Comfortable, Low-energy Houses
You'd like to have a comfortable home, save energy and dollars, reduce
pollution, and protect the environment. But where do you start?
You can use the ideas here to:
-
design your own house;
- evaluate existing houses, what would they be like to live in?;
- choose a project home design which will be comfortable in the climate where you live; or
- when renovating or extending your house.
A house can be planned to deliver comfortable conditions of temperature,
air movement and radiated heat - in other words, the best possible
indoor climate. The design starting point has got to be the outdoor
climate - how can the house modify the ambient/exterior conditions,
so that indoors is usually more comfortable than outdoors?
Australia has 6 main climatic zones, as shown on the map below. Each
climate zone needs a different design approach - a great house-plan for
Kalgoorlie will be a disaster in Cairns. However, some design details
work well in all types of climates:
- North-facing windows in living areas (but the windows should be large
in cool climates, small and high-set when summer is hot and dry);
- Not much east-facing glass, even less on western walls (but no eastern
or western windows at all in hot, dry climates);
- Cross-ventilation (crucial when summer is warm to hot and humid);
- Insulation (but the type of insulation and the amount needed varies
with the climate).
Click on the map to see each zone separately: it's easier to pick which
zone you live in. Next, check the house design tips for the climate where
you live:
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