Air locked Entry
This is a design element with two separate airtight doors to reduce the amount of heat loss when the exterior door is opened. The two doors save energy by cutting down on air exchange when people go in and out. This might be achieved with a formal ante room or an informal mud room entry.
Appliances
Our electrical appliances aren’t just connected to a socket on the wall - they're also connected to the natural world. By choosing energy-efficient appliances, you can help conserve nature and reduce your energy bills. Many offer operational benefits: fridges for example may keep food fresher through narrower temperature cycling.
Choose Energy Star appliances. Look for front-loading clothes washers and solar dryers. Use clothes lines when possible.
But you don’t need to buy new appliances to make a difference. Evaluate if you really even need that cappuccino maker, dishwasher or dryer. Set appliances to low-energy mode where applicable.
Audits
A home energy audit assesses how much energy your home consumes or would consume and evaluates what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. An audit will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant costs over time. An audit can also pinpoint where your current house is losing energy and suggest remedies. Audits also determine the efficiency of your home's mechanical systems.
A professional auditor uses a variety of techniques and equipment to determine the energy efficiency of a structure. Thorough audits often use techniques such as blow tests, which measure the extent of leaks in the building envelope, and infrared cameras, which reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation. They can also evaluate passive solar gains and water usage.
Cob and Straw Bale
Cob and straw bale share qualities that make them ideal for building: good thermal insulation properties, wide availability, low cost and sculptability. Straw bale and cob walls are beautiful. Because they are thick and sculptable, the walls lend themselves to the creation of unique and personal spaces. Rounded window openings, carved niches, wide window sills, built-in window seats and a finish look that can range from smooth, square and shiny to wildly curved and textured. Cob and straw bale walls allow owners an inexpensive way to get creative with their space. And they create no pollution or disposal problems for future generations.
Straw bale building has at its heart the humble bale of straw. Straw is the stalk portion of seed and grain crops (including wheat, oats, barely, rye, rice and hemp). Once the seed head has been harvested from the plant, the dead and dry stalks are cut and baled. Straw bale is an annual renewable source and is convenient for handling.
By stacking straw bales like over-sized concrete blocks or bricks and then plastering onto the straw on the inside and outside faces, a wall of exceptional strength, beauty and thermal insulation is created. Many new homes and cottages as well as agricultural, industrial and commercial structures have been constructed since the mid-90s.
Building with cob is an easy to learn technique based on locally available resources using a mixture of clay, sand, straw and water to build the walls. Cob earthen walls are extremely durable; lasting for centuries.
Cob structures are well suited to variety of temperate climates. They can withstand earthquakes, won’t catch fire, are energy efficient and inexpensive to build.
Clay, sand and straw is mixed by foot on a tarp or with a cement mixer to speed up the process. Clay acts as the glue, sand hardens the structure and the straw works like rebar to give the walls tensile strength.
Cob is mixed into a dough-like consistency then formed into walls up to two feet thick and worked in to create a monolithic wall structure. No forms are used, allowing the builder to create any shape desired. Think of cob building as house sculpting. Typically contemporary cob has beautiful curved walls and many sculptural details.
Cob and straw bale buildings release our creativity and the easy-to-learn technique is personally empowering. It demonstrates that most people can easily acquire the skills needed to build a home.
Composting
It’s an amazing way to transform kitchen scraps and yard trimmings into a rich soil booster. It also reduces the volume of waste to be trucked away and dumped in landfills.
Construction Waste Recycling
When a house reaches the end of its life, it represents both a massive amount of waste and a great source of future building material. Most old houses have materials and systems that still have some useful life, and most items recovered from existing houses can be reused or recycled into usable materials. The benefits of recovering materials are numerous: lower disposal costs, minimal use of landfill space, reduction in pollution and energy consumption and the avoided expense of purchasing new materials.
Reusable deconstruction materials include: bricks, concrete, soil, rocks, lumber, glass, electrical materials, plumbing fixtures, asphalt, insulation, drywall, steel, aluminum, pipes, flooring and wiring.
The virtue of recycling used building materials also lies in diminishing the need to recreate it. All the raw materials and all of the energy that is spent in manufacturing and transporting can be saved. The jobs created to help sustain the planet are typically more varied and satisfying than those that simply consume the worlds limited resources.
Electricity
Reducing electricity use
Purchase energy-efficient appliances and electronics and operate them efficiently. Fill dishwashers and clothes washer fully for more efficient use.
Purchase energy-efficient lighting such as compact fluorescent and LED lighting. Incorporate more day lighting into your home using energy-efficient windows and skylights. Turn of lights when not needed. Consider timers and motion detectors for limited use areas.
Purchase energy-efficient electric space heating and cooling systems and operate them wisely. Incorporate passive solar design concepts into your home and build with energy-efficient windows and good insulation.
Purchase an energy-efficient electric water heater and operate it efficiently. Consider solar hot water systems to reduce energy use.
Buy clean Electricity
By demanding clean sources of electricity you create a market and discourage environmentally damaging power productions. Buy green power where you can.
