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#16
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chookie wrote - was: FYI- water crisis story link:
yes bruce,
thermal qulaities work to change the extreme to more comfortable. like the colder it gets if the home has natural capapbilities then the ahrder the thermal qaulities work at keeping the home warm and the same work in reverse. the big draw back is people try to put the practise of thermal qaulities into waht they currently live in, and waht they currently live is is mostly making conditions worse in the extreme or either end of the spectrum ie.,. adding heat when you want cool. renewables will never be affordable in our current designed homes. On 28 Jan 2007 17:39:49 -0800, wrote: snipped With peace and brightest of blessings, len -- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand." http://www.lensgarden.com.au/ |
#17
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chookie wrote - was: FYI- water crisis story link:
snipped
Yeah. I do. I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever in the position to design, or redesign my house. Thanks Jen have a read of our essay, so not only are you keeping in ind the thought of building a truely comfy home, but even the next time you buy you can use some of the processes to help you buy a modern home that is that bit more comfy than its counterpart. buy using the head not the heart. With peace and brightest of blessings, len -- "Be Content With What You Have And May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In A World That You May Not Understand." http://www.lensgarden.com.au/ |
#18
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chookie wrote - was: FYI- water crisis story link:
In article ,
gardenlen wrote: yes planting in the right place using the right plant for a purpose, unfortunately like the yuk factor brigade and the water issues indoctrination has got too much of a hold, someone commented that retro fitting is better than rebuilding i dunno lots of variable there???? snip so what of all the old inefficient homes? natural progressinon would mean it could take oh i dunno 100 years for the change to take effect on our resource useage? Here in NSW there is now a programme called BASIX (building sustainability index, I think). All new buildings put up in the last few years have had to measure up on this index with things like good passive solar design, water and energy conservation features, etc. It has also come in for extensions as of last October. The positive side is that at last developers have to do SOMETHING apart from putting up badly-designed energy-sucking monstrosities. The negative side is that they don't have to do MUCH, and in some cases it's just putting in energy- and water-efficient appliances -- ie, no improvements to the structure at all. The other problem is that it adds the need for yet another consultant on to any building project. Even though our reno is a retrofit and would pass BASIX easily, our architect advised us to lodge the DA before BASIX came in for additions, just to avoid that extra set of consultancy fees. With the McMansions -- from what I've heard, they are disposable houses. Horribly expensive to maintain, but relatively cheap to build, and put up by cowboys. THey'll all be knocked over in 50 years because they will be falling apart at the seams... my house will still be going strong! -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) "Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled." Kerry Cue |
#19
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chookie wrote - was: FYI- water crisis story link:
"gardenlen" wrote in message
... that's right. also, i think people underestimate how much plants can help "rescue" a crap house, as well. (a subject pertinent for this group!) but overall, i think generally good design had better become a more common thing in australia soon! yes planting in the right place using the right plant for a purpose, unfortunately like the yuk factor brigade and the water issues indoctrination has got too much of a hold, someone commented that retro fitting is better than rebuilding i dunno lots of variable there???? probably some variables, but in principle, i'd be in favour of retrofitting; if only because it's bad enough something useless was built in the first place - no point making the whole scenario worse by then wasting it entirely! i'd think even the most appalling houses could be rescued with a few changes & some landscaping in the right places... not to make it "perfect". "good enough" has to be good enough imo :-) if the house is so badly aspecteed along with the land and so poorly designed with living cooking areas facing the wrong way maybe any money spent on retro fitting could be seen as a bad investment, like utting new tuyres on a car wher the body and motor are falling apart hey?? hm, i don't know. the last house we were in before we moved here had big kitchen/dining windows & a bedroom all facing due west :-/ that needed some "rescue" but we were renting, so there's that. it was very unpleasant in summer, but if i'd owned it i'd have started with landscaping & it would have been easy to do a couple of other things & it would have been fine (or any rate, good enough). until people ahve lived in a purpose built home they will never know the difference, and anoteh thing for young families wanting to get a start, this home is very affordable this one at that stage cost $50,000 to build but at a maximum would ahve pulled up well under $70,000 that then would have been 22 meters long and 7 meters wide. at the size it is in the pic's it 15 meters long which is as i have said the size of a modest family 3 bedroom home of the 70's and 80's standard. there are lots of families up there living in those prefabs that are only 6m X 12m 3 bedroom, funny thing our home cost about the same as them only lots more comfortable. so if the community bites the bullet and demands change what then? do we start stipulating estates with only the right aspect lans being used and only homes that are of the 'warm-house/cool-house' ilk? so what of all the old inefficient homes? well, that's it. if people know how to make some inexpensive improvements that make a big difference, they can do so :-) natural progressinon would mean it could take oh i dunno 100 years for the change to take effect on our resource useage? maybe instead of wasting tax payer dollars feeding us potty water and keeping insolvent farmers afloat and paying for water tanks that simply won't make any difference. maybe we bit the bullet and and demolish these monoliths? i just really think that's the more difficult option :-) change takes time, nothing happens overnight. i don't know what the answer is, but it involves doing things better from this point on. however, you need to keep in mind that all water has been recycled from the dawn of time, & many people in aust drink water that someone else used upriver - scare tactics about water purifying aren't helpful!!! kylie |
#20
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chookie wrote - was: FYI- water crisis story link:
"Jen" wrote in message
... "Chookie" wrote in message ... In article , "Jen" wrote: But summer is generally 'very' hot, with the occasional snow, flooding and many very cold days. And winter is generally 'very' cold with snow etc, but occasionally has warm days. You might be surprised -- the average summer temp in Sydney is only about 26 C; probably a bit hotter where I am. That's not "very" hot, though we do of course have heatwaves. And unless you are in Antarctica, your winters are NOT very cold. I'd be surprised if you got -10 C very often. Contrast Moscow, where it can get to 40 C in summer and -40 C in winter! I can understand building houses to suit hot climates, or very cold climates, but Australia has both. What about central Australia, they have super hot days, but super cold nights. You design for where you live, not for a mythical average across our enormous country! I live in Victoria. This summer we've had many above 40 days, but we've also had snow. Where I live there's often snow in the winter 1/2 hour away, and occasionally here. But it can still be steaming hot, or dry, or cold and snowing even in summer. I'm not talking average across country here! a well-insulated construction doesn't suffer vagaries of heat & cold so much, it's stable & minimises that problem for the most part. of course, summer & winter indoor temperatures are going to vary a bit - that's life. it's really not the point what weird weather events might happen unexpectedly - you plan for stability, and according to sun access in winter & keeping it out in summer, etc. if you have windows in the right places etc with the right fixtures for your climate you can control indoor temps quite easily (regardless of how otherwise "good" the house is). and so on. kylie |
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