A Permanent Alternative To High Energy Bills

Just Flick The Switch...

For most of us that live in the more temperate and cooler latitudes of Australia, roughly south of Port Macquarie, a high energy expense goes towards conditioning our home. We heat in wintertime, and then in the warmer latitudes, cool in summer.

For a lot of us, we have been conditioned to accept that air conditioning is the answer. And that air conditioning's convenience is what we need to counter the extremes of temperature we experience inside our homes.

Living In A Legacy

Unfortunately, for many homeowners, there seems to be little awareness of the value of applying smart energy efficient design to their homes.

While each wave of new homes showcases the latest fashion's, much of what I see still fails to even consider basic energy design principles. The perpetual disregard of available natural resources and/or magnifying their negative effects, is shameful.

Compounding this, many of Australia's older homes (fibro/tile, double brick, brick veneer) have the added disability of material choices for their ‘envelopes’ that have proven to be quite poor performing and that combined with a lack of suitable thermal insulation.

The unnecessary heating & cooling costs of housing are excessive. And it's been this way for decades.

A New Way Forward

Now you might think "hang on, this guy's a builder, why does he care?...don’t builders just automatically install these? And isn't that good for the economy?".

I have nothing against air conditioning, I use it myself in our own home, though judiciously. And some building projects we do, the owners have no other choice because of the way the place was build, unless they knock it down and start again.

What I am saying is by applying better building design before you build, and incorporating the readily available (and free) natural resources - sun, wind, water, tree shading etc, you can enjoy greater levels of ongoing living comfort year round while reducing your energy costs and demand on the grid. You might still have an air conditioner but find you use it a whole lot less.

A Solid Choice

Much energy and cost goes in the building of homes, and it's an expensive and lengthy process to rectify once built, if that's even feasible. Your investment would be better spent starting with a specific energy efficient design and then building that. And it does not have to cost the earth. It just takes looking beyond what the ‘bright lights’ of the volume home builders offer to research better serving options.

Energy efficient design has been used for centuries in various countries around the world, so it's not a new concept, but it is a proven one. A carefully designed energy efficient home would easily satisfy Basix and NatHERS requirements and be an all round better choice.

I encourage home owners to consider the benefits before they build. Talk to Built for Living to find out more about building your energy efficient home.