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 ‘green space’ with creating an environment in which people live longer and healthier lives. This is far below other phrases, which people do associate with the environment—like recycling (45%), water …

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 stiff penalty for the landlords who rented it out.” “Landlords Ross and Sally Craigie must pay tenant Bjana Thompson $13,020.44 for breaching the Residential Tenancies Act by failing to maintain …

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 lowers the effectiveness of cavity insulation by 10%, but performance drops a whopping 55% in a wall framed with steel. https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-005-a-bridge-too-far “But from a hygrothermal standpoint, I can only add …

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 Thomas was asked ” What is the current situation? “ His reply was: “To date, there are over 20 certified Passive House buildings in New Zealand. Many more projects are underway or …

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 2 years old would be prevented if all housing were free from damp and mould!! “This paper presents the largest ever case–control study of the association between housing quality and hospital …

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 woman with cancer was living. Her nights were a struggle, her breathing was laboured and each day she woke up exhausted. Healthy Homes chatted with her about the importance of …

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 in Westford Massachusetts way back in 2014 and from Kara Rosemeier in 2012 but with less swearing. Read more here.