in a house in France you live wearing shorts and T-Shirt when minus 15
airconditioning a rare thing
Easy....
"moellons" or stones
window frames wood (more in PVC)
weather seal
double glazing
"volets".
twefth century and still standing
Orientation, Design, Insulation.
Australians deserve MUCH better than what they are paying for
Thank you Fred for sharing your valuable insights. South France is similar to a lot of other temperate zone areas in Australia. But I am surprised that you didn't suffer the Arctic winter 'Mistral' at times.
I suspect that 'Old world' countries have had more time to think about how to build comfortable dwellings and have evolved a unique architecture. Both Australia and many parts of the USA are dissimilar in this regard.
I sometimes theorise why our modern homes aren't build with more thought.
European Australia has never been able to develop a vernacular architecture that suited this climate.
Our early settlers came from a cold place (British Isles) and suddently moved to one with hot summers (Australia) and had trouble adapting their buildings to this climate.
Our later pioneers concentrated on keeping houses cool with deep verandahs, generous ventilation or elevation on stilts. This came at the expense of inadequate natural sunlight during winter and cold draughts. But wood was in plentiful abundance, the population was small and artificial heating was not considered to be an excessive expense.
In our short history, we rapidly began to enjoy the luxuries of fossil-fuel heating (and more recently air conditioning) to overcome these deficiencies in design and construction. Until now there probably there has not been the economic pressure to incorporate good passive elements to reduce the use of these devices. Coal is still relative abundant here (like Uranium) and there are not the same drivers to build more efficient homes.
Europe's history is far longer and