your abode ....environmentality

Building the eco friendly way - Concrete polishing

2009-06-29T18:02:00.008+10:00

Now that the concrete has fully cured, we had to finish it to a standard that we are happy to leave exposed as the finished floor. The term polished concrete is actually a little deceiving. The concrete is not so much polished as 'ground' through various grades of 'polishing stones'. Starting with a diamond grinding stone and progressing through to fine grinding stones which are a bit like sanding concrete with sandpaper. The aim for us was to create a concrete surface with a uniform grey colour and some small aggregate exposed.

The shot above shows the grinding in process. Slow and laborious with many passes across the concrete as one moves through the 'polishing stones'. The grinding can be done dry or wet, we chose to grind it wet purely because the cement dust is a health hazard that we could do without.

The image below shows the concrete surface once we had finished 'polishing' the concrete. You can see the uniform colour as well as the exposure of some smaller aggregate...perfect.

From a negative perspective, concrete polishing has the effect of wearing the finished concrete surface, thus leaving the concrete exposed to staining from anything that might be dropped on it. So a sealer needs to be applied to provide a barrier that prevents the spilt red wine from leaving a stain!

Our choice of sealer is a water based sealing compound manufactured in Australia by a paint company called Murobond. We love both them and their stuff. They have a strong environmental bent both in the products they make and their company attitude. All of their paints and finishes are either low or zero VOC, perfect for anyone planning to building green.

After curing the sealer for a week, we will be straight onto the slab and erecting the timber wall frames. Watch for the next post.

Building the eco friendly way - Concrete slab pour

2009-05-19T21:24:00.004+10:00

Most people are not aware of the significant carbon impact that the production of cement has. Production of cement accounts for 5% of the worlds carbon. This is a significant figure for what seems to be an innocuous product.

Because cement plays such a significant part in the construction of any building , if one is to truly build green, then it is important to look at ways to reduce the amount of cement used.

And one of the biggest users of cement in construction is in the manufacture of concrete. Greener concrete suppliers have now started to deal with this issue but supplanting cement content with a product called fly ash. Fly ash is a by-product from the burning of coal and makes an excellent substitute for cement. By using fly ash in concrete, what has previously been seen as a waste product now has become a valuable asset.

For this project we have used concrete from a supplier who has replaced a portion of the cement content with fly ash, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the concrete we have used.

Because we intend to leave the concrete slab as an exposed element, it is crucial that the concrete is finished and trowelled well. Our requirement was for the concrete to receive a near burnished finish. A burnished finish is when the concrete is mechanically trowelled with a trowelling machine, as seen above, until it has cured sufficiently that the blades of the trowel are almost burning the concrete surface due to the friction of the steel blades on the concrete.

We have used a burnished finish because it provides a durable and hard wearing surface to the concrete as well as a subtle surface lustre.

Lastly, and most importantly is the curing of concrete once it has poured. Curing of concrete is one part of the concreting process that is often neglected. However, without proper curing, all of the earlier effort will be wasted. Curing it the process of preventing concrete from prematurely drying out due to exposure to the sun or wind. If freshly poured concrete is allowed to prematurely dry out, it will fail to achieve its final strength and the quality of the surface finish will suffer.

There are many ways to cure concrete, but the main methods are either the application of a chemical compound to the surface, covering the surface with plastic sheeting or permanently keeping the surface wet. We avoid the use of the chemical compound for environmental reasons and the plastic sheeting because it can mark the finished surface of the concrete. So we use a method of keeping wet hessian rolled out across the concrete surface, as you can see in the image above. Typically concrete should be cured for a minimum of 7 days, with up to 30 days ideal. Given that the finished internal floor will be the exposed concrete, we have chosen to cure the concrete for 30 days to ensure that we have the best quality surface finish.

