Sustainable Housing - Reduce, Re-use Recycle

Sustainable Housing

Sustainability is now a much used word. The challenge for us all is to put the words into practice! Brendan and Vanessa believe it is vital the building industry and home buyer all consider how we can build and live in our homes in ways to improve our own wellbeing and that of our environment. They have found during their on and off site research that sustainability encompasses much more than energy efficiency. Key issues to consider are:

Passive Solar Design

Energy Efficiency

Water Conservation

Material Selection

Site Management

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Landscaping

Active Energy Systems

Community

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

This has been touched on in material selection and site management; however there are a couple more important issues to mention. Our homes don’t need to be huge to meet our needs! They do need to be well-designed. Over the last few decades household sizes have been decreasing as house sizes have been increasing! Instead of having a room for each function, good design creates rooms that are multi-functional – it means less cleaning too!

Brendan and Vanessa have recently been involved in several projects that involve extending and renovating existing homes – including their own! This is a fantastic example of ‘re-use’. As well as reducing the dollar and energy cost of building from scratch, it has the potential to improve what may have previously been a poorly performing house.