Home & leisure
Sustainable renovations
Introduction
Want to renovate your home to be warmer, drier and healthier? We provide advice on smart, sustainable renovations.
Many homes can be sustainably renovated to be warmer, healthier and cheaper to run. The key is to take a "whole-of-house" approach, which includes water, waste and indoor air quality.
We look in depth at two case studies of sustainable renovations by housing research consortium Beacon Pathway and find out in detail the costs involved.
9 tips to improve your home
- Insulation reduces the energy needed for heating or cooling. You'll only get the maximum benefit when the whole house is insulated. Draught-stopping doors and windows is an easy and cheap first step. Then insulate the ceiling (where most heat is lost) and under the floors. Wall insulation and double glazing windows are more complicated and expensive.
When you're planning a major renovation, particularly if you're removing wall linings, include insulation. Insulation is best placed after any plumbing or electrical work.
- About 30 percent of the average power bill goes on water heating. Spending less than $100 to wrap your hot water cylinder and lag at least the first metre or so of pipe will significantly reduce your power bill.
- Ventilate. Drawing fresh air into your house helps prevent dampness. For natural ventilation ensure windows can be safely left open (use security stays or open small high windows). Mechanically ventilate the kitchen (rangehood) and bathroom and laundry (extractor fan).
- Laying polythene on damp ground under your house will reduce moisture entering through the floor - a major cause of mould growth in homes. 25 - 30kg of water can come off damp soil underneath a house every day.
- Heat adequately and efficiently. Heating consumes around a third of the average household's energy use, so being more energy efficient will have a positive impact on your power bill.
- Combining a low-emission wood or pellet burner with a heat transfer system will save money. Running a pellet burner costs 7-9c per kWh; an enclosed efficient wood burner 5-10c. Compare these costs with an open fire at 27-54c per kWh and an electric heater which costs up to 21c per kWh.
- Throw out any unflued gas heaters.
- Upgrade your hot water cylinder. Solar water heaters can provide up to 75 percent of a household's water heating in summer, and up to 30 percent in winter. This may cut your power bills by close to $450 a year. Heat pump hot-water systems use electricity more efficiently and may also save similar amounts of electricity (we are testing hot water heat pumps to find out how much can be saved).
- Reduce water use. Consider low-flow shower heads, water-efficient washing machines and dual-flush toilets. These measures together could reduce the amount of water each person in your household uses from 241 to 177 litres per day.
More information
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Report by Peter Rankin