Sustainable Design

Sustainable Home Design Basics

To plan a Sustainable home simply utilizes practical judgment skills principals.

There are various things to think about when Building or redesigning a home. Here's a list of things to think about when you are looking to make your home a vitality effecient practical home.

Design for the Future

Design your house for the long term, and that its materials are solid and able to be reused or recycled. Essentially, when planning your house, think ahead. Will your family grow? Will your health affect your requirements in years to come? In light of these things, you can create a house that helps, as well as can adjust to your changing necessities without you later incuring the expense of remodelling or extending.

Climate Zone

Each climate zone requires different design elements to maximise energy efficiency. Australia has more than 80 climate zones. Using the unique aspects of your climate zone your designer or draftsmen can design your home to best fit where you live. For examnple lightweight and ventilated construction is best in hot, dry climate zones. Making of sun power in these regions gain access to in cool atmospheres.

In tropical and hot, dry atmospheres, orientate the house to avoid the sun year-round and to maximise cross-ventilation. In all different zones, your point ought to be to minimise summer sun and maximise winter sun, which fundamentally implies a northern orientaion.

Solar Passive Design

A well designed home capitalizes on common warming and cooling techniques to keep its inhabitants comfortable year-round. Orientation, spatial zoning, thermal mass, ventilation, shading and covering are deisgn elements that need to be considered

Building your home so that it has the capacity to let the sun in throughout winter and block it out when its hot will greatly increase your energy effeciency

Warming and cooling

Sealing your home for air loss, making use of shades, drapes and blinds all help to reduce heat intake and therefore reduce cooling costs. Capitalize on the sun's energy during winter will aid in reducing heating costs. Solar power to drive heaters and coolers is another great way to reduce your carbon footprint and energy costs. Placement of roof fans, awings, highlight windows etc all aid in redcuing energy use.

Windows & Glazing

Orientation and placement of windows is crutial to minimizing heat gain and loss. The more windows you have the more you increase heat gain and heat loss. Most windows ought to be found on a home's north side where greater exposure to sunlight is available in winter months. This will help you reduce heating requirements, particularly if the sunlight can reach and heat thermal mass towards the centre of the home.

Material Choice

Your decision of building materials can have implications far past your home. Improper utilization of materials in building means one thing: waste. All materials have an exemplified vitality, which is the vitality utilized over their lifecycle, from preparing of crude materials, to assembling through to item conveyance. Assuming that you assemble your house with inadequately picked materials, their epitomized vitality could decrease or counteract the profits of years of manageable living.

Select Efficient Appliances

An inefficient appliance can mean a lot of wasted energy as well as more heat in your home – which can be a problem in summer or in hotter climates. When looking for an appliance, try to select the most efficient one that meets your needs and budget.

Be Water Wise

Collect your rainwater in tanks for use in the bathroom and garden and look into getting a greywater treatment system. Use high star-rated shower heads, toilets and water fixtures. Plant native plants that have good drought tolerance when landscaping.