REDUCING THE ENERGY WITHIN

These days, pretty much everyone is at least aware of the term ‘energy efficiency’ even if they are not fully up to speed on all it means — especially when it comes to designing and building a home. However, we are finding more and more, the people who are approaching us for guidance on building their energy efficient home are not only well versed in the basics, but they are also taking a wider environmental view.

Not only are they determined to build a home that consumes the least amount of daily energy to run (as their budget will allow), they are also much more conscious of what ‘it costs the planet’ for their house to be built.

The energy consumed in the daily running of your home is referred to as Operation Energy, and there is much that can be done to minimise that usage — from clever building materials and methods, to smart kitchen appliances. As technology expands, there are always more efficient ways found to do things, and we always keep a very close eye on those cost-saving developments, implementing them as they are proven.

But, before Operational Energy is considered, there is Embodied Energy. It’s what has already been consumed in creating the products that actually build your home. The steel reinforcing, the concrete, the timber and roofing and the like. Many people now are wanting to know their house is energy efficient in these areas too, so their impact on the environment is as neutral as possible. We have always minimised our environmental impact by including as much recycled material as we can. Our steel reinforcing is an example. You may recall our previous article (STYLE July 2018), where we outlined our recycled advances into phase change insulation, another aspect of reducing embodied energy. Some products have a very low energy draw in their manufacture, like concrete, but as so much is used in the average house construction, its embodied energy rating is high.

To counter this, we have been moving more into geopolymer-type concrete, which is much more energy efficient to make, as well as being a significantly superior product, with several local companies focussing on it for the future.

In the world of building homes, these are exciting and challenging times.

Look for this column in next month’s Style... we will continue digging deeper into what ‘sustainability’ means for your home.