Eco-friendly, Energy Efficient Sustainable Home Design

Eco-friendly, Energy Efficient Sustainable Home Design

If you are thinking of building a new home or renovating, one of the first things that you should consider is sustainability / energy efficiency. This is impacted by a variety of design principles that should be taken into consideration as early as possible, even before the purchase of a block of land. Ecofriendly, energy efficient sustainable home designs will not only save you money in the long run, but it will also be better for the environment.

At North Coast Design, we ensure and encourage that all of our designs are to be ecofriendly, energy efficient sustainable home designs. This is determined by a variety of factors that come into play in the design stage, the construction method and the finishes used.

Before purchasing your block, it is important to consider the location, surrounding features / landscape and orientation. All of these factors impact the natural lighting, cross flow ventilation, and natural heating and cooling opportunities that can be incorporated into the design.

Once the design stage is then reached, these site factors are taken into consideration along with the wants and needs of the owners and our extensive experience, ensuring maximum livability while also reducing running costs. Room location, windows, doors and skylights, and natural ventilation ability are just a few of the design features that need to be considered.

You then have an eco-friendly, energy efficient sustainable base design, and the finishing features and construction method that you use will then further increase the sustainability of your design.

In regards to the construction method, this includes the main construction material (i.e. double brick, timber framed, brick veneer etc.), roof cover, slab insolation, as well as the window glazing, and wall / roof insolation used.

In regards to the finishing features, this includes features such as your floor finishes and window coverings, appliances, lighting selections, water fixtures, even down to the colour of roof that you choose.

Did you know that it is a requirement that all residential developments, new and residential (only if impacting a habitable area), require an energy assessment?

North Coast Design work closely with our energy assessment consultant to ensure that you have your energy assessment completed as required for a very good price!

This is only a brief overview of sustainable home design. A great website to check out with plenty of information is http://www.yourhome.gov.au.

If you have any further questions then please don’t hesitate to contact North Coast Design via phone (08 9535 2055) or our enquiry page. We are more than happy to have a general chat free of charge with yourself to discuss your project.