Energy efficiency
Energy efficiency is a really important thing. Some people would think that energy efficiency is just about putting some batts in the walls and a solar panel on the roof, but there’s a bit more to it than that.
We are all very worried these days with the increase in costs with our energy bills.
We have a 6 star energy rating, which is an upgrade that got put into place from the 5 star rating, that we have had for quite some time. It changed the way we look at energy efficiency in a new home build, but it really is a bit more than just whacking a few batts around the place.
There are quite a few things to try to consider with energy efficiency. The first thing is that one action alone does not solve the problem.
Everybody thinks we’ll just put a high level of R rating for batts. That is a technical term but basically it means a thicker batt. With thicker batts in the ceiling and maybe in the outside walls. Really though, we have to look at the orientation of the house and the brick to glass ratio. So we all love beautiful amounts of glass in our walls and to be able to look outside to our gardens. However we have to think about which way the house in facing and how much glass there is. Energy efficiency is about heat loss as well as heat gain.
The other part of it also, is that double glazing can be a really good friend to a house. It really can help keep that balance, and I guess what we talk about is an ambient temperature. You know when you walk into a room and it is really comfortable, it’s not hot or it’s not cold.
We look at the ambient temperature of the space, the right sort of temperature.
And the other thing we have to look at as appliances. When we are purchasing a new home, many of the builders will put in appliances. Those appliances are a starting point in star rating, they might be 2 star or 3 star dishwashers, 2 or 3 star ovens. Over time with energy prices rising, sometimes investing a little bit more in 5 or 6 star ducted heating systems as well is going to save you money in the long run. Particularly when we hear on the news now that energy prices seem to be going up all the time.
Planning for the future.
If we want our house to be sold in the future, we have to make sure it is an energy efficient house because that affects the bills of the people who are going to live in it which will become more and more relevant.
The other thing is also zoning the energy requirement. From a ducted heating point of view, you can actually zone the heating in the house. In the old days when you turn on the ducted heating, the whole house was on. You might be watching television in the lounge room, but the ducted heating is on everywhere. For a small amount of money you can actually zone the heating in your house, so at a night time if you are in the master bedroom and just the two of you, just have the heating on in the bedroom. If everybody has gone to bed, just have the heating on in the bedrooms, not everywhere in the house.
