Category: Heating
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261: Casey Curtis
“You could be an architect one day,” was a comment made by an school teacher that has influenced the life of Casey Curtis. Out of necessity, Casey joined a group home builder after completing her deisgn degree in Christchurch. It was 2010 and she felt fortunate to have a job at the time as the…
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214: Energy Efficient Homes
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Robert Whitehouse is Director of Whitehouse Builders and Energy Efficient Homes. He started as an apprentice carpenter in the UK where he gained experience in a range of building work from making kitchens through to working on commercial sites. He also did a bit of building in Germany. When he came to New Zealand, he…
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Eco Designer Advisor Conference 2017
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in Blog, Design, Draughts, Health, Heating, Housing, Industry, Insulation, Prefab, Renovating, Society, Sustainability, VentilationPrefabrication, high performance homes, indoor air quality, Homestar, sustainable concrete and airtightness are just some of the topics presented at this year’s Eco Design Advisor (EDA) Conference in Wellington, May 1st – 2nd. Some fortuitous free time allowed me to attend this small conference once again. And once again, I was impressed. Eco Design Advisors…
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162: Introducing the LUNOS
When I first saw the LUNOS, I was skeptical. How could this be a ventilation solution with true heat recovery, when it’s so small? I particularly weary of systems claiming to be ‘heat recovery ventilation’, because so much of what’s typically sold and installed as such in New Zealand, simply is not. Worse than that,…
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Q & A
Something a little different this week. I’ve had some excellent questions sitting in my inbox for a while and I thought that many could benefit from them. Here’s just a sample. Got similar questions? Please get in touch and if I can’t help, we’ll put the word out to find someone who can. Got a…
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Sustainability Options
Phil and Nik Gregg run Sustainability Options, an ‘altruistic business’ that aims to work for the benefit of others in their community. When I first had the pleasure of meeting the brothers last year, I was slightly confused and also inspired by their commitment to return 85% of their profits to charity and community in…
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Ground Source Heat Pumps
What other form of heating provides a coefficient of performance, around 5 – 7? That’s the promise of ground source heat pump technology. Last week I spoke to Senior Hydrogeologist at Geoscience Consulting, Huw Williams about this amazing technology. We discussed if it’s suitable for houses in New Zealand and why Huw is so interested…
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Starting a Home Renovation
Adrian Feasey has worked as a solar consultant and is establishing himself now as a home performance consultant. New Zealand definitely needs more home performance consultants to help improve the standard of our houses. And raising the standard of his own home is one of Adrian’s current projects. A Weatherboard Villa in Birkdale Adrian and…
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How to have a warm home and no power bills in Christchurch
Chris McKay and his family were forced to leave their home in Christchurch after the Canterbury earthquakes in 2011. Like many others, they were faced with the task of finding a new home and they chose to start from scratch and to build. Early on the process, they decided they wanted to have a warm…