Sustainable Building Practices

• Careful house design is essential if the features you want to incorporate are to work well together.

• There’s a lot to consider if you want to minimise your home’s environmental impact while meeting all your needs for comfort, health, economy, social wellbeing, etc.

• You’ll probably need to make some compromises, so you must prioritise your wants very early on in the process.

The top five ways to ensure you get a comfortable, healthy house that’s economical to run are also the top five ways of minimising the environmental impacts of CO2 and waste production.

These are:

• Energy efficiency
• Water efficiency
• Choice of materials
• Waste reduction
• Indoor air quality

Here are some things to consider at the design stage, as a start to get you thinking more sustainably

THE SITE: Whether nearby amenities are within walkable distances, the potential to minimise earthworks, the potential for winter sun to get into the house, the ability for existing vegetation to provide temperature control, etc.

THE DESIGN: Ensuring that only the necessary area is built, making good use of nature to achieve all-year round comfort, correctly sized overhangs to control overheating, using salvaged materials where appropriate, designing with accessibility in mind so that all abilities are catered for, specifying energy- efficient appliances and lighting, specifying water- efficient appliances, etc. Look at BRANZ’s Easy guide to eco-building, www.branz.co.nz/branzltd/pdfs/ Eco_Guide2005.pdf

THE DESIGNER: Be as well-informed as you can and as clear as you can about what you want, and then choose someone who understands what you want and whom you can work with. Ask how experienced they are at designing sustainable houses and ask to see examples of their work.

10 EASY STEPS TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY WHEN BUILDING OR RENOVATING

1. Design advice - Design your home to take advantage of its location while saving power, water and money
2. Choosing building materials - Try to use environmentally friendly produced materials
3. Natural daylight - Make good use of windows and skylights.
4. Insulation - Good quality, well installed insulation will make your house easier and cheaper to heat
5. Water efficiency - Build water efficiency into your home
6. Ventilation - A healthy home is well ventilated, high moisture levels are linked to health problems like asthma and eczema
7. Double glazing - This will insulate your house, while letting heat in to encourage passive heating
8. Building and renovation waste - Consider reusing or recycling waste
9. Internal Finishes – When considering your internal finishes, consider products that are made with the environment in mind such as paints and act as good insulators such as curtains and carpets
10. Myth: Sustainable building is a lot more expensive - In most cases it is possible to design sustainable buildings that achieve high standards of energy efficiency and incur little or no additional cost

Courtesy of AbsoluteEnergy Ltd – Insulation Solutions for Healthier Living. www.absoluteenergy.co.nz

There are many websites and books that can help you, and New Zealand has some of the best

• If there is an Eco Design Advisor in your council, book an appointment – the earlier in the design process the better. This is a free service that many councils are now offering (go to www.ecodesignadvisor.org.nz/local-eda/ for more information). The service provides free, independent, tailored advice on sustainability options to homeowners and industry professionals involved in home building and renovation projects. 

• The advisors are independent industry specialists working to help people make well-informed decisions about the way homes are constructed and about how to keep them sustainable into the future. Issues considered include health and comfort, savings on energy and water bills (including solar water heating), choice of sustainable materials, and the impact on the environment.

• During the construction process, encourage good communication between trades, keep a tidy site, and set up recycling facilities. These steps will help reduce waste of materials, time, and money.

• Consider using double glazing on windows, installation of solar water heaters – there is financial support from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA – www.eeca.govt. nz) for installation of these, and installation of grey water (water used for washing) recycling – for instance, use in the garden or flushing toilets.

• Keep a close eye on the details of installation of insulation: Did you know that having a 4mm gap at the edge of a ceiling insulation batt, or cutting large holes in the insulation to fit ceiling downlights, can result in a 40% loss of insulation R-value?

• For more information: Smarter Homes website or EECA