Design of the times: Energy Efficiency

 

Design of the times: Energy Efficiency

Author: Alex Brooks
Date: October 19, 2009
Source:  Sydney Morning Herald
Image: Owner Jan Gifford in her very green Ryde house, that has water tanks, solar for house and pool, frog ponds, etc. Pictured with daughter Lauren, 16yrs and dog Max. Photo by Quentin Jones

If Kermit the Frog was a real estate agent, he would sing songs spruiking how easy it is to be green – especially when it comes to designing a home.

In the near future, every home will require a green-star rating of its energy, water and greenhouse performance before it can be sold or leased.

The system starts with energy efficiency from May 2011.

The edict – by the Council of Australian Governments in April – means houses will be rated up to six stars, yet most standard uninsulated homes with electric hot water and energy intensive heating and cooling systems would be lucky to make three stars.

A similar system already operates in the ACT: when you sell your home you must disclose to prospective purchasers the dwelling's level of energy performance.

An Australian Bureau of Statistics study has found that every one-star increase in energy performance increases a property's value by 3 per cent.

With electricity prices rising 20 per cent this year – and more price hikes expected – home buyers and renters should be relieved the new system will help easily rank the costs of home energy bills.

Yet most home-owners and buyers care precious little about energy efficiency – for now.

“Unless it's right under the client's nose, they don't care about things like energy-efficient lights,” the principal of Agency by Glenn Regan, Glenn Regan, says.

“When they see something like water tanks, they perceive it as a benefit but no one really wants to pay extra for it.”

The director of the Property Council of Australia NSW, Ken Morrison, says people are slowly understanding the importance of investing in property renovations that won't be redundant in the future.

“There's an element of future-proofing to this – energy prices are going up, water is going up so most of us want homes that won't cost a fortune to run.”

The commercial property sector is already racing to build as many six-star office buildings as possible, as tenants and fund managers prefer the “future-proofed” properties to old-fashioned, expensive buildings.

Features like open-plan living spaces – which are difficult to heat – or ducted air-conditioning – which is expensive to turn on – could become less desirable as buyers shy away from properties that demand lots of electricity to run.

“Sustainability is really about comfort without having to flick an electric switch to be warm or cool,” Morrison says.

What green really means

Sustainable home improvements ideally reduce energy use, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

From May 2011, every new house must be rated six stars, increasing pressure to improve the environmental performance of older, established properties.

Designing a building according to passive – also called passive solar – principles is one of the best ways to make a home sustainable, according to the head of interior architecture at the University of NSW, Kirsty Mate.

When cavemen chose a north-facing cave rather than the cold, dark south-facing cave, it was passive design, which is all about letting nature do the hard work to create a great living space, rather than relying on expensive fittings and fixtures.

Passively designed buildings harness solar heat and light in winter to keep a house warm, while cutting out hot sun and encouraging natural breezes in summer to keep a house cool.

A passively designed house with eaves for shading, insulation and double glazing is warmer in winter and cooler in summer, leading to lower electricity bills and decreased greenhouse gas emissions.

“Orientation of the building and designing for the local climate are two of the most important techniques,” Mate says.

Reducing energy

Energy efficiency is about more than installing curly light bulbs – although that's a good start.

Plenty of us think green homes have to incorporate solar panels for power but energy expert for EnergyAustralia Paul Myors says installing solar hot water will cost a home-owner less than photovoltaic panels and reduce bills and greenhouse emissions significantly.

The manager of OneWater Naturally, Andrew Sparke, says heat pump hot water systems can cost as little as $800 with current government rebates and will save almost as much money as a $2000 solar hot water system.

Connecting to natural gas – which has a third of the emissions of electricity – will also make a home more efficient, as will eliminating the need for electric heating or cooling.

Architect Caroline Pidcock says the star-rating system for energy efficiency will prompt more home-owners to incorporate good design and efficient appliances into their homes, because they will be rewarded with higher star ratings.

“The biggest difference between creating a five-star home and a six-star home will be design, so it should be good for architects,” she says.

Water efficiency

The cheapest water-efficiency improvements are free – take shorter showers (which reduce energy, water and greenhouse emissions all at once), don't leave taps running while brushing teeth and only wash dishes or clothes when you have a full load.

