Blog - Page 24 of 33 - Sustainable Engineering Ltd.

2019 September 13 Exeter City Council: “Incredibly impressed” by Exeter’s energy efficient homes

“Gareth Hughes, MP, self-funded a fact-finding trip to Exeter to find out about the city’s Passivhaus programme. He was keen to see how it could be replicated back home.” “To...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

ConcernsOverCold-HousingDeaths

2019 September 11 HVAC&R News: Concerns over cold-housing deaths

Cold houses kill people. “Better Renting has released a report that estimates low-quality housing causes approximately 140 cold-related deaths per year in the ACT. The report is titled Unsafe as Houses:...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

2019 September 9 Building Green: People Want a Greener Future but Don’t Know How to Get There

“Perhaps most disappointing for building professionals were responses about the impact of green building on the environment, people, and communities. “Only 11% of respondents associate words like ‘green building’ and...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

29 August 2019 NZ Herald’s Anne Gibson: Why a Henderson mother won $13k from her landlords: 22 separate issues at rental property

“A house with leaking and damaged gutters, rotting window frames, illegal stairs, a sagging and mouldy ceiling, rotting weatherboards, a rotten toilet floor and exposed electrical board have earned a...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Sep 2019

Oppose NASH as AS for E2 as it doesn’t cover external insulation

And putting batts between light steel framing is not a good option as discussed below. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say/building-code-update-consultation-november-2019 The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has found that thermal bridging in a wood-framed wall...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Sep 2019

Technical Notes

27 August 2019 The Fifth Estate’s Poppy Johnston: NSW gets its first Certified Passive House homes

Congratulations to Joe Mercieca of Blue Eco Homes for Sapphire Passive House in the Blue Mountains and Andy Marlow of Envirotecture for the Thornleigh house. The article states that “The...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

2019 August 20 – Passive House Institute: More Passive Houses in Paradise

I was looking for several examples of apartment buildings on the PHI website when I came across this colorful interview of New Zealand’s Passive House champion Thomas van Raamsdonk. When...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

19 August 2019 BMJ Journals: Damp mouldy housing and early childhood hospital admissions for acute respiratory infection: a case control study

Damp mouldy housing and early childhood hospital admissions for acute respiratory infection: a case control study Bottom line for the Wellington Region alone 1710 hospitalizations per year for children under...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Technical Notes

19 August 2019 SunLive: Crank up the heat on someone’s winter

Yes sometimes even sick folks living in cold homes don’t realize how it impacts their health. “Two weeks ago, the temperature dropped to zero or one degrees inland where a...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

Technical Notes

15 August 2019 News Hub’s Mel Logan & Dan Satherley: Damp, mouldy homes blamed for high rate of kids with respiratory infections

1600 extra death per year 20% of serious respiratory infections prevented. Seems like warm dry healthy homes would cheaper than what we do now. Content by News Hub....

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

Technical Notes

AIRAH Ecolibruium August 2019 Feature

One of our newsletter articles was published in AIRAH magazine. AIRAH Ecolibruium August 2019 https://www.airah.org.au/ EcoLibrium/2019/Ecolibrium_August_2019.aspx When asked where he learned this Jason pointed out it was from Joe Lstiburek...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

13 August 2019 Voxy: Energy company looks at health effects of cold homes

“The WHO report found that cold indoor temperatures have been associated with increased blood pressure, asthma symptoms and poor mental health. Cold homes contribute to increases in deaths and disease....

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Technical Notes

12 August 2019: Seriously the mould is a design flaw not the tenant

Humorous comment that matches my maxim of buildings should be durable without requiring crazy intervention from the occupants. I still remember one of mates telling me the reason for mould...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

12 August 2019 Passive House Massachusetts legislates incentive path to PH

I’m originally from Massachusetts (it’s the state with Boston on the east coast of the USA) and have spent some time with the Passive House community there back in 2012...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jan 2024

Technical Notes

10 August 2019 Stuff’s Cate Broughton: Why are Christchurch’s most vulnerable tenants freezing in council homes?

Insane focus on first cost is the why to ‘Why are Christchurch’s most vulnerable tenants freezing in council homes?’ “Hundreds of vulnerable, low-income tenants are living in dangerously-cold council homes....

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

08 August 2019 River City Press: The advantages of building a Passive House

River City Press ran a nice article on Passive House featuring our Director Jason Quinn. View PDF: http://www.rivercitypress.co.nz/rcp-8-8-19.pdf...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

04 August 2019 TVNZ’s Marama Davidson: Greens announce its rent-to-own policy as part of the Government’s KiwiBuild reset

“Everyone deserves a warm, safe and healthy home to live in, and the Government has a role to provide this”, Green Party’s co-leader Marama Davidson said.” “We wouldn’t allow people...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2019

30 July 2019 News Talk ZB Meghan Lawrence: Tenants evicted after mould and damp complaints

“… over the next two months she discovered the damp and mould. “The curtains were disgusting, they were rotten and mouldy. In all the bedrooms the walls are wet and...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jul 2019