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In Innovation

/ Published on 26 July 2010

When Jo Stewart-Rattray finishes her day job defending Australia’s information borderlands, her mind turns to her abiding passion, running a boutique bed and breakfast in SA’s Clare Valley wine-making region.

Since buying it five years ago, Jo and husband James have transformed the former schoolhouse into Old Church School Carlsruhe, a stylish executive hideaway complete with its own tennis courts.

Carlsruhe is a tiny rural community about 30 minutes south east of Clare, which is conveniently located just an hour’s drive from the State’s other famous wine-making district, the Barossa Valley.

Jo and James Stewart-Rattray fell in love with the Clare Valley when they returned to SA in the mid 1990s, deciding to build their dream home in Auburn, just south of Clare.

Jo, who is information security director of national accounting firm RSM Bird Cameron, makes the daily 90-minute commute to Adelaide, except when she is working interstate.

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In Innovation

/ Published on 24 June 2010

The SA-based company that pioneered retrofitting energy-saving window insulation in this State is launching an energy evangelism program to explain the environmental benefits of its system to business.

Since 2000, WinFocus Australia, which operates from a factory and showroom at Holden Hill, has sold the Magnetite window and door insulation system, which both reduces noise and saves energy in buildings.

After a boom in business during the past two years due to increased demand for safe and energy efficient insulation in homes, the family-owned business has launched its “Energy Evangelism” initiative to explain how businesses can benefit from the affordable and flexible Magnetite system.

Designed by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US in 1981, Magnetite is a retro-fitted secondary glazing system that secures optical-grade acrylic panels to the inside of a window frame using magnetic seals. This removable panel creates an insulating pocket of air in the window. Because the installation takes place from the inside and uses independent framing, the conversion is quick and hassle free for any type of window or door and in any building.

Independent tests demonstrate that Magnetite panels cut down unwanted noise, such as traffic racket, by as much as 70 per cent and reduce temperature “seepage” by as much as 60 per cent. For an average house, this can reduce the energy bills by hundreds of dollars annually.

A major attraction of the internally fitted Magnetite system is that it can be installed in any building, from a new construction to a heritage-listed building.

WinFocus founder and managing director Janusz Bejnarowicz said the Energy Evangelism program involved talking to business and community groups that were interested in reducing their environmental impact. “This month we are addressing a conference of 150 energy auditors and we will also speak to one of the metropolitan city councils,” he said.

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