The Good Place

Kermit the frog might just have nailed it. “It’s not easy being green,” he often lamented. He has a point. Building sustainably can cost more, it can be harder to source materials, and it can arguably be more complex.

In a world that embraces all things shiny and new, sustainability means rethinking the way we live. It embraces reusing, adapting, modifying, and it’s also building with organic renewable products. Building homes with sustainability front of mind is not just an important issue, it’s a critical one. It’s something that our sustainability experts say needs to happen. Shae Cullen from Good Architect says living in an unsustainable home is an ongoing cost to the environment and the people who live there. “The world can’t afford more unsustainable homes, and we can’t afford to live in them,” she notes.

Tackling carbon emissions

With a worldwide shift towards ecoconscious living, more homes are being built that aim to be carbon neutral. This type of home has zero carbon emissions, because holistically it can generate as much renewable energy as it consumes. You’ve probably heard the term carbonzero home.

Shae says modern sustainability should take it one step further, living in a carbon-negative home. “The home has more carbon embedded than the carbon emissions generated in making it,” she says.

Sustainable homes should also be comfortable and promote health and wellness. Shae says another big part of modern sustainability is building a dwelling that will go the distance, no matter what climatic events unfold. “Modern sustainability is a resilient home that can withstand fire, flood, storms and other extreme weather events,” she explains.

The right place

Sustainable design also focuses on how your home and block of land are oriented. Brett Grimley, a sustainable building designer from Equilibrium, says orientation is a clever design solution. “It costs more in design thought, it doesn’t cost more to build,” he says. “Blocking out summer sun and encouraging winter sun penetration is a massive part of the solution.”

Good orientation encourages cross-flow ventilation, it harnesses cooling breezes and offers respite from the hot sun. The ideal orientation is north. Marie Carrel from Planet Architecture says a north orientation at the rear is always desirable as your living areas can face the backyard and receive sun in the cooler months. “If north sits at the side, build close to the south boundary and make the house long and narrow-ish — 7m maximum width,” she says. “This provides a large side yard rather than a backyard so you can enjoy living areas facing a private garden and receiving sun year-round.”

Go for smart glazing

One practical solution to boost the thermal performance of your home is through double or triple glazing. Marie says the process introduces a buffer gap between the inside and the outside of the residence, effectively putting a layer of insulation over the glass. “Coatings and fi lms can play a role especially to counter radiant heat on the east, and especially the west side of the home, but it’s not desirable in climates where heat is welcome in winter as you’ll reduce passive solar gains,” she explains.

Locate all your windows on the north side if you can, and a few windows on the south side to permit some cross ventilation inside the house, adds Marie.

In favour of fans

Ceiling fans work in harmony with other passive cooling and heating measures to promote a comfortable home. Adam Hartog, Big Ass Fans national sales manager, says the combined use of ceiling fans and windows is a great way of providing clean, natural air to any space. “This is often the most effi cient way of improving indoor air quality and occupant comfort,” he notes.

Adam adds that with the introduction of DC motors, ceiling fans have seen a significant improvement when it comes to energy efficiency. “The Haiku range comes with smart technology, allowing owners to automate the fan and giving them the ability to automatically turn the fan off once people leave the space,” he says. “The smart phone app also allows the use of ‘Eco Mode’ which further enhances the energy efficiency of the fan.”

A surprise package

A building wrap that serves to seal a home and retain energy is another factor. The building wrap is the “paper” material that covers the exterior frame of a house. Its intention is to protect the walls and framing. It’s a secondary waterproof barrier and can help with condensation control. It’s also a low-cost measure.

Brett says there are superior-quality ones and those that aren’t as effi cient. “With a quality building wrap, the home isn’t leaking energy that you have invested into it,” he says. “The total volume of that space is exchanging with that outside air 30 times a day. Without a quality thermal wrap, all the energy put into the house will escape through the gaps.”

What goes around

If something breaks, is outdated or its functionality isn’t up to scratch, we often replace it with something new. For example, if your kitchen isn’t performing as it should, you might automatically think, I’ll get a brand-new kitchen. Instead, why not consider refurbishing what you already have? Or troubleshoot the problem? If you are short on kitchen space, for example, shift a wall to create more.

Roderick McDonald from Chateau Architects + Builders says applying a “circular economy” framework to material selection is by and large a great way to nip the problem in the bud. “This means designing out waste in the first place — so reuse, refurbish, repair and recycle to decrease waste generation,” he explains.

He says materials such as metals and plastics, which are termed “technical materials”, won’t work well in this sphere. “They can’t be easily dismantled, reused or transformed after their first use,” he says, “but biological materials such as timber, cotton fibre and paper, used to make building products, can be returned to the environment, providing value even after their initial function is no longer needed.”

There are other design strategies which are also positive not only for the environment, but socially and culturally. Instead of demolishing a building, it could be disassembled. A building’s history can be celebrated — it can be given a new lease on life. Roderick says in order to do this well, with little environmental impact, some forethought in design and material usage is required. “Use screws instead of nails, bolts instead of welding, and minimise glues and laminations. These are good things that allow a building to be disassembled and reassembled into new combinations,” he explains.

Green materials matter

Organic architecture embraces green living. Brett says using organic as much as you can is vital. He’s an advocate of Hempcrete. “It’s a low-impact agricultural product that doesn’t require a lot of water,” he says. As you only need the stalks for building, insecticides aren’t required as pests only go for the fruits or flowers. I often call the hemp plant God’s gift to humanity,” he continues. “It’s a fantastic insulator and a healthy building material with great thermal performance.”

There are other products that can make a significant difference in sustainable building. Marie suggests low-carbon concrete, which reduces the concrete slab’s carbon footprint by 30 to 70 per cent. An example is Holcim ECOPact or Boral Envirocrete. “Cement, a component of concrete, is a significant source of CO2 emissions in production and curing,” she says. “Some manufacturers have replaced some of the cement with alternative materials without reducing performance or significant cost increase.”

She also suggests using Enviro Water Saver devices to minimise water waste. It ensures cold water is diverted to your rainwater tank until the hot water flows out of your tap or shower. “You’ll need one of these inexpensive devices per bathroom and a return line to the tank to save water, and they’re very useful in summer when your tank runs low,” says Marie.

Dollars and sense

Sustainable building can be a complex issue. Brett says sustainable building design needs to tap into the knowledge that we have to do the best we can to minimise our impact on the planet. “Sustainability is cultural, social and financial, as well as environmental,” he says. The notion has broad implications and when applied to building, many argue it favours those with deep pockets. There is no getting around the fact that it can cost more to build a sustainable home.

According to Roderick, in Australia, supply chain issues add to costs. “Building labour in Australia is one of the most expensive in the world,” he says. “It can make these sustainable practices more of a pie-in-the-sky dream than a practical day-to-day reality.”

According to Infrastructure Australia, buildings and infrastructure are directly responsible for almost one-third of Australia’s total carbon emissions and indirectly responsible for more than half of all emissions.

An Australia with far less carbon emissions in the building sector is a dream that Shae holds onto. “Imagine wiping out a third of emissions in Australia by changing the National Building Code to require that any building should be carbon negative,” she reflects. “Incidentally, this would spur on innovation and get materials out of research and into production in Australia.”

Article Featured in Grand Designs Australia Magazine 14.1