Tag: insulation
-
243: Efficient Electric Home
Richard Keech lives in a zero-carbon home in Melbourne. After some time in the Royal Australian Air Force and then as a software engineering and consultant in the private sector, Richard now helps people to understand energy. Specifically, renewable energy and energy efficiency. In 2015, Richard published The Energy Freedom Home, a handbook on “how…
-
230: Making Houses Perform
Murray and Lee Ann Durbin know what it’s like to live in a good home. For nearly five years, they enjoyed living in the Homestar 10, Passive House Plus Certified Ideal House. The Ideal House is now one of the first Passive Houses in New Zealand to be resold. Murray and Lee Ann have moved…
-
181: Hütt – Tomorrow’s House Today
Felicity and Marc Bernstein met at architecture school in Germany and have been working together since. During the last twenty years they’ve worked in Germany, Arabia and Australia. They now want to use modular design to bring high performance, zero-carbon homes to the masses. Felicity and Marc have recently launched Hütt – Tomorrow’s House Today…
-
180: Why Adding Insulation Causes Moisture Issues in Buildings
When Prof. Dr. Hartwig Künzel was studying Chemical Engineering, his father was a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute. Hartwig followed in his father’s footsteps after becoming interested in the preservation of heritage buildings. He soon discovered that he could apply his engineering training to diagnosing the moisture problems that occurred after buildings were insulated.
-
166: How to Upgrade Your Thermal Envelope Above the Building Code
When you’re designing a new home, or getting one built, you should invest as much as you can to upgrade the thermal envelope. Put in as much insulation as you can, and invest in the best windows you can afford. In this episode, I walk through the minimum requirements of the New Zealand building code…
-
127: How Architecture can Help People Create a Better Life
Chris Hays likes to think of Architecture as ‘the mother art’, encompassing sculpture, mathematics, engineering, anthropology, ecology and more. Above all though, Chris likes the fact that architecture can help people create a better life. In this episode, we discuss: Glazing – how much is too much and where can you put it? The value of…
-
My Insulation Experiment
Overhead, the rain pelted down on the metal roof just above my head. I later found out that it was a record rain storm for Auckland. I believed it. The roof of the circa 1920s house I was crouched in bore an almost identical resemblance to the construction and thermal performance of the simple corrugated steel…
-
Map Wrap Gaps Taps and Apps
Over the last few years, I’ve developed this model for good home design: Map, wrap, gaps, taps and apps. A model for good home design: Map, wrap, gaps, taps and apps. Click To Tweet Map Map was an obvious (albeit later) addition to the original model. Good design starts with location. This is about where you…
-
Energy Efficient Homes with Dean Buckeridge
Dean Buckeridge has been designing energy efficient homes for nearly two decades. Along with Russell Devlin, and now also Bob Burnett, I’ve regarded Dean for long time as one of the prominent house designers in Christchurch who has been leading the way in good, solar design. It was a privilege to talk with Dean and…
-
Using Design Navigator to Calculate R-Value and Check for Code Compliance
When creating a building design, how do you calculate the R-Value of building elements and check the design for code compliance? As Albrecht Stoecklein, creator of Design Navigator describes, getting this right in construction design can be tricky. Albrecht Stoecklein is a building physicist and has an Energy Management Diploma as well as vast experience…