climateXchange

get involved said:

Hi everyone,

Another great resource that I came across was the governments living greener website, which has all kinds of information about making your home more sustainable, as well as all the information on grands and funding available to help you.

 

The website is http://www.livinggreener.gov.au/

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marea said:

I would add another question – is it about building a new house or retrofitting an existing house?

If it's about retrofitting, Canberra's own Derek Wrigley has produced a book called "Making Your Home Sustainable: A Guide to Retrofitting", published in 2005. I found my copy in the bookshop of the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

If it's about building new homes, a recent climateXchange article showcased two local companies, Canberra's Sustainable House and Jigsaw Housing, that help people who want to build an eco-friendly house.

What does EcoBuild focus on? I saw you have an entry in the climateXchange Canberra Green Directory, but there wasn't much detail.

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Yes reading Derek Wrigley's book "Making Your Home Sustainable: A Guide to Retrofitting", and/or a consultation with Nick Mayo from Canberra's Sustainable House are worth it.

Also go to www.yourhome.gov.au/ as this is a great resource! make sure to check out the 'designing for climate' pages and develop your understanding of how Canberra's Cool Temperate Climate should influence your house design, construction methods and material use. You'll note there are some rules of thumb and if followed will give the most responsive outcomes.

Now to Marea's question – what does EcoBuild focus on? – EcoBuild Canberra Pty Ltd is focused on passive solar design/environmentally friendly building. I became interested in the design of green buildings in my carpenter years and so started learning how they worked plus meeting and/or working for the guys who designed and built them in Canberra.

I considered any one who worked on sustainable buildings to be mentors and got to know and work for 'in my opinion' a couple of the best in Canberra being Ric Butt from Strine Environments and Robbie Gibson from Green House Designs, both architects.

Now as a builder and since starting EcoBuild Canberra 3 years ago we've completed a number of retrofits, extensions and new homes but my most exciting work is just beginning as we are designing our own range of Solar Passive homes. We aim to have our first Eco-house packages ready to view and build by mid year.

Enjoy the forum.

Peter Rogers

EcoBuild Canbera