Why bad housing design pumps up prices for everyone I applaud the idea of building energy efficient homes. How do the typical sheeple consumers cope with the idea, though, of paying for something that is hidden from view (like insulation) and cannot be shown off to their friends and neighbours. I imagine they would prefer stone benches and theatre rooms. How do you convince developers to locate their estates for solar-passivity rather than in neat rows on each side of the street?
Blame the accountants!!! They don't like too much in their capital accounts and would rather have it sit in the operating accounts ie running costs. The issue is the same in commercial - if the running costs are high(er) these are offloaded in the lease to the tenant yet the owner gets maximum bang for their buck when they build it. Some of the smarter commercial players are building in these types of designs eg shopping centres which means that the heat load is reduced and cooling of the public space is minimised yet the separate air cond which services tenants goes at full bore and spills into the malls (at no cost to the shopping centre owner). (I am all for passive solar design - correct solar orientation, shading, insulation etc).
I don't think people think about it to be honest....I wish they did! Up here an apartment block has just been finished......and they painted the whole thing Black.... New housing estates up here have very little airflow and are designed to be aircon from the get go..solar is also NOT an option....It's dumber than dumb...but people see the shiny stone benchtops and buy it there and then....
Here in WA with new land estates many of them are trying to orientate the blocks/roads so that there can be better designs. Also they are implementing compulsory design codes for each estates which nominate that courtyards/gardens must be to the rear, pale colours used for roofing, rebates for including solar PV arrays etc etc
The stupidity of the system is that houses are required to comply with NABERs ratings yet there's no requirements for units.
I don't particularly like mechanically heated or mechanically cooled air. Because of this I have taken a lot of interest in operating the house I live in, which involves opening and closing curtains, blinds and windows strategically at certain times of the day. For example, in summer, everything gets closed up in the morning when the house is still cool. Most summers days the house stays cool enough to not need air con, maybe just a fan at most is required. Later in the afternoon the sea breeze arrives and it is usually cool. Then I open up all the blinds, curtains and windows to cool the house down. As a result, we have run the air conditioner three times since the start of summer. The other thing is growing grape vines to shade the side of the house that gets to most afternoon sun to help keep it cooler in summer. The house is not a particularly energy efficient in design but can be made more energy efficient by operating it correctly. Energy efficient does not have to be more expensive either. Tired of hearing that sustainable construction has to cost more, Josh and his colleagues set out to prove that resource efficient homes can be built at a comparable cost and timeframe to regular houses. About the Project
It is hard for the average customer who hasn't done the research, or doesn't know what they don't know. Some of the advice that professionals give can be misleading to say the least. For instance this advert. Great for ending up with lots of east and west facing windows with overheating on summer evenings from Advice – Fail
To my mind, 'North facing' means that the backyard faces north, not the front. This still isn't necessarily great, but in new 'boundary to boundary' estates, is probably the best chance residents have to get the ideal north facing living areas.
Nope those blocks had the front facing north I've always got great passive solar from East or West facing blocks (but I pick a block which will easily accomodate the house I like)
My POPR block runs east - west. So the long side has good north facing living. At least until my neighbours go build a two-storey house, should they ever do that...
I prefer North - South facing. Open space to the North to allow the sun to stream in and give the house warmth in the winter, eaves take care of the hot sun in Summer and no direct sunlight gets in. East and West sides just faces other homes. (Not in the PPOR though, East side is open). I could not stand a west side backyard, its just too hot for hours on end, and you can't fix the western sun problem with eaves, you have to put those ugly view blocking window covers on.
We have west to rear - upstairs has a 2.1 m verandah and thenyard has a 100 year old deciduous oak tree which sheds its leaves and lets in the winter sun but is SPF 100 in summer. We also have 6 m of solar access between the neighbour to the north so sun isn't a problem as it is controlled by hoods over the windows.
Deciduous trees is the way to fix that western sun problem! Much better than the light blocking window covers. We had a big deciduous tree just past the back fence of our old house probably like your oak tree.... not long before we moved out, the neighbour who owned it had it cut down. I don't know why. It was a completely healthy and strong tree. It was a huge visual loss when they cut it down, so we could see more houses from our verandah instead of that looking at that grand tree.
Personally l think the whole so called power bs is just a conning scam. l've built 3 or 4 solar systems . Stickem anywhere as long as they get 3 or 4 hrs sun a day, even less, or even through cloud with right panels , laughing. What the house is inside really doesn't matter that much imo, free power . It's incredible the power they can pump out but as solar develops more and more , that **** will matter even less . Another thing l can't figure out is why they even bother putting power in regional areas when l o 2 turbine will power most of the tinier towns anyway even a few of them. Which are like 3/4 of country towns anyway really. You know 1 shop , pub if your lucky. Or every house and the shop on solar, what's the problem. The so called water shortage thing same, load of **** . Even a good 50ml rain damn near fills up a tank. And just about anywhere gets at least a few of those a year and much much more House tanks , what's the problem.
Went to a place in the new suburbs of Darwin yesterday. The place was beautiful...Brand New, shiny kitchen...lovely tiles...shmick! Except there were hardly any windows...it was scorching! I asked if it gets hot and they said it doesn't matter because they run aircon all day, all year.... We drove past rows and rows of these hotboxes... It doesn't have to be like this. It defies belief.
I think some whirly birds would help. Just something to let the heat out. And on the flipside...I'm thinking about ways to stop my place from being cold, passively. Thinking of adding insulation to the main living area, and for something to block the cold coming through the walls, particularly for the bedroom. I touch the wall and it's really cold.