Building the eco friendly way - Concrete slab preparation

2009-05-06T20:42:00.010+10:00

Like most concrete slabs, reinforcing bar is required to help give the slab it's strength. And like all material choices that can be made during the course of construction, one can choose to make a sustainable choice or not. In the case of the reinforcing bar we have chosen to use reinforcing bar from a supplier who uses 100% recycled steel. By using recycled steel, the environmental impact of the steel has been reduced. Recycling steel uses a lot less overall energy than mining ore, and precessing it in order to make new steel.

What is more, the strength and quality of the recycled material is the same as the new material.
The photo above shows the steel reinforcing being placed inside the form work for the concrete slab.

Timber wall and roof framing is still the dominant material for house construction in Sydney. Unfortunately this is the favorite food of one of our native creatures, termites. So it is necessary to have some form of termite protection when you build in timber in order to prevent your house being eaten out around you!

Termite protection can take many forms and more often than not involves some from of pesticide. The key is, to avoid spraying termite barriers on the soil and ground around your house. Not only are they toxic for termites, but they aren't particularly good for humans and the ground ecology.

Several new products on the market seek to address this issue by safely encapsulating a termiticide within a 'blanket' a bit like thick plastic, which can not leach the termiticide. These blankets are used to protect around pipes such as the one above, which prevent termites from entering your house by forming a physical barrier that the termites can not penetrate.

To heat the house in winter we have installed a 5 star gas in slab hydronic heating system. For those who don't know what I am talking about, a hydronic heating system is essentially heated water running through pipes, the pink ones in the photo above, which delivers heat to a location, in our case, the concrete slab.

Hydronic heating is very efficient because is works on the principle of radiant heat, which warms objects rather than convective heat which just warms the air. What is more, in slab hydronic heating is doubly efficient because the heat starts at the bottom most point in a room and rises to the top, heating everything along the way. Rather than air conditioning which generally tries to heat the air in a room from the grilles in the ceiling, down. One way is working with nature, heat rises, and the other is trying to fight it.

For in slab hydronic heating to work at its best, the floor should not have an insulating covering such as carpet or timber. So tiles or exposed concrete in our case, tend to be the best.

Above is the manifold which looks after the balancing of the hydronic heating pipework. Put simply, the two white pipes on the left are the flow and return from the gas boiler and the red is the heated water going out to the slab and the blue is the heated water returning back.

The heating system is designed as a closed loop, so the same water stays in the pipework getting heated at the boiler, then going through the red manifold and out to the slab, then back to the blue manifold and then on to the boiler to get heated and start again. Pretty simple really.

Building the eco friendly way - Ground works and in-ground drainage

2009-04-15T13:20:00.007+10:00

One of the key requirements for the project was to provide universal access for the clients. This is basically ensuring that as they grow older, they can still get about easily in their house. Keeping the main floor of the house at the one level is key to achieving this. So as you can see above, there has been some minor excavation and filling on site to create a level platform which will become the ground floor and main living area of the house.

The ground floor of the house will be a concrete slab on ground. The main reason behind this was that a concrete floor has excellent thermal mass. To explain thermal mass in simple terms, the concrete slab will be left exposed so that in winter it can absorb the suns heat and become a source of 'free' heating. In summer the reverse occurs, by keeping the slab shaded from the sun, it will become a source of 'free' cooling.

One of the key features of the house is the water saving and re-using strategies. As well as being self reliant for all potable water, the house also incorporates a grey water recycling and re-use system. Grey water is collected from all hand basins, showers, floor wastes and the washing machine and recycled through an OASIS grey water recycling system. The recycled water is then re-used for flushing toilets, in the washing machine and for watering the garden. In the case of the washing machine, the same volume of water will be in a perpetual cycle of use and re-use.

For a grey water recycling system to work however, the grey water needs to be separate from the black water. Put simply, black water is water from your toilet and kitchen sink and grey water comes from all of the other sources. So to keep these separate, two separate drainage systems needs to be installed, one to direct the black water to the sewer and the other to direct the grey water for recycling.

