I wonder whether I could revive this thread, given various technologies may have advanced in four years, and costs may have changed. We're building to the SW of Sydney. A big single-storey house, so will need at least two HWS, just to reduce wait times. I'm really hoping to avoid connecting natural...

oh, & at this stage, unless you can get very generous rebates, batteries still aren't worth the investment. With payback periods of at least 10 years. So I'd hold off the batteries for now. In any case, your EV may become your mobile home battery, as we move to V2G (vehicle-to-grid) & V2H (v...

I'd usually recommend using a separate solar installer, not the builder. You'll have more control on the quality of the installation (if you do your research), as the builder could be getting anyone to do the installation. I'd recommend using Solar Quotes to get quotes from 3 verified companies loca...

Hello Everyone, First-time post, so please be kind. I am looking into buying a decent sized block of land to construct a 2-storey 5 bedroom house in the Western Melbourne suburb. I am in the final stages of signing the contract for the block of land which has an easement on the side. The easement i...

I haven't used homeone much in the last few years, but have read some horror stories about huge bills for in-slab hydronic heating. The culprits usually seem to be poorly insulated slabs, inexperienced installers, a lack of zoning. Personally, I wouldn't do in-slab in Australia. The thermal mass of ...

For Perth, the government's 'Your Home' website recommends a minimum of R4.1 for the roof/ceiling, R2.8 for the walls https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/insulation

The one main advantage of corner blocks on the southern side of the road is that they have great access to northern light. As they will not be overshadowed by northern neighbours. It's always a great idea to orientate the home so that living areas (& a large proportion of glazing) to face north....

Hi all, We’ve been asked to considerably decrease the size of many of our windows to meet a 7 Star Energy rating. We are very reluctant to do this, as we don’t want to turn our house into a dark box. Is there an alternative to reducing window size? Such as double glazing, install awnings etc? We ha...

What is the orientation of the block? It's a very good idea to face the living areas (& a large proportion of the glazing) to the north. Minimising western (& to some degree, eastern) glazing. https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation My number one priority when choosing a block...

As I said, I'd consider rearranging the living areas, so there's a window facing east, the hill. Probably the same for the master bed. I'd also consider rotating the garage pavilion, thinking about how the home addresses the street. But here's the rough plan on your block. Not to scale at all. https...

Sorry what do you mean if it angered right? Hi everyone. I was just wondering if you could give me advice on this floor plan. This is the first concept drawing we’ve received and I gotta say I’m pretty happy with it. Are there any suggestions you’d give? We love the pavilion style house. Ignore the...

Firstly, what climate are you in? What's appropriate for Hobart certainly isn't appropriate for Cairns. A pavilion home is probably a great idea in warmer climates, as cross-ventilation will be aided. But it's probably not a great idea in a cooler climate. As a larger external surface area leads to ...

With 2 pairs of Lunos E2s you are talking about roughly $5-6K + installation. Laros is selling them for $1,600 a pair. https://shop.laros.com.au/shop/energy-recovery-ventilation/decentralised-non-ducted/lunos-e2-high-performance-ventilation-system/

Thanks ddarroch. I did look into a hrv unit but the fully ducted system was around 50k which is outside of my budget. I've never heard of these lunos units I'll definitely look into it. I've gotten use to ceiling fans with windows open and I'm happy with that all almost all nights. A pair of Lunos ...

What state are you in OP? Like gogo65, I thought it was possible to have an attached granny flat, in NSW at least. Haven't looked into it for a few years though.

Air tightness is very important in an energy efficient build, & therefore so is ventilation. But if you're wanting to build an energy efficient home, I'd certainly be looking at using HRV/ERV, not just opening the windows to the elements. Sure, for the 8 months of the year when it's lovely outsi...

I think real PassivHaus is a bit too much for most of Australia where there is not much cold in the winter times but a lot of heat in the summer. A good balance between very airtight house such as PassivHaus (0.6 air changes per hour) as well as a house with a lot of openings and poor insulation (1...

[quote="smarthaus":1bq3a8q6] Science.[/quote:1bq3a8q6] Hahaha. I have a degree in science, does my vote count :P

Passive solar design on its own is largely disproven. https://sourceable.net/passive-solar-design-irrelevant/ Pretty rubbish article I think.