Energy Efficiency

After receiving the shock of our most recent electricity bill, we decided we should spend some time focusing on the energy efficiency of our new home. With the rising costs of energy, we need to build a home that isn't going to cost us a fortune over the years to heat and cool.

Unfortunately we didn't think about the orientation of the block before we bought it and only found out once we started looking into energy efficiency that our block is not ideal for the house design we have selected. The block runs north-south so the front of the house will be north (master bedroom & garage), living will be south-east and wc, ensuite, WIR, bathroom, laundry and bedroom 2 will be west.

Ideally, for an energy efficient house we would have the living north facing, bedrooms to the south and utility rooms to the west. This would mean our alfresco would end up in our front yard!! No Thank You, I do not fancy sitting in the front yard having a cup of tea in my PJs LOL.

We deliberated for weeks over the orientation of the block and whether we should find a better block or change the house design. In the end we decided we would just roll with both the design and the block we had selected as we were both very happy with the design and location.

We have selected as many energy efficiency upgrades as we can afford within our budget.

• 600mm eaves to the north (ideally these would be 900mm but 600mm is all the builder can offer)
• R6.0 Insulation to roof
• R2.7 Insulation to external walls
• A light coloured Colourbond Roof with Sarking and Whirly Bird.
• Upgraded ducted heating from 3.5 star to 5 Star with 3 zones.
• Double Glazed Windows (excluding laundry and WIR).
• 5,000 litre Tank connected to toilets
• 5,000 litre Tank for garden / lawn watering
• 5kWh Solar Panel system on roof

We will add an alfresco area to the east side of the living/family which should block out some of the hot summer sun. We have 2 meters from the fence on the west side so will consider planing trees or putting a veranda depending on how hot bedroom 2 gets.

We have selected the 24 square home over the 28 square home. It's just the 2 of us at the moment so hopefully building the smaller home is not something we will regret once we have kids. We will still have plenty of space left over on the block so there is always the option of extending if we need/want to.