In the image above of the en suite, in the foreground is the waste pipework for the toilet which is being directed to the right to the sewer. In the back ground is the grey water pipework which is picking up the floor waste and hand basin in the middle of the image and the shower at the top of the image. The pipework then continues off to the left at the top of the image to the grey water recycling system. Simple really!

Building the eco friendly way - Recent press

2009-03-23T08:54:00.005+11:00

We were very please to receive some recent press about our green building project at Collaroy in the local Manly Daily.

We obtained Housing Industry Association (HIA) Greensmart accreditation for the project and it appears that it is the only accredited house on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

The HIA Greensmart accreditation recognises houses that are going well beyond mandatory energy and water efficiency measures, such as BASIX in NSW, and are seeking best practice.

We are driven towards best practice in Sustainable building and are very proud to be pioneering the way on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Building the eco friendly way - Demolition complete

2009-03-21T15:16:00.005+11:00

Demolition, or should I say 'de-construction', of the existing house was completed recently. All materials salvaged from the building were segregated into like materials for easy recycling, or for un-recyclable materials, sent to landfill.

I believe that we managed to recycle around 60-70% of the materials from the old house. Not a bad effort considering that most house demolitions consist of 0% recycled!

The first image below shows in the foreground un-recyclable materials such as PVC, other plastics and some damaged timber which unfortunately had to go to landfill. In mid image is concrete and brickwork stockpiled for crushing and recycling, and in the background is a stockpile of green vegetation that will be sent for mulching and re-use in gardens.

A huge recycled success was the quantity of timber that we managed to reclaim from the old house. Below is just part of the timber that was salvaged. All this timber was sent to a recycling yard where it will be de-nailed and on sold.

I think that we have demonstrated how easily simple structures can be treated in a sustainable way through recycling. With the quantity of materials recycled, the cost to remove the house was no more than if it was all sent to landfill. The only trade off was the increased duration required to 'de-construct' the house rather than demolish. I would put this at around another two weeks.

Having just been through the process of 'de-constructing' a house it does raise the problem that when we build houses, we aren't building them to be easily pulled apart at the end of their life. This is definitely something that the Construction Industry has to change in order to become more sustainable, I know that we will start giving it greater consideration when we build. Green building isn't just about the building of things, it also needs to take into consideration the 'taking apart of them' as well.

The next couple of weeks will have some excavation and ground works and then the in-ground plumbing and drainage will be laid.

Building the eco friendly way - Demolition progress

2009-01-28T21:30:00.009+11:00

As you can see from the photos above and below, demolition work has commenced. Progress is slower than would normally occur for a typical house demolition due to the time and care being taken to 'pull the house apart' piece by piece.

House demolition contractors typically take no more than a week to bring in a large machine, flatten the house and then ship everything out to landfill. Every time I see it happen it makes me fume. What a total loss and waste of tonnes of good construction materials and what environmental negligence, sending a house to landfill purely because people can't look past the way they have always done it. This sort of wastefulness wouldn't happen in a developing country.

As we explained earlier, green building isn't just about the building, it is about the entire process of creating a new house. When we started demolition, the key was to reduce the amount of materials that would go to landfill.
Generally, I am happy with what materials we look like being able to recycle.

The images above and below show the inside of the house with the walls and ceiling partly stripped of the plaster lining. All of the wall, floor and roof framing timbers are in very good condition and will definitely be able to be recycled, great news.

With no recycling facility available for used plaster lining it looks like it will unfortunately be sent to landfill.

All of the windows and doors will be salvaged and sent for recycling along with several bathroom and kitchen fixtures and fittings.

Over the next week or so the brickwork should start to come down and be sent for recycling along with the concrete footings.

Building the eco friendly way - Live sustainable house case study begins

2009-01-19T21:41:00.016+11:00

Since we blogged a little while ago about our new sustainable house project in Collaroy Sydney, we have had a number of people ask us for more information about what sort of green initiatives we will use and how are we going to go about it.

So we had a bit of a think about the best way to help give people information and came to the conclusion that we would use the house as a live sustainable building case study to demonstrate to people how to go about building an eco-friendly, sustainable house.

