New thermal performance data for NZ timber window profiles

Consulting with building component manufacturers to help them make good products even better is a favourite activity for the Sustainable Engineering team. Lunds Joinery, a highly-regarded family-owned company in Timaru,...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Dec 2021

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Loopholes in H1 changes?

To be clear folks: H1/AS1 housing changes apply to all housing, even apartment buildings of any size**. BPI (Building Performance Index) is no longer a permitted compliance method. Curtain walls...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: May 2022

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Cooking with gas is like idling a car in your kitchen

This story about the American Gas Association promoting gas cooking via Instagram influencers makes me cringe. “Every time you ignite a gas stove, you’re filling your home with many of...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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iPHA Passive House tour time!

And this year it is virtual. OK, it’s not the same as getting our grubby fingers on everything but there are significant benefits to seeing inside Passive Houses around the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Welcome media attention on improving NZ homes

Stuff ran an impressively long and well-researched story on Passive House and the need for net-zero buildings this week; it’s well worth a read in its entirety and a plug on...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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Choose gas for cooking? Please don’t.

I recommend against combustion devices in homes—all of them. Using gas to cook is particularly bad, with health impacts related to the indoor air pollution it causes. (American think tank...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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Leaking, mouldy classrooms are just the symptom

Mould can make kids sick, that’s the key takeaway here. It gets worse the more mould there is and the more time they are exposed to it. Kids are required...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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2019 November 20 “Architects Declare”: NZ Profession Takes a Stand on Combating Climate Change

“Architects Declare”: NZ profession takes a stand on combatting climate change “We have a New Zealand version of Architects Declare, an international set of guidelines that signatories pledge to follow...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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2019 November 5 Passive House Institute: districtPH – Assessing Energy-Saving Potentials at the District Level!

Sustainable Engineering just purchased the first license for new modelling software, districtPH. This was developed in Germany by Passive House International with funding from the EU. Think of it as...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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20191104_UniversityOfOtagoWellington_ImprovingHousingStandardsForCoBenefitsForEnergyEfficiencyCarbonMitigationAndHealth

2019 November 4 University of Otago Wellington: Improving Housing Standards for Co-Benefits for Energy Efficiency, Carbon Mitigation and Health

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...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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20191031_ChapmanTripp_ClimateChangeRisk–ImplicationsForNewZealandCompanyDirectorsAndManagedInvestmentSchemeProviders

2019 October 31 Chapman Tripp: Climate Change Risk – Implications For New Zealand Company Directors And Managed Investment Scheme Providers

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...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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20191029_EveryBuildingCounts-TimeTOTackleTheLaggards

2019 October 29 The Fifth Estate: Every Building Counts – Time To Tackle The Laggards

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...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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2019 October 28: We Need The Building Code Fixed

2019 October 28: We Need The Building Code Fixed

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.”...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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2019 October 21 Passive House Institute : Two New Zealand Window Manufacturers Win Certified Component Awards At The International Passive House Conference (China 2019)

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...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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2019 September 26 New Zealand Legislation: Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019

A certain friend of mine from Canada pointed out to me late last week that the only exemption for requiring a fixed heater in the main living room-sized per the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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2019 September 23 The Developer: It should be a no-brainer, so why aren’t we building more Passivhaus?

2019 September 23 The Developer: It should be a no-brainer, so why aren’t we building more Passivhaus?

“Most developers will choose to build to minimum standards,” says Palmer. Architect Justin Bere, a Passivhaus specialist who has written a book on the subject, echoes this. “It’s very difficult...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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2019 September 20 ATTMA: Registered Air Tightness Testers - New Zealand

2019 September 20 ATTMA: Registered Air Tightness Testers – New Zealand

List of all the current air leakage testers in New Zealand accredited with ATTMA. Air leakage testing very tight buildings (as they all should be build tight and ventilate right...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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2019 September 17 HVAC&R News: 2020 South Pacific Passive House Conference

We’ll be at the conference in Sydney and teaching a workshop beforehand as well. Read more on this link....

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

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