Tip of the hat to Sean Maxwell for his LinkedIn post alerting me to some welcome developments in Australia. The Australian Department of Defence has revised its Building Energy Performance Guide to include enforceable air tightness testing requirements for all its new buildings. Permeability targets are defined in the guide. All buildings must be tested for airtightness according to ISO …
It’s not just about the money
Here’s a nice round up from Stuff, who talked to people living in Dunedin’s Toiora High Street co-housing development, which is certified Passive House. Stuff has covered this project well and it’s great that journalist Colleen Hawkes went back to ask how residents were liking their new homes after a year of living there. The answer? Very much indeed. The …
New video focuses on Fletcher’s LowCO project
It’s not often our work features in video format so it was fun to see Newsroom cover the LowCO (low-carbon) homes by Fletcher Living. Sustainable Engineering has been involved with this project for the past two years, working on the embodied carbon modelling and consulting on the finer points of energy modelling. Some novel questions have emerged! For instance, we’ve …
No Passive House aquatic centre for NZ: yet
Australasian Leisure Management magazine has published a great article on Passive House aquatic facilities by Alex Head from Architecture HDT Christchurch and Sustainable Engineering’s Jason Quinn. As Alex explains, “aquatic and recreation facilities are known for their extremely high cost of ownership, a result of their significant staffing and extremely high energy usage—the highest energy use intensity of any public …
Toxic mould condemns $17m mansion
It’s rare to hear about building failures as owners of properties that require remediation often want it kept very quiet. As the new owner is the local council, which claims it bought it for the land, this case made headlines locally. The property at 516 Frankton-Ladies Mile boasts a five bedroom, copper-roofed house sprawling over 440m2, plus additional 320m2 of …
New airtight resource available from ProClima
ProClima has released an in-depth look at lightweight timber framing construction for walls and roof (and including warm roofs and their hybrids) across the climate zones of Australia. The report, by Jesse Clarke, is An Australian Based Study On Airtightness and Moisture Management and it is available to download. It includes tropical climates. That will be of considerable academic interest …
BIM models are accurate enough
Engineers use lots of computer modelling tools. It’s our professional responsibility to understand those tools well enough to understand their limitations and determine when they are sufficiently accurate. This accuracy (ie computer prediction matching reality) is essential to providing good competent advice. At the core of understanding are validation studies like the ones below: ASHRAE RP-1117 and the more recent …
Thermal bypassing publication a must-read
If you design building assemblies you need to make the time to read this new publication. Thermal bypass—the air movement through and around insulation—has a very big impact on building performance. In the High-Performance Construction Details Handbook, I noted that thermal bypass can reduce the thermal performance of wall assemblies by 30% or more. The Passivhaus Trust in the UK …
Energy modelling at heart of Passive House
Often when people talk about Passive House, they’ll focus on those things they can see and touch, like triple-pane windows or mechanical ventilation. But the core of the Passive House methodology is the part you can’t see: it’s the thermal energy model. That modelling is how the design team can make sure this young couple’s first home is going to …