So where do we begin?.....we have given you a bit of an outline about the project in an earlier blog post and more details and information will come out as the build progresses.

The new house is being built on a site currently occupied by an existing house, see below. The house was unusable due to it's location on the site and overall condition, so it had to go. So how does one get rid of an old, unwanted house in the most eco-friendly way?

YOU RECYCLE IT!!!! So that is what we intend to do. Having made a thorough assessment of what materials can be salvaged from the existing house we have come to the following conclusions:

The bricks and concrete can be sent to a crushing plant to be recycled as road base for road and pavement construction

The timber wall, roof and floor framing can be sent to a second hand building materials yard for future re-sale

The windows can be sent to a second hand building materials yard for future re-sale

The bathroom and kitchen fixtures and fittings can be sent to a second hand building materials yard for future re-sale

It looks like the only materials that we will need to send to landfill will be those that have to be by law, such as the asbestos roof sheeting, and those for which there is no industry re-sale or recycling system in place, such as used plasterboard wall and ceiling lining.

Recycling the house will definitely be a labour intensive exercise. This is probably the reason why the majority of houses that are demolished are knocked flat by a large excavator and sent straight to landfill, it is quick and easy.

So taking the most sustainable approach to the demolition of the existing house will have an effect on the timeline for the project, but in our opinion if we can actually manage to recycle the materials mentioned above , then it will have been worth it. The less building waste that goes to landfill, the better.

Demolition starts in a few days, sign up for regular updates and to follow how things progress...

your abode starts new sustainable house construction in Sydney

2008-12-08T21:44:00.006+11:00

Here is an image of our new sustainable house project in Collaroy, Sydney which we will commence building in early 2009. Green building is what we are about and this house typifies everything about our approach to sustainable houses.
The house will be very eco-friendly both in its design and construction. Water and energy consumption for the house will be very low due to the house:

being totally self sufficient for potable water. All water for drinking, cooking and showering will be collected on site and stored in rainwater tanks for re-use in the house
all grey water from showers, hand basins and the washing machine will be recycled through a grey water treatment system and re-used for flushing toilets and washing clothes in the washing machine.
not having any air conditioning because of the excellent breeze ways that provide for summer cooling
having high thermal mass in both the walls and exposed concrete slab for winter warming and summer cooling
using an in slab gas hydronic heating system for winter heating
using low-e thermal glass in all of the windows to reduce heat loss in winter and prevent heat gain in summer
having good eaves and sun shading to keep it cool in summer
being designed with good orientation and zoning of rooms

But we haven't only considered water and energy efficiency. Occupant comfort and materials sustainability are also high priority:

all internal paints and cabinetry will use low VOC products.
recycled Australian Hardwood will be used for the stair construction and for the skirting board and architraves around windows and doors
any waste created during construction will be separated into differing materials and recycled

This is a very exciting project for both us and our clients and we will post progress photos and updates as we move through construction.

PV panel feed in tariffs for NSW

2008-11-09T14:27:00.002+11:00

Carmel Tebbutt, the NSW Government Environment Minister, has given a pledge to introduce feed in tariffs for solar panels in NSW.

Many other states in Australia have had feed in tariffs for some time, notably South Australia, which this year started paying people double the market rate for feeding power back into the grid.

Apparently the NSW Government has grown tired of waiting for a National approach driven by the Federal Government, so they have decided to 'go it alone'.

Great news for those with panels and possibly just the incentive necessary for many to consider installing panels.

No word on when it will come into play or how it will operate, but first steps are good steps.

The Pope goes green

2008-09-30T17:37:00.010+10:00

The pope is on a drive to make the Vatican Europe's most energy efficient state.

Around 2,000 square metres of the Paul VI hall are being covered with photovoltaic panels, while the another 3000 square metres will be used as a screen to increase the amount of captured energy.

