Category: Sustainability
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Resilience vs Sustainability
What’s the difference between resilience and sustainability? Is there a place for both? Is it even really that important? The utter darkness while driving around east Auckland early last Sunday reminded me of the similarly eerie calm we experienced while driving around Christchurch on February 23rd, 2011. A 21st century city without electricity is a…
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How to get more of the right clients
I’m always on the lookout for building professionals who are focussed on sustainable design and construction, so when Ian McHugh popped up in my LinkedIn and Twitter networks, I was keen to get in touch. Ian’s specialisations include Code for Sustainable Homes Assessor, and ‘Eco-Refurbisher’. I want to know how good designers and architects can do more…
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Earth Building
When she was 16, Verena Maeder came to New Zealand from Switzerland for a working holiday and fell in love, but not with a kiwi. Verena fell in love with earth buildings. So much so, that she returned to Switzerland and started training as an architect with the specific goal of learning how to design…
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Affordable Housing
I’ve tried to avoid the issue of affordable housing. It’s a term that gets used a lot and in all likelihood, the provision of affordable housing is going to be an election issue. I avoid it because it’s often brought up as a negative issue. As a problem. But when someone such as Daiman Otto…
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Sustainable House Success Story
Ron and Maureen’s home is characterised by it’s modest size, flexible layout and an edible garden. What might not be so obvious about this sustainable house success story, are the very low running costs and very high comfort levels year round. As Ron explained to me during our chat, visitors are often surprise at how ‘normal’ the…
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Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood
It was a privilege to talk with Robin Allison about her journey of creating and growing Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood. Robin turned to architecture as a choice of profession because she saw how powerful and important good architecture can be. I find this incredibly inspiring, and I’m not even an architect (although this thought makes me seriously…
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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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Zero Energy House
I’ve been following Jo Wood’s and Shay Brazier’s Zero Energy House project for nearly three years and I’m very excited to have them both on the show to share some of the details of their design and inspiration. Characteristics of a Good Home I wanted to cut the chase and find out what makes this…
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EcoFest 2014
Louisa Chase is the Project Manager for EcoFest 2014. The festival runs from March 15th through to April 13th and has everything from films, to gardening and composting seminars, eco-house tours and even a sustainable fashion show. From Native Plants to ‘Nana Technology’ Kaipatiki started 15 years ago with one person planting some native trees…
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Good Homes
We pretty much know what’s in them, but where are all the good homes in New Zealand? And what is it specifically that makes them good? A common response from a survey I posted recently, was that people want to know about other people who have designed and built ‘good homes‘, and how they did…