Sunrise Homes Tasmania - building a sustainable house
There is heaps of information out there about designing and
building a home. But where do you start to build a sustainable home. It's
even harder right... well it used to be.
There are really only 4 components to a sustainable house and they are to manage
the following qualities sustainably:
- Manage water consumption.
- Manage power consumption.
- Manage your health.
- Manage your budget.
Building a sustainable house really is that simple. So where do you start? If you
already have a builder ensure that they understand the fundamentals of sustainable
building, if you don't have a builder yet then here is a good place to start...
When you are building a sustainable house, or any other type of house, it can be
confusing to get too many quotes. Get up to three quotes form people or companies
that you are comfortable dealing with.
Contact the MBA (Master builders association) and HIA (Housing Industry Association)
in your area and ask for a list of builders that already have an interest or
experience in sustainable building.
When speaking to The MBA, ask for a registered Green Living Builder.
When speaking to the HIA ask for a GreenSmart Professional.
This will help you go a big step closer to getting a home that is much more comfortable
and much more energy efficient.
If these builders don't draw plans up for you as part of their service, then contact the
BDA Building Designers Association in your region and they will put you in contact with a
designer. Again ask your designer if they understand what it means to build a sustainable
house. If they list the 4 criteria above you're on the right track.
The next step is to get your hands on A building Guide to ensure that you are asking the
right questions and getting the right answers throughout the design and construction process
including your selection of windows, insulation solutions that actually work, what size water
tank do you need and the selection of a grey water system.
You can get your copy of a better building guide to build your sustainable house here:
http://www.sunrisehomes.net.au/bloogoocms/asp/print_template.asp?articleID=161
If you are not 100% confident that you will get the absolute most from your designer and/or
builder then Sunrise Homes can provide a consultancy service to make sure that the design and
construction meets your needs and help you get the most out of your investment.
Lets quickly look at the two forgotten ingredients of a sustainable house:
A house needs to be comfortable, and a truly sustainable house can actually help maintain
and improve your health. A sustainable house will be energy efficient and therefore have
less heating and cooling requirements that blow dust and create noise. Also a more constant
temperature can be achieved throughout your home throughout the day. So you don't sweat or
freeze in bed - and you can get a better night's sleep.
A sustainable house will also help to improve your health by using less toxic materials to
build with and providing better ventilation. This will allow your bodies immune system to
work on maintaining health rather than cleaning unwanted material out of your system form
paints and carpet fumes and the like.
And the least talked about component of a sustainable house - your budget. When a house is
cheap to build and requires $2,000 and more in power bills each year to live in, that's not
sustainable. By ensuring that the right windows and insulation system are installed many houses
in Australia would need little or no heating or cooling. And a simple thing like changing light
globes to energy efficient globes will literally put money back into your pocket.
An energy efficient or solar hot water system will do the same. And for many houses in
Australia you are actually better off financially with the $8,000 government rebate to get a
grid connected photovoltaic system on your roof. Yes, for many houses it is more cost effective
to run your house on solar power than mains electricity. How's that for a reason to live in a
sustainable house!
So effectively managing your power consumption really is a key requirement of a sustainable
house.
For more information get your copy of The Australian Guide to Affordable Sustainable Housing:
http://www.sunrisehomes.net.au/bloogoocms/asp/print_template.asp?articleID=161
If you are not 100% confident that you will get the absolute most from your designer and/or
builder then The HIA Australian GreenSmart Professional of The Year can provide a consultancy
service to make sure that the design and construction of your sustainable house meets your
needs and helps you get the most out of your investment.
For further information contact:
Sunrise Homes Tasmania
phone: (03) 6229 4447
web: www.sunrisehomes.net.au
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