According to Mauro Villarini, an engineer who works for Vatican State's technical services, " The objective of our project is, in sum, to create an energy process from which, with the production of clean energy and its intelligent management, it is possible to supply in the first place these properties and, in the future, also the means of transport, making mobility sustainable from the environmental point of view".
" The challenge for Vatican City State to be the first in Europe to comply with European objectives, which foresee for 2020, obtaining at least 20% of consumed energy from renewable sources."

Villarini expects the solar panels to be functioning by the end of this year.

Grey water and your soil - does it cause any harm?

2008-08-31T11:48:00.003+10:00

There is a growing attitude in the water challenged times that we live in, that to waste any water is unacceptable. Out of this, simple grey water diversion systems such as the one above are becoming more prevalent and are being readily accepted by mainstream Australia.

But when looking to install some form or grey water diversion system, serious consideration has to be given to the effect that the nutrient rich water will have on the ecology of the soil that you are diverting the water to. Last thing anyone looking to reduce their environmental impact wants to do is, by do good on one hand (reducing water usage) they find themselves doing bad (damaging soil ecology) as a result of it.

RMIT Honours Student Farzarhd Namdarian recently completed a thesis in conjunction with the Alternative Technology Association titled 'The impact of grey water irrigation systems on domestic soil environments'.

Generally it is a fairly dry subject, but it does make for interesting reading. By researching and recoding data from 7 real life case studies in Melbourne, Farzarhd has been able to gather some useful information that should help anyone thinking about installing a grey water diversion system from causing any damage to their soil ecology.

Check it out here at the ATA website.

Recycling grey water - putting it to good use

2008-07-21T11:36:00.006+10:00

Up until now, anyone wanting to recycle grey water has generally been forced to redirect the water underground in irrigation systems because of archaic local health regulations. This forces us to continually water gardens when we have a shower, whether we want to or not.

Although technically the water is being recycled, sending it underground without another option is hardly a good use for Australia's most precious resource. What everyone recycling grey water has wanted is to be able to re-use the water again, above the ground.

Enter the people at Nubian Water Systems and their OASIS GT600 (sounds like a sports car). The OASIS is a fairly compact piece of equipment that stores the incoming grey water, filters and treats it and then stores the treated water again for later re-use. The real beauty of the product is that it treats the water to a standard that is acceptable for most Australian States to allow it's use above ground ie, it can be re-directed to toilet flushing or other non potable water uses.

The OASIS uses a three stage process to ensure that the water is treated to the required standard. The first stage is a filter screen that removes lint and other course materials, the second is a filter media that utilises physical removal, adsorption and microbial induced aerobic degradation to remove contaminants and the final stage is UV disinfection.

The unit is smaller enough to mount beside your house, requires very little maintenance and very little power to run.

This is a piece of equipment well worth checking out.

House energy star ratings - what do they mean?

2008-06-29T16:45:00.003+10:00

Many of you may be aware that the energy efficiency of new houses is measured using a star rating system. This system has existed for a number of years and rates houses on their energy consumption from one star at the lowest level through to ten stars at the highest. But what do these rating mean in reality for you, the consumer, home purchaser or new home builder?

NatHERS, or The National Home Energy Rating System, has a great on line description of each star rating in each locality in Australia, and what it means in terms of anticipated energy consumption in a house for heating and cooling.

For example in Sydney East, a 1 star rated house will use 230MJ/m2 and a 10 star house will use 6MJ/m2. This equates to the 10 star house using only 3% of the energy of a 1 star house or being 38 times more energy efficient than the 1 star house.

Something else to be aware of is that the ratings are not linear from the 1 star through to the 10 star. A 5 star rated house does not use half of the the energy of a 1 star house, 115MJ/m2, but only uses 50MJ/m2.

This is invaluable information for anyone trying to find their way through the maze of energy stars and ratings.

Now that you have collected your rainwater, what now?

2008-05-25T11:09:00.006+10:00

You live in the city and have put a lot of money and effort into installing a rainwater harvesting system, now what are you going to do with the water? The answer is, whatever you can.

