When planning your renovation or building project it’s easy to focus on short term needs and costs, but features that enhance resale value, improve comfort and reduce bills are worth considering as well. Some features will have no extra costs, others may add costs, but they are likely to help ‘future proof’ your home against rising energy and water prices.
Australian households are directly responsible for about 20% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Department of the Environment and Energy website. This could be greatly reduced by lowering energy use through good design, energy efficiency technology, changing our behaviour to be more energy-savvy and using renewable energy sources.
You can use the Sustainable Home Checklist to assist you with planning or selecting a more comfortable home with improved running costs, while improving the environment.
Designing a home using some simple efficiency strategies decreases water and energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions over the life span of your home. Passive design uses natural sources of heating and cooling, such as the sun and breezes to increase comfort and reduce running costs.
The most economical time to implement passive solar and water efficient design is when building your home, but even small renovations can make significant improvements.
For more information on passive design.
And don’t forget our local libraries for plenty of reference books and information on sustainable home design.
Published on 05 Nov 2018