Cheap water-flow restrictors on shower heads and taps will also save water. Rainwater tanks are one solution, with the most water-savvy connecting their toilets and laundries to the tanks rather than relying on mains water.

Water efficiency can be taken further by reusing water that has washed clothes or gone through a shower for garden watering.

Grey-water treatment systems can purify most of the water a house uses and then recycle it for toilet flushing and clothes washing before diverting to the garden for irrigation.

“Grey-water treatment systems are expensive at about $10,000 and the regulations are confusing, so you don't find too many people keen to spend that sort of money to save water,” Sparke says.

Architect Tone Wheeler points out that until water and electricity are priced at “environmental cost”, it doesn't make financial sense to spend lots of money on water- and energy-saving infrastructure because it doesn't always pay home-owners back in immediate bill savings.

Greenhouse emissions

A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment says households are responsible for about 10 per cent of Australia's greenhouse emissions each year.

New building standards requiring better energy efficiency are one way to lower the amount of climate change-inducing carbon-dioxide that houses help produce.

The other way is to create market forces – such as star ratings – that reward home-owners that do the right thing to reduce ongoing costs to the environment and the hip pocket.

LJ Hooker Newtown agent Poh Ling Ee says new green building standards will encourage buyers to look carefully at a house's features.

“In the inner west, there are already a lot of artists and academics who like things like energy-efficient lighting, cross-flow ventilation, rainwater tanks and natural light,” she says.

“I imagine it will be very popular.”

Green Approach

-Shade west-facing windows and walls.

-Plan a home's rooms according to their orientation — north for living,  south for sleeping and east and west for service rooms such as laundries or bathrooms.

-Include high windows that open, with low-opening windows on an   opposite wall to create cross-flow ventilation.

-Maximise sunlight to minimise artificial lighting and heating.

-Choose insulated lightweight materials rather than brick for second-storey additions to keep upstairs rooms cool.

-Install appliances that require less energy to run, especially hot water,      refrigerators, heating and cooling.
Sun power: 'It's a great house to live in'

Green design is not for the faint-hearted, says Jan Gifford, who built a sustainable home in Ryde where she and Andrew Stutchbury live with their three children.

Gifford says she spent three years wrangling with her local council to build the house, designed by Caroline Pidcock.

"It's dispiriting to try to do the right thing and have to battle the whole time," she says of the large home, which has been designed according to passive solar principles and has no air-conditioning.

The house has a solar photovoltaic power system on the roof and Jan says the family of five spends about the same amount of money on electricity as a couple living in an apartment.

The house has 18,000 litres of rainwater storage, which provides water for toilet flushing and the laundry, while grey water from the laundry is used to irrigate the garden.

They have to pay about $200 each year for an inspector to check the backflow valves on the tanks to ensure the rainwater supply does not contaminate the mains water.

Landscaped by Stutchbury, the house has louvre windows to attract the cool breeze at night and is surrounded by plants that require little water.

"We did this for the love of it, because you don't get cost benefits straight away — it's only in the end that it pays you back," Gifford says.

 "It's a great house to live in. We have double glazing, so the temperature difference inside the house compared to outside is always amazing."
Insulation the cool thing to do

When the Property Council of Australia's chief executive, Ken Morrison, and his wife, Madi, bought their rundown terrace in the inner west seven years ago, they knew they'd renovate — and sustainability topped their agenda.

"We have solar power for hot water and bladders underneath the deck to collect rainwater for the garden and laundry," Morrison says.

With three children, aged between three and nine, Morrison wanted to add a family room to the kitchen at the back and open up to a deck.

The green renovation includes bifold doors opening to the deck and louvre windows to cool the house without the need for air-conditioning.

"Naturally, we made sure we included insulation, which is one of the best things you can do to make a house sustainable, especially with all of the government grants you get now," Morrison says.

"There's a Vergola over the back deck, which is a fantastic bit of gear with big sustainability benefits — it can be open to catch the sun or block the sun out and stop the radiant heat coming inside.

"Our water bills have gone down considerably and I'd say the renovation saves enough electricity to knock the 20 per cent price rise that's hit everyone else off our bill."

 

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