One of the simplest a most effective uses for your collected rainwater is to use if for flushing your toilet. Toilets are responsible for using around 10% of the water used in your home, and depending on overall household water usage, this can be around 25 - 35 litres per day, or 9000 - 13000 litres per year.

But, for the water to be connected to your toilet cistern you will need to have a back up system in case your water tank level gets too low. Products such as the Davey Rainbank and the OngaWaterswitch are the answer.

Both products are connected to the pump which sends the water to your toilet cistern. When the water level in your tank gets too low, the Rainbank and Waterswitch sense the low water level and divert the water supply source from your rainwater tank, to the mains water. After rainfall and your tank has filled again, either unit will sense that the water level in your tank has increased and will switch back to your water tank to supply the toilet cistern.

This ensures that you will always have a water supply to fill your toilet cistern, but ensures that whenever possible, it will come for free from your rainwater tank.

Recycling bathroom sink grey water with the AQUS system

2008-04-28T20:40:00.009+10:00

The AQUS system by Watersaver Technologies is a fantastic example of green design and ingenuity. The Aqus system catches the water from your vanity basin, filters and disinfects it, and stores it until the next time you need to flush your toilet. The system then sends to stored water to your toilet cistern reducing the amount of town water necessary to simply flush your toilet. It is designed to be easily retrofitted into existing fixtures. Gravity and a small electric pump transport the water from the 21 Litre holding tank installed under the sink to your toilet cistern. A valve in the toilet cistern prevents fresh water inflow as long as sufficient water is available in the Aqus to do the job, when the Aqus runs low, the normal toilet valve for incoming water will serve the demand.

The system retails for about US$200, but unfortunately is only available in the US at the moment. Hopefully someone will look to import this to Australia because there is a definite market here for such a simple and inexpensive product.

Caroma in Australia have made a toilet suite called the Profile, see below, which achieves a similar result. But in our opinion there are significant psychological hurdles to over come with their cistern and the perception that one is washing their hands 'in the toilet cistern'.

In our opinion, the Aqus is the way to go.

Beware of manufacturers' claims to be green

2008-03-11T14:15:00.004+11:00

More and more consumers have a growing awareness of the larger environmental issues and are looking to make product choices with this in mind. However, beware, because companies are now aware of this and are 'dressing up' their old products in new 'greener' clothes.

'Greenwashing', as it known, is where a company markets a product squarely at the green consumer knowing that the claims it makes are untrue. This could be in the form of unsubstantiated 'eco' claims or using text and imagery to give the impression that the product is environmentally friendly when it is not.

We recently came across an example of this is some advertising for insulation products that you would use in your home.

The old Pink Batts, that we used to see the Pink Panther advertising, have now been re branded by the manufacturer, Insulation Solutions, under the umbrella of 'eco pink' along with the rest of their insulation products.

Whilst what insulation does can't be disputed ie, makes your home more energy efficient, reduces your energy usage and therefore your greenhouse gas emissions.

In our opinion the marketing of these products has the definite potential to mislead consumers into thinking that the batts themselves and the manufacture of them is environmentally friendly.

To be fair to Insulation Solutions, they do claim that their batts are made from 70% recycled glass, but to create a marketing campaign with such a 'green' tinge, there needs to be more substance to their eco claims, such as:

How are they manufactured?
What has Insulation Solutions done to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions?
What sort of waste is produced and what is done with it?
What is done with the waste left over after the batts are installed?

We will always advocate people installing insulation in the roof, walls and floors of their homes, however it is important to look closely at the products on offer and buy the best product for your circumstance, which may not necessarily be the one that looks the 'greenest'.

Cleaning up your collected rainwater

2008-02-17T21:26:00.003+11:00

Anyone who is recycling their rainwater for use in their washing machines and toilets will be aware of the problems that can occur when the harvested rainwater contains sediment or is coloured with tanin from leaves. Your whites are no longer white when washed and your toilet bowl stains.
Re-using harvested rainwater in such ways has to be commended, but we sympathise with anyone who has encountered the problem. Simply because you have decided to live a more sustainable life shouldn't mean compromising.

