Want super simple, impactful tips to create a sustainable home?

Here’s 12 you can put into action right now in your renovation or new home.

These are the types of tips that, if you know them upfront, you can create a design that incorporates them and have it not cost anymore.

I have a few tips of my own, and I actually found a great list put together by the Department of Public Housing Queensland, called “Ten Tips for Smart and Sustainable Housing” which provides a great framework.

So, this episode will be a combination of this information. And in future episodes, we’ll dive into some of these areas in much more detail as well.

These 12 tips can be a great guide for where to start when considering how to design a sustainable home. They are:

1. Know how the sun moves and design your home to respond to it. Keep it cool in Summer with shading, and warm in Winter by letting the sun’s warmth inside.
2. Lower your home’s energy use overall through the selections you make and how you design your home to maintain its comfortable indoor temperature.
3. Conserve water in how you select your tapware and appliances, in where you source your water from, and what you do with your wastewater.
4. Heat and Cool naturally through how you manage the warmth of the sun, and maximising natural ventilation in your home.
5. Heat your water efficiently, in what hot water system and power supply you choose and in how you arrange your wet areas that need the hot water.
6. Consider aging in place, the ages of all people in your place and how you design a home to support you at all ages and points in your lifestyle, so your home works over the long term.
7. Choose finishes for your flooring that are safe, enhance accessibility and design your home to minimise trip hazards, slips and falls.
8. Address the street and make it clear, safe and secure how visitors are to enter your home so your home’s design enhances its own security, and the security of the street.
9. Design for natural surveillance, both over the street and public areas, and into play and garden spaces around your home. This will improve your comfort in the home, its functionality, and its safety and security overall.
10. Reduce your home’s need for maintenance by choosing durable and long-lasting materials and products. This will create a relaxing home that stands the test of time and is manageable financially over the long term.
11. Make selections for your interiors that consider the indoor air quality, and assess your product and material choices for their low tox nature. And also look at how natural ventilation can improve the quality of your indoor air environment given how much time we spend indoors.
12. Design indoor / outdoor connections that promote your connection to natural light and the natural environment, and where your climate supports it, create covered outdoor areas you can use to enhance your lifestyle in your home. These spaces will also cool your home by shading it as well.

When you start here, the choice of creating a sustainable home can usually be done on any budget, because it’s prioritised and embedded into the design process upfront.

A lot of these tips involve having knowledge and resources to make alternative selections that are more environmentally friendly, more efficient, or healthier for you – and I’ve found that in most cases, they come at no extra cost.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

10 Tips for a Smart and Sustainable Home >>> http://www.hpw.qld.gov.au/construction/Sustainability/SmartSustainableHomes/Pages/SmartSustainableHousingTips.aspx

Australian WELS rating system >>> http://www.waterrating.gov.au/

USA Watersense website >>> https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watersense-products

Australian resources on hot water heating selection >>> http://yourenergysavings.gov.au/energy/hot-water

USA Resources for hot water heating selection >>> https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/water-heating/selecting-new-water-heater and https://www.energystar.gov/products/water_heaters

Australian website Livable Housing Australia (Ageing in Place) >>> http://www.livablehousingaustralia.org.au/

Nichole Kain – Home and Place >>> https://www.homeandplaceproject.com/podcast/

Podcast episode on front entries and designing for safety and security >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/front-entries-front-gardens/

Melissa Wittig’s Smart Living Handbook >>> https://amzn.to/2IbADHl