that it would provide a point of differentiation from other high end tourist accommodation providers and give our guests the chance to have an off grid experience without sacrificing their luxury or comfort. We call it Eco-Luxe.
How did we do it? We’ve installed 18 panels on each villa and we ran cables from each villa to a central solar shed. The shed stores the batteries, the inverters and the back-up generator that comes on automatically once the batteries drop below a certain level.
Interestingly we’ve only had to run the generator 3 times during the winter even though we’ve had a very wet and cold La Nina winter with lots of overcast days. To be honest that says a lot about the vast majority of our guests who use the power responsibly.
This is a crucial point about sustainable living that many don’t appreciate. You can have all the energy efficient appliances and in our case an entire off grid system. However it only works if people change their behaviour. What do we mean by that?
We provide guests with a very detailed guide on how to minimise the use of power. But, in very simple terms, it means not using the aircon or at least running it for long periods. In winter our responsible guests may use it to warm up the living room for a half an hour or so but then put the fire on. In bedrooms they don’t try to heat up the entire room with aircon but instead use a hot water bottle or put on the electric blanket just before going to bed and then turn it off once they are in bed. In summer, responsible guests will use the ceiling fans or, on the handful of really stinking hot days, put the aircon on to cool things down a bit for 10-15 mins then turn it off and rely on the fans to circulate the cooler air.
Most other electrical appliances can be used whenever necessary although preferably not at the same time and if possible – eg the dishwasher – in the middle of the day when the sun is shining.
Fortunately our villas tend to attract people who are responsible power users and who don’t come to Jingella to sit inside with aircon running all the time. As you can see from the consistently wonderful reviews we receive on Airbnb and other platforms, our off grid system doesn’t in any way detract from the guest experience. In fact, many guests tell us that they want to support sustainable tourism and are keen to disconnect from their normal urban life and the off-grid villas only add to that experience.
So come and stay with us to disconnect from your normal stressful existence and to reconnect with nature in Eco-Luxe style!
