EECA stars in supporting role
EECA played a supporting role in the recent television series of Ultimate Mitre10 Dream Home – which screened on TV2 during March.
For the first time in the programme’s history the producers included an energy efficiency and sustainability element into the make-overs and EECA got on board to provide technical expertise, advice and ideas.
Ultimate Mitre10 Dream Home set the challenge for two Taranaki families to renovate and extend two old 1950s houses over 10 weeks, transforming them into stunning new family homes. At the end, both houses were auctioned but only one was sold. The other became the grand prize, contents and all, for the winning team.
EECA’s Role
As part of EECA’s involvement the finished houses were given a home energy assessment, and the Blue Team, Dave Croy and Nikki Burnside, were announced the energy efficiency winners. Their prize package courtesy of EECA included bikes for the whole family, an ENERGY STAR® computer system plus energy assessments and products for the couple’s support team on the show, to make their homes more energy-
friendly too.
Miriam Pearce, Team Manager Consumer Marketing, said: “Ultimate Mitre10 Dream Home provided EECA with an opportunity to raise awareness of energy efficiency to a huge television audience. We reached 2.3 million viewers over the entire 10 weeks.
“Including energy efficiency as a criteria for the judging made the two families really think about the practical steps they could take in this area, and showed the public what can be achieved.”
For each episode, EECA’s Technical Team was closely involved providing advice around home energy efficiency steps which were then assessed in the finished renovations. These included setting out minimum standards for insulation and double-glazing, as well as appliance purchases and lighting. Even the garden landscaping was designed to maximise sun into the houses. Sensor lighting was installed and solar panels were included for the swimming pools.
Blue Team Energy Efficiency Winners
“We were blown away. What an awesome prize. Giving energy assessments and products to the people who helped us is a great way to say thank you to our supporters. They often commented on how easy but effective the energy-saving measures were, and how they’d love to have them too,” said Dave Croy from the Blue Team.
In renovating their Ultimate Mitre10 Dream Home, Dave Croy and Nikki Burnside took into account ways to make it more energy efficient – including insulation, double-glazing and design layout – as well as the needs of their two children, Kiah (5) and Milla (20 months). And in the end, it won them the home energy assessment prize package from EECA.
What they did
“We got cool blue LED lights for their bedrooms and along the hall wall, which run on next to nothing so the kids don’t need night lights or the hall light left on,” explains Dave.
“In the bathroom, the towel rails are on a timer and the showerhead has a water-saving feature. For the laundry, the washing machine is a front-loader, which is better for power saving, and we don’t have a tumble drier. We also chose the fridge-freezer with the best energy rating.”
The swimming pool on the property has solar panel heating and all the windows have thermally lined window dressings.
“Everyone who comes into the house notices how warm and dry it feels,” says Nikki. “With all the measures we’ve put in, from little ones like the lights, to bigger purchases like the water heater, the initial outlay might be a bit more but soon pays for itself.
“We’ve both learned so much about how much energy and money we were wasting before.”
