Picture yourself sitting back, relaxing in the sun. Perhaps you’re reading a good book. Perhaps you’ve got your favourite drink in your hand. Feeling energised? So is your home.

You see, new homes at Ingenia Lifestyle’s Lakeside Lara and Parkside Lucas communities are fitted with rooftop solar panels. Sunlight energises electrons in the solar panels, generating electricity, which then runs through an inverter to power your home.

Ingenia homes are powered by 2kw solar systems that can generate on average between 6 to 8kWh of electricity each day, enough to cover the average daytime energy use of our all-electric homes. Solar systems always generate a lot more power during sunny days in summer, but even on a cloudy rainy day, your system will still generate some power.

But it’s not just solar panels that make Ingenia Lifestyle homes environmentally friendly (and importantly, save you money). It’s a raft of features that work together to make the homes more efficient, including:

• Solar panels
• Electric heat pump hot water service
• Double glazing
• Insulation
• LED lighting (use less power and last for many years)
• Water-wise landscaping

These items are more than just ‘on-trend’ sustainability features, though, they’ve been deliberately designed to optimise the comfort of your home, as well as create cost-savings. For example, double glazing to all exterior windows and doors improves the thermal and acoustic performance of your home, meaning less heating and cooling is needed – but when heating or cooling is used during the day, it’s powered by the rooftop solar.

Ingenia Lifestyle residents at Parkside Lucas and Lakeside Lara are finding additional ways to maximise cost savings, including running the dishwasher and washing machine at lunchtime when the solar power is at its greatest.

GEM Energy, the solar company behind the Ingenia Lifestyle home solar energy systems, and their CEO Jack Hooper explains how it all works in this short video.

For more information on Ingenia Lifestyle homes, contact Karen at Parkside Lucas and Dianna at Lakeside Lara.