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24 result(s) found, displaying 1 to 20

  • Skylights and roof windows

    Key points

    • Skylights and roof windows can let natural light into your home. They are especially useful for rooms without windows.
    • Careful placement and choice of product can ensure your home receives light but not heat. Quite small skylights can deliver a lot of light, so be conservative when sizing them.

  • Lighting

    Key points

    • Good lighting design combines opportunities for using natural light (daylighting) with well-designed electric lighting, to provide energy-efficient lighting for rooms and tasks.

  • Introduction

    Passive design

  • Passive design

    ‘Passive design’ is design that works with the local climate to maintain a comfortable temperature in the home. Good passive design should reduce or eliminate the need for additional heating or cooling depending on your location and often relies on an active occupant to work properly.

  • Collie, Western Australia

    This modern and cost-effective new build, based on the Design For Place Banksia House, has created a practical family home.

  • Glazing

    Key points

    • Glazing – the glass and frames in windows, external doors and skylights – has a significant effect on thermal performance. Up to 40% of a home’s heating energy can be lost and up to 87% of its heat gained through windows.

  • Shading

    Key points

    • Shading your home, particularly windows and other forms of glazing, can have a significant impact on summer comfort and energy costs.
    • Appropriate shading designs and structures can help to block unwanted sun in summer while still allowing solar access in winter.

  • Fitzroy North, Victoria

    Renovation using double glazed windows and solar photovoltaic (PV) technology.

  • Parkside, South Australia

    New build using some structure of the old house and reverse block brick veneer and a Trombe wall

  • Ventilation and airtightness

    Key points

    • Having a healthy home that also has good thermal performance requires both reliable ventilation and good airtightness.
    • Ventilation is the intentional introduction of outdoor air into a building to maintain good air quality. Ventilation methods can be either natural (for example, windows) or mechanical (for example, fans).

  • White Gum Valley, Western Australia

    Two new apartments that use passive solar design principles, solar and water technologies, and smart home systems on a small suburban infill block.

  • Green roofs and walls

    Key points

    • Green roofs and walls incorporate a growing medium (soil, a growing mat) and vegetation.
    • Extensive green roofs have a thin layer of growing medium, and are best suited to hardy groundcovers and other plants with shallow root systems.

  • How to use Your Home

    Finding the information you need in Your Home

    Every journey to a sustainable home is unique and Your Home has been designed to help you find the right information at the time you need it most.

  • Safety and security

    Key points

    • Safety means preventing accidents; security means preventing crime.
    • The way you design and fit out your home can affect its safety and security.
    • Your kitchen and bathroom are key areas that can be unsafe. Take care to incorporate safety features to help prevent accidents, especially as you get older.

  • Building rating tools

    Key points

    • Australia has various building rating systems.
    • The rating systems are used to assess energy efficiency and other aspects of sustainability for existing buildings or new building designs. Some rating systems assess building components.

  • Glossary

    Abatement

    Activity that leads to a reduction in the level of greenhouse gas emissions.

    Abutment

    A structure built to support the lateral pressure of an arch or span, for example at the ends of a bridge.

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