Make clean electricity
Generating electricity using your own small renewable energy system fits to the circumstances and values of some. Although it takes time and money to research, buy, and maintain a system, many people enjoy the independence they gain and the knowledge that their actions are helping the environment.
A renewable energy system can be used to supply some or all of your electricity needs. Some people, especially those in remote areas, use the electricity from their systems in place of electricity supplied to them by power providers (i.e. electric utilities). These are called stand-alone or off-grid systems.
Others connect their systems to the grid and use them to reduce the amount of conventional power supplied to them through the grid. A grid-connected system allows you to sell any excess power you produce back to your power provider.
Small solar, wind, micro hydropower systems and hybrid electric systems (solar and wind) are some of the available renewable energy technologies that might be appropriate to your site.
Embodied Energy
Embodied energy is the energy used to extract, refine, grow and harvest, process, manufacture, transport and install building materials. Embodied energy for a typical house is about seven times its annual energy use. Local materials, reused and salvage materials, recycled materials, materials with recycled content, all reduce embodied energy.
Sustainably harvested local wood, straw and earth, etc. are materials with low embodied energy. Their use can minimize ecosystem damage and reduce environmental toxic loading. These materials can be used to create organic forms and satisfying spaces that increase health and well being for occupants and for those involved in their construction. Because these materials are of local origin and their use often involves more labor than conventional materials, they can also benefit the local economy.
Gardening / Landscaping
Organic gardens provide healthy food for body and soul. Composting grass clippings, leaves and kitchen scrape creates a valuable organic resource material rich in soil nutrients.
Locate your home to respect the natural elements of your site. Maximize the use of varied native plants and limit hard surface pavement. For walkways and driveways use materials that allow water penetration to reduce runoff and demands on municipal infrastructure. Strategically placed deciduous trees provide summer shade but allow winter light and solar gain. Fruit trees offer a free source of nutritious food.
Green Roofs
Green roofs are designed for the cultivation of plants to reduce overheating, improve insulation, improve air quality and create bird habitat and storm water dispersal.
Green roofs are planted with grasses, shrubs or even trees with many benefits. They are not just wonderful to look at. The soil provides improved insulation and also slows storm water drainage capturing a natural resource and reducing infrastructure such as municipal storm sewers and treatment facilities. A green roof reduces excessive solar gain while the plants reduce greenhouse gases.
Green roofs consist of a membrane, growing medium, and vegetation, along with root-resistant drainage, and filtering layers. This can extend a roof’s service life by protecting components from ultraviolet radiation and extreme temperatures. Roof gardens conserve energy, extend roofing lifespan and support the environment.
Insulation and Air Sealing
Ensuring proper insulation and air sealing techniques provides you with a comfortable healthier home while reducing heating and cooling cost and energy demand.
New doors and windows have far higher insulation values than those of even a decade ago.
Heating systems must be kept clean and maintained to ensure maximum efficiency. Be prepared to re-balance or even upgrade your heating system if energy retrofits are completed – the distribution of heat throughout your home will likely have changed.
Programmable thermostats can be set to lower your home’s heat throughout the night and to then increase room temperatures just before morning. Temperatures should be moderate but warm enough to prevent high humidity problems such as moulds and condensation.
Mechanical ventilation systems are required to replace one third of the stale air in your home with fresh air every hour. Finding the right balance between air-sealing upgrades and airflow is critical. Heat recovery ventilators capture outgoing heat to preheat incoming fresh air.
Vapor barriers look like thin plastic sheets and sit on the warm side of your home’s insulation. This protects the insulation and structure of your home from water damage. Between 10 and 50 liters of water are released inside the average home each day.
Fireplaces can be sealed off when not in use by closing the damper and locking airtight doors over the front. Installing an outside combustion air duct minimizes the amount of heated air flowing up, out of the chimney.
There are several products that can further improve the quality of your building envelope. Caulking and weather-stripping act as air barriers. Caulking seals joints where minimum movement occurs such as around air vents, floor drains or where a wall frame meets chimney brick. Weather-stripping provides a seal between the frame and the moving part of a window or door. Gaskets are strips or sheets of foam that fit behind electrical outlets, light switches or light mounts to reduce air leakage into the walls or attic.
Consider increasing insulation values higher than those specified by the building code.
Interior Finishes and Furnishing
Use of low-toxicity and low VOC (volatile organic compounds) materials such as unpainted plaster finishes and ceramic tile with additive-free grout provides better indoor air quality. This benefits all occupants but is essential for anyone with chemical sensitivities. Hard surfaces retain fewer mould spores and animal dander and last much longer than carpets. Most foam/filled upholstery and soft furnishing contain many toxic products. By refusing to use toxic materials within the home consumers influence the manufacturers to find less toxic alternatives.
Lighting
Day lighting is the use of windows and skylights to bring sunlight into your home. Today's energy-efficient windows and good design allow efficient use of windows to reduce the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours without causing heating or cooling problems.
South-facing windows are most advantageous for day lighting and heating. They allow most winter sunlight into the home but little direct sun during the summer, especially with appropriate overhangs. North-facing windows are also advantageous for day lighting. They admit relatively even, natural light, producing little glare and almost no unwanted summer heat gain. Although east- and west-facing windows provide good daylight penetration in the morning and evening, respectively, they should be limited. They may cause glare, admit a lot of heat during the summer when it is usually not wanted, and contribute little to solar heating during the winter.
Skylites and light ducting systems can bring natural light to the center of your home.
Compact fluorescent and LED lighting provide low energy artificial lighting.
Location
Live close to your work and daily activities. You will have more time for your family and leisure and you will help build stronger neighbourhoods. Communities with shops and services within walking distance promote social engagement, safer streets and improved health. Your impact on the planet will be greatly reduced with less car use. Eliminating an extra car saves you money that can be invested in a less distant home location.
Longevity / Maintenance
Features which provide improved longevity and reduced maintenance such as rammed earth and cob structures, metal roofs, green roofs, good moisture protection (rain screen walls, big overhangs, drainage swales, etc.) reduce the long-term environmental burden of the building.
All buildings should offer a long term benefit to you and your community. Poorly built and maintained houses quickly become a burden to the environment.
Mechanical System
Use high-efficiency heating and hot water systems, with heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) for optimum efficiency. Good ventilation is an essential component of an energy efficient home. Low emission wood stoves may be appropriate, especially in rural areas.
The better insulated the house, the smaller and simpler the heating system needs to be.
Passive Solar
Your home’s windows, wall and floors can be designed to collect, store and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter while rejecting excessive heat in the summer. Passive solar design, unlike active solar heating systems don’t need mechanical and electrical devices, such as pumps, fans or electrical controls to provide heat.
South facing glass with large overhangs provides solar gain in winter and shade in summer. To be most effective solar energy should be collected in high thermal mass elements such as stone or concrete walls and floors. Rooms should be placed to take advantage of naturally warmer and cooler areas of the home.
Rammed Earth
Rammed earth is an earth based wall system made of compacted gravel, sand and clay, which is extremely strong and durable. Rammed earth walls are dense, solid and stone-like, with low environmental impact and very low maintenance characteristics.
Some benefits of rammed earth include the high effective insulation and high fire resistance. It is engineered for earthquake resistance and is unaffected by insects, rot or mould. Much of the material can be excavated from your own building site which reduces embodied energy. Superior indoor air quality results from the natural materials and elimination of finishes. The finished product is a beautiful, strong, durable and healthy enclosure for your home.
Renewable Energy Systems
Solar hot water, solar panel (PV), wind, and micro-hydro are all options, depending on site conditions. Lowering your energy demand and using energy efficient appliances should always be your first step.
Solar hot water systems have fast payback through energy savings. Solar hot water heaters reduce the amount of fuel you need to heat water because it captures the sun’s renewable energy. They can provide enough solar energy to meet about one third of the water heating needs for a family of four.
Simplicity in design
Look for simple design. Complex building forms use more material and are generally more difficult to heat and maintain.
Although typically more difficult to design, striking simplicity can often be more timeless, enduring and satisfying. Complex designs can be harder to insulate and may invite more problems such as leaks. Repairs are generally more difficult and costly possibly shortening the life of the building.
Small is beautiful
Try this rule of thumb – 600 square feet for one person, plus 400 square feet for the second person and 300 square feet for each additional full-time person. Small buildings require less building materials, lower energy consumption and less demand on land space. But they also save you operating costs and taxes. They also save you time spent maintaining and cleaning your home.
Solar Power
Solar energy is a clean abundant energy resource that can be used to supplement many of your energy needs. Solar energy can be used for heat, such as solar water heating, and as electricity.
Solar panels (Photovoltaic) can supplement your electricity supply and reduce the demand for dams, coal plants and nuclear energy facilities.
Solar water heaters can provide enough solar energy to meet about one third of the water heating needs for a family of four.
Thermal Envelope
For standard wood frame construction use at least R-20 walls, R-40 ceilings, R-20 foundation, high performance glazing, and ensure against air leaking.
Rammed earth, cob and straw can bale can offer much higher R-values.
Water Use
Low-flow toilets, composting toilets, low-flow showerheads and front loading clothes washers all reduce water demand.
Rainwater catchments can provide most of a household's water needs.
Greywater (wastewater from sinks and showers) can be kept separate from black water and filtered back to nature through reed beds and ponds.
New environmentally friendly alternatives to the conventional septic or municipal sewer systems are now being approved to process blackwater from toilets. Composting toilets generally use no water at all.
More and more municipalities are allowing even the more progressive of these natural systems, which have been successfully used in the past and are often even more appropriate today.
Zero Energy Home
A Zero Energy Home (ZEH) combines state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction and appliances with commercially available renewable energy systems, such as solar water heating and solar electricity. The combination results in a home that produces its own energy—as much or more than it needs. Even though the home might be connected to a utility grid, it has net zero energy consumption from the utility provider. Zero Energy Homes optimize and include the following design features:
- Climate-specific design
- Passive solar heating and cooling
- Energy-efficient construction
- Energy-efficient appliances and lighting
- Solar water heating system
- Small solar electric system
