Ireland has released its nearly-zero energy buildings regulations (to comply with EU requirements) and insulation supplier Xtratherm has published a guide for builders/designers. I’ve pulled together a table of the minimum performance values and calculated the R-values to help folks in NZ compare. These are average values and include thermal bridging from timber etc. Note that although the climate in …
Every house a Certified Passive House by 2030
There are about 30,000 new houses a year currently built in New Zealand. In a decade, could they all be certified Passive House? I think it can be done but the biggest barrier won’t be money, construction materials or staff availability. It will be training. Building a Certified Passive House is hard—the first time. Then once you’ve done a few, …
Embodied carbon/energy—it’s in the floors
I know this seems obvious when you think about timber-framed residential buildings: all the embodied CO2 is in the concrete and steel, so the bulk of it is used in the foundation. But in bigger buildings, it’s not so obvious where the carbon cost is hiding. In a typical commercial building, just over half the embodied carbon is in the …
Carbon-positive landscapes too
The basic idea? The chosen materials and landscape components sequester carbon to balance out the carbon it took to create it, all within five to 20 years. (Five for greener projects like parks, gardens, campuses and mixed-use developments, with up to 20 years for more urban projects.) The important new development is that they’ve run the numbers: it is possible …
Consider social responsibility also
I try and read Daniel Overbey’ posts for the technical content but in his first post of the year, he presented a real challenge. “John Elkington is often credited with first coining the term ‘triple bottom line’ in his 1997 book Cannibals with Forks. He defined the triple bottom line as a sustainability framework that examines an enterprise’s social, environmental …
About time: Damn right, mechanical ventilation is appropriate in all new buildings
Why am I sounding overjoyed at this simple text from BRANZ? The backstory goes a long way back. In its <December 2019 Guideline https://www.branz.co.nz/guideline>, the front story is about smart vapour retarders (SVR) and how they lower the risk of mould in New Zealand wall assemblies. (There’s a story about that too, but that’s for another time.) The big …
2019 December 16 Construction Canada: B.C. Setting New Standard For Building Energy Performance
BC Step Code Way Out In Front Comparing New Zealand to British Columbia, Canada is an interesting one. Its population is very similar to NZ (5.1 million people compared to our 4.8 m). When I talk to friends from Vancouver, they mention the crazy run-up in real estate prices (even worse Auckland) but also how everything will be Passive House …
2019 November 26 Otago Daily Times: Sustainable Communal Housing Requires Skill
This is a great short video of the co-housing project. If you watch closely you can see lots of construction details and products. My favourite Easter egg is the shot of the slab edge where you can see the domestic hot water central loop which is VERY well insulated. Love the eHaus branded WRB as well. Although not mentioned this …
2019 November 26 Radio New Zealand: Mouldy Home Victims Get New Lease On Life
In our opinion every home needs continuous mechanical ventilation. EVERY HOME. Alice Peacock, who works as a social worker with the healthy housing programme, travels around the Bay helping vulnerable families in mouldy houses. “It’s in everyone’s homes – but it is just particularly bad in some homes where it is a lot harder to ventilate the home – if …