So what is the solution?. Install a filter between your water tank and the appliances and fixtures. Companies such as Rain Harvesting have simple and easy to use filter systems that remove sediment, colour and odour from the water.

For consumers to want to 'buy' into living more sustainably, it can't compromise their life and has to be easy and convenient. Products such as these help people to do things the way they always have, whilst the sustainability just goes on in the back ground.

Guilt free household downlighting

2008-02-17T15:02:00.007+11:00

The current fashion for peppering whole house interiors with low voltage downlights has a couple significant drawbacks, they are extremenly energy inefficient and have a very short lifespan. Most people wrongly presume that because the light fittings are low voltage, that means low energy use. This is not the case. Low voltage simply means that the voltage used at each light fitting has been reduced, this is then wasted as lost heat. Most of the standard downlight globes are 50 watt, only sligtly less than a normal 60 watt incandescent globe. So there is no energy saving there.

So what is the solution if you want guilt free downlighting?. Replace your standard downlight globes with compact fluorescent fittings from a company such as Megaman. Most compact fluroescent globes are only around 11 watts, 80% less than the standard downlight fittings and will have a life up to 10 times longer.

Get them from Neco

Building Green : an overview

2007-12-17T15:02:00.000+11:00

An eco-friendly home is better for the environment as well as your health.

Building green is about the way your home is designed, constructed and operates in order to reduce its impact on the overall environment whilst creating a healthy and enjoyable environment for you to live in. Key green building strategies include water and energy efficiency, sourcing sustainable products and materials, and using renewable energy.

The buildings we live and work in have a profound impact on the natural environment, the economy and our health. The built environment accounts for:

40 per cent of our total carbon emissions
33 per cent of all product and material resources consumed
42 per cent of our total energy consumed
12 per cent of water use.

In the past the building industry has been inherently wasteful, lagging behind other industries when it comes to sustainability. The statistics should be impetus enough for everyone involved in the building industry to accept a greater responsibility in adopting more sustainable practices.

But for green building to succeed it has to be mutually beneficial: there has to be something in it for consumers as well as for the environment.

And there is. The win for consumers is a more modern, healthier home with lower energy and water bills. A well-designed home can, without any change in occupant behaviour, reduce energy use by about 60 per cent and water use by about 30 per cent.

Research indicates homes that incorporate environmental initiatives now sell more quickly and command higher prices than those that don’t. The objection that building green is too costly has been overstated for far too long. Achieving the energy and water savings cited above need add no more than 5 per cent to the cost of construction.

Building in a more eco friendly way simply creates a better house to live in. Studies show that indoor air quality is usually about five times worse than outdoor air due to the pollutants given off by everyday household furnishings and products. By using eco-friendly materials you create a healthier indoor environment for you and your family.

The perils of vinyl flooring in your home.

2007-12-09T12:25:00.000+11:00

Vinyl flooring, made from PVC or Poly Vinyl Chloride, is one material that we believe should not be on the market. PVC is dangerous to human health and the environment throughout its entire life cycle, at the factory, in our homes, and when we throw it out.

During the manufacture of PVC, dioxins are a by-product due vinyl having a high chlorine content. There are also documented links between workers exposed to the manufacture of PVC and cancer.

Whilst installed in your home, PVC will off gass dangerous chemicals. That new vinyl floor smell, that's them. Also, in order to make PVC flexible, a chemical called phthalates is added. Phthalates are a suspected carcinogen and reproductive toxicant. Think about that next time your baby or young children are down playing on a vinyl floor.

And finally, recycling PVC has generally been a failure. Compared to other plastic type products, PVC contains far more chemicals and is therefore harder and more expensive to recycle. When inadvertently mixed with other easily recyclable plastics, whole batch lots of recyclable materials are rendered unrecyclable. When dumped into landfill, PVC leaches chemicals into the environment. And when burnt, as it is often for energy, it releases dioxins again.

The good news is that there are much safer, healthier and more environmentally friendly products on the market. Think about using Linoleum, cork, sustainable timber, stone or tiles and even natural rubber.

Rice stubble panel board - the future for your kitchen?

2007-12-09T11:54:00.000+11:00

Board products such as MDF and particleboard that are used to make your kitchen cabinets are typically made from wood fibres, particles or flakes bound into a flat board with a binder such as a formaldehyde based adhesive. Quite often the timber sources are not sustainable and the health effects from exposure to formaldehyde are well known.

AMPAN is a new Australian panel board made from the waste stubble from rice production bound into a flat board with non-toxic inert resin. The advantages are obvious, rice stubble is normally treated as waste and in burnt in the field, so finding a use for this makes good environmental sense. Rice being such a high water use crop, AMPAN also increases the value and usage of each litre of water used to grow the rice.

Also, any board product that is getting rid of formaldehyde is a good thing.

The board is still in development with RMIT and the CSIRO, so we're not sure when it is likely to come to market but let's hope real soon.

AMPAN certainly sounds like a win-win-win for both farmers, consumers and the environment.

Ten Shades of Green

2007-11-25T21:53:00.001+11:00

We have just finished having a read through the book Ten Shades Of Green. The book is the documentation of an exhibition of the same name by the Architectural League in New York in 2000.
The book shows you real project examples of green design and building as well as the strategies used in each project. The are some great sketches of various design strategies for creating good green passive design.

The local interest in the book is the Cotton Tree Pilot Housing project in Queensland by Clare Design. This is a fantastic project bringing back lost elements of vernacular Queensland architecture and re-interpreting them for modern living. The project hits the holy grail of being both green and affordable.

ASLA green roof project

2007-11-25T16:30:00.001+11:00

We've blogged about green roofs before and the benefits that they can provide to the occupants of a building, whether that is a place of employment or a house.

The American Society of Landscape Architects has been conducting a long term study into the benefits of installing a green roof.

Some of their ongoing results make for very interesting reading:

the green roof created a 10 percent reduction in building energy use during winter months and negligible difference in the summer

from July 2006 to May 2007 the green roof retained nearly 75 percent of the total rainfall

the roof typically retained 100 percent of a one-inch rainfall.

the green roof has been substantially cooler than conventional black roofs on neighboring buildings.

This is all very science based and doesn't take into account the advantages that green roofs provide for human amenity as well as for birds and other wildlife.

Someone really needs to try and come up with a good reason why we aren't doing more of this in Australia. There is no excuse for building a new building with a flat concrete roof and not doing this.

How eco friendly is bamboo?

2007-11-25T16:05:00.001+11:00

Bamboo flooring is being touted and the sustainable savior of the timber floor. It is fast growing, it takes around 5 years to be ready to harvest, and uses less energy to harvest than traditional forms of timber.

"C'mon everyone, here is the guilt free timber floor of the future" cries the marketing for bamboo flooring. However, do your homework before you buy.

As fast growing as bamboo may be, there are a lot of question marks over the remainder of it's green credentials.

most bamboo comes from China so it has to be shipped into the country
currently no bamboo on the market comes with any third part certification of the sustainability of their forestry and harvesting practices
because bamboo is an engineered product, most of them use formaldehyde (a known carcinogen) adhesives to glue the bamboo together
bleaching is necessary to provide the uniform appearance that most bamboo has
the working conditions of the bamboo producers employees is generally unknown, as is their exposure to these dangerous substances.

In many instances it is more sustainable to use a locally recycled timber floor or virgin timber from a certified sustainably managed forest.

We are not saying "don't use bamboo", our advice is to do your homework. Ask the hard questions before you get pressured by the marketing hype. What adhesives are used to manufacture the product? is it bleached during manufacturing? what can you tell me about the forestry practices of the producer?

If you are informed, you will get the best product.