“Government regulation will be needed to achieve net-zero carbon buildings says architectural engineering professor Larry Bellamy.” Let’s hope those regulations are good ones that take building physics into account and don’t allow system-wide poor choices. I push energy efficiency every day—it’s what I do—but increased energy efficiency requires better building practices, not just stuffing in more insulation. Read more on …
This article doesn’t really come to a conclusion other than the old rule of thumb of divide the blower door ACHn50 by 20 to determine the average infiltration is not accurate. I know how hard it is to estimate the site wind speed from weather station data and then the pressure across the envelope and of course the ACHn50 number …
Paying utility bills is a stretch for many New Zealand households. As we move to a low-carbon economy, a raft of measures may be necessary to ensure that energy costs do not weigh more heavily on those already financially burdened. Analysis using the Household Economic Survey, an annual survey run by Stats NZ that measures the economic wellbeing of New …
80-90% heating energy reduction (well for those that could afford to heat their homes) saves energy, CO2 and costs less over the lifespan of the building than building to the legally required minimum (i.e. code). Passive House Pools (Passivhaus) are being built in the UK and were measured to save 70% of the heating energy costs (electricity) in the first …
Built to Perform: An Industry Led Pathway to a Zero Carbon Ready Building Code 3 July 2018 Improved energy performance of buildings presents a win-win-win opportunity, reducing stress on the electricity network, offering bill savings, supporting a least-cost pathway to a zero-carbon built environment, and improving health and resilience outcomes for households and businesses https://www.asbec.asn.au/research-items/built-perform/ Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings …
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 heating capacity calculator are Certified Passive House or certain Living Building Challenge buildings. See the text from the act: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2019/0088/latest/whole.html#LMS167196 11 Exemption for certified passive buildings (1) The main …
Several parties in the NZ high-performance building sector have been working on big meaningful changes to the way we build and all of us agree the winning combination is to change the building code. NZGBC is the biggest player in this sector and it is awesome to see their target. “To ensure zero carbon buildings in Aotearoa, the Government must …
This is a significant reduction in trips to the hospital for children. I wish we had an easy way to price this into building standards and made our buildings better at the start. “The Healthy Homes service is anticipated to avert approximately $30 million in health care costs over three years, and the predicted return on investment for funded HHI …
“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 for an ethical developer to do anything differently in the current climate,” he argues. “They (developers) are buying in competition with people who just want to achieve the absolute minimum …
