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Back in 2003 we made a solar movie and it was about a climate sensible design or a solar
house design anywhere in the world and the reason we made that was because we felt that
people needed to understand better about the principles and what went into the design of
a solar house and how the climate and different locations would affect the outcomes of that
design.
Now more than ever before is it clear the choices we make have a direct bearing on our
environment. Whether it’s your government’s reliance on burning fossil fuel to produce
electricity, to our own everyday decisions. Our contribution to landfill or the size and
age of the car we choose to drive everything has a certain cost to the environment.
It’s actually very rare that we do anything positive for the environment outside repairing
the damage we've already done.
Again this is not so much good for the environment as it is about you doing less damage to the
environment. This can be achieved by designing your home to use less energy in heating and
cooling. Less energy consumption means lower electricity bills, another benefit of something
called a climate sensible design.
For the first timers in the Course, they see it as a revelation. They generally come along
with a general interest in climate sensible design and they believe it should be done
but they don’t realise what can be achieved and what the impact can be on the environment,
community and their own comfort and their own energy bills.
So what are these climate sensible design principles?
Well there are five basic principles and their order of priority really depends on the climate
to which they are being applied.
The temperate climate could best be described as Mediterranean. Plenty of sunlight all year
round, dry and warm to hot in summer and moderate rainfall in winter. The overall aim is to
keep the interior cool in summer when outside temperatures can reach in excess of 40 degrees
celcious. While at the same time retaining the heat from the winter sun where the mercury
can dip to zero.
Sounds like an impossible task but it can be done and very effectively too.
The first principle to consider is house orientation to best utilise the suns path from dawn to
dusk. Taking into account Perth’s latitude and
the sun's higher zenith in summer than winter, houses here are best built with a northern
orientation. In this temperate climate that ratio of window
area is high, around 52% of the total northern facade is recommended. And to restrict heat
loss on the opposite side of the house, windows should only make up 10% of the southern facade.
Thermal mass is the ability to absorb, store and then slowly radiate heat so good thermal
mass capability results in a much more stable temperature range indoors.
This happens to be another very important climate sensible design principle, cross ventilation:
taking advantage of breezes during different times on a summer’s day to cool the house
down. This principle is another factor that effects
window placement and also determines the location of doors in your homes design. Where possible
there should be two windows in a room to allow fresh air to flow through.
While were in the attic lets look at the importance of effective insulation and how it helps to
maintain stable indoor temperatures. Insulation is a major player in keeping a house cool
in summer and warm in winter. How? By slowing down heat transfer from hot to cool areas.
In this temperate climate insulation with a thermal resistance rating of 2 is recommended
for the roof and R1 insulation for the wall cavities.
The point I'm trying to makes is that solar design principles are universal, their priorities
change though according to the geographical location of the building concerned
Now that was climate sensible design being applied in four different climates, plenty
of examples of choices you have to turn these good ideas and good sites into action.
Again the benefits of a bit of planning and lateral thinking are:
A 60 to 90% reduction in energy bills. Natural instead of artificial comfort in your
home for longer periods. Your reduced demand for electricity means
less government expenditure on power stations which also translates to between 6 and 30
tonnes less carbon dioxide being produced each year.
Well that was a brief snapshot of Climates Sensible Design's 'Living in a Home that Breathes.'
This DVD can be purchased on our website and there is a downloadable version of it. I'd
recommend that you have a look at it because there’s a lot more detail than shown in
this snapshot.