The Public Health Summer School symposium on 11 February will be eye-opening and I recommend you attend. This is the team that made the Healthy Home Guidelines a political reality and now they have turned their attention to fixing the Building Code, exploring the mutual benefits that flow from designing for energy efficiency, carbon mitigation and health. I attended the …
“But how much will it cost?”. Anyone involved with Passive Houses hears that question a lot. Ross Brown of eHaus reckons an extra 20%, according to this article. I’ve also heard clients say their house cost the same as their neighbour’s. My favourite answer is, ‘It depends’. Then I go on to say, 5-15% more. Why the huge range? Well, …
Chapman Tripp – Legal opinion – October 2019 This is pretty intense when you realise the implications of this legal opinion. Directors of companies and/or investment schemes have a ‘legal duty of care’ to the price in climate-related financial risk. This applies in the case where a business directly depends on the climate itself, like farming, as well as a …
Profitable carbon savings through better buildings … it’s a strategy we hear about more and more. I love hearing all these policy options: but I hope that the changes proposed are big steps that focus on achieving zero carbon by 2050 and not short-term reductions focused on say, 30 per cent by 2030. We must avoid “locking-in” carbon emissions by …
In my opinion, the energy provisions in H1 are not fit for purpose. As Kylie Mills writes, “To make buildings better … the quickest way is for regulations to change.” She goes on to quote Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC): “Improved energy performance of buildings presents a win-win-win opportunity, reducing stress on the electricity network, offering bill savings, supporting …
Cool list of 10 types of buildings that are certified passive houses that you might not consider as ‘houses’. Remember the standard is an energy performance and quality standard and can apply to ANY building type. I’m sure there is a Yoga Studio and Spa in the works somewhere. Would love to see NZ step up to a Certified Passive …
It’s great to see the progress Rochelle and Joel have made on their home. I grew up with a DIY-builder father, so I know how disruptive it can be to live in a construction site. We’ve helped out on other rammed earth projects, but theirs is the only one targeting Passive House Certification. “Rochelle and Joel Payne of Beachlands, Auckland …
I was happy to accept the TWO awards for Thermadura (Dunedin) and SEDA (Auckland) for their certified timber aluminium window systems. This is an incredibly competitive event and I was proud NZ manufactures scored two out of the four awards for the warm, temperate climate. Details of the competition and links below: “The 1st Prize Timber Aluminium in warm, temperate …
This is another example of the ongoing shift from an engineering focus on saving energy to saving carbon. In order to do this properly, system engineering needs to be emphasized to an even greater extent using multi-disciplinary optimization (MDO). “The goal of the annual LowDown Showdown design challenge is to model buildings that get as close to zero energy as …
