Energy Effiency & Sustainability

We encourage and assist you to incorporate principles of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in your project. This is now main stream functionality not “alternative” design.

We acknowledge that every site and customer is different and that variables such as budget, lifestyle, geography, views, wind direction and aesthetics also need to be considered in the design of house.

We are proud of our preferred designer partnership with Right House, a nationwide New Zealand company specialising in energy and comfort in homes. Right House has expertise and tools to give you the independent and scientifically based advice you need to make your home comfortable while being friendly on the environment and your wallet.

Because this is important to us we offer you a comprehensive Right House energy and comfort assessment for your home. One of their expert consultants will create a custom solution report recommending design features, heating systems, water heating and energy efficient appliances and lighting and much more. We will then meet with you to explain all their recommendations. If you want you can even buy the energy related products like insulation, heat pumps, solar water heating and many more directly from them. So it is an easy way for you to get sound independent advice and a good quality installation.

A few general points to consider for your new or altered home are:

1. Solar Hot Water – Take advantage of the sun’s free rays to subsidise your hot water costs. Enjoy guilt free showers while the cost of power goes up annually!!

2. Solar Design – Making good use of materials correctly orientated to the sun to reduce your heating costs. For example thermal mass walls and insulated concrete floors collect warmth during the day and disperse it at night.

3. Insulation – Use the maximum insulation available to the roof, wall and floor cavities. This will make a great difference in reducing your costs for heating and cooling by improving the balance of temperature in your home between night and day and between the seasons. We can also incorporate thermal bridging breaks in the structure to reduce heat loss

4. Double Glazing – This is essential if you want to achieve good thermal performance for your home. It works in association with good insulation and helps control humidity and noise. Well fitting curtains and blinds also improve thermal performance.

5. Lighting – Before thinking about energy efficient lights, make sure that you utlise natural daylight as best as possible. It’s free, it feels good and it’s the ultimate sustainable choice. For artificial lighting avoid excessive numbers of down-lights. They use a lot more electricity and can allow heat to escape. Use ceiling mounted or wall lights with long life bulbs.

6. Appliances – Your choice of appliances makes a difference. There are now many modern appliances available with good energy and water efficiency ratings.

7. Heating – there are many options to adequately heat your home. Right House will advise on the best option to suit your design and budget.

8. Water use - Installing a “Water-smart” gully system allows your grey water to be reused for garden irrigation. This reduces sewerage waste and irrigation costs. In addition or alternatively, use water storage tanks to provide irrigation to the garden and provide water to toilets.

9. Building Materials – Choosing locally manufactured products not only encourages New Zealand enterprise, but also are good for the environment. Transportation is the single biggest user of fossil fuels and contributor to global warming. Consideration of the lifecycle of products is also important. How will these materials eventually be disposed of? Demolition materials make up a large proportion of all solid waste.

10. There are many more considerations that will be particular to your requirements and location. We discuss these in depth with you in conjunction with all the elements that make up the design of your new home. In choosing to be “eco” in some way, you can still have an aesthetically pleasing modern house. Initial capital cost may be higher at the time of building, but over the life of the building will produce savings. We also encourage you to look at what is really important. A well-designed house that is say 20sq.m smaller may cover the cost of extra insulation, solar hot water and double-glazing. And you get your investment usually back on day 1: Recent overseas research with real estate companies have proven that people are prepared to pay a premium of between 5-10% for a house which is energy efficient and sustainable.  

11. If you are planning to build in a remote location, Right House can also advise and supply ‘off-the-grid’ options using wind, PV and micro-hydro power.

Visit these websites:
www.solarsmarter.org.nz
www.beaconpathway.co.nz
www.nowhome.co.nz
www.smarterhomes.org.nz