Author: Matthew Cutler-Welsh
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13: Do you need a home ventilation system?
About 10% of New Zealand homes invest in some form of retrofitted home ventilation system. But do you really need one, and if so, what for? In this cast I talk about how to tell if your house is leaky or air-tight depending on it’s age, two basic types of home ventilation systems and…
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Episode 12: Wrap up of the NZGBC Master Classes
LED Lighting, ventilation, construction waste management (and how to save a bucket load instantly on construction costs) and thermal modeling using 3D simulation software, are just some of the topics covered in day 2 of the NZGBC event held in June 2012. This is the second and final part of my Skype conversation with Verney…
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Why there’s now no excuse for not doing energy analysis
How much will this house cost…to run? There’s now no excuse for not getting a good energy analysis done on your house, before it’s even built. That is, if you or your designer is an ArchiCAD user. Energy Evaluation From Monday July 16th, version 16 of ArchiCAD will be available and one very exciting new…
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Summit Summary
On June 27th 2012, the New Zealand Green Building Council held the inaugural Sustainable Housing Summit at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland. Last week I caught up with Verney Ryan via Skype to discuss the highlights. For more information, check out NZGBC where you can now find pdf downloads of most of the presentations. Some of…
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10: Ecobob
UPDATE: Ecobob has a whole new look and some great new features. Check out my recent interview with new owner, Kristy Hoare. I was privileged to meet Carlin Archer a few years ago in Christchurch. Back then, Carlin wanted to build an ‘eco’ house. But he wasn’t sure how and he was a bit confused…
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Episode 9: Down to Earth Real Estate
Last week I had the chance to catch up with Barb Cooper from Down to Earth Real Estate. Barb is a trained Ecobroker and also a Homestar Homecoach. She’s also a very active member of her own community, helping to organise events and publish the Paremoremo newsletter. We talked about why some real estate agents get…
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Home improvements for under $100
It seems that a lot of the big gains to be made in improving warmth, comfort and efficiency, come with a big price tag. But what about some of the small stuff? There are a whole bunch of really cost effective ways to improve the performance of any home. The other day, I picked up…
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Free Solar
I’m fortunate to be working with an intern from Canada at the moment. As well as being an enthusiastic workers, she’s got some great ideas and insights into the better ways of doing things. I always find it interesting to hear stories, especially success stories from other parts of the world. And here’s a great…
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Episode 8: Interview with Verney Ryan
I’m absolutely stoked to have had the pleasure of interviewing Verney Ryan. If you don’t know who Verney is, the definitely check out this latest podcast. And if you do know Verney, you’ll already appreciate that he’s a great guy to talk to about sustainable living, so I’m sure you’ll want to listen also. Among other…
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How good is the Energywise Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart Scheme?
The official results are out and it makes for some very interesting reading. The team at He Kainga Oranga have released their evaluation report of the government’s $340 million Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart (WUNZ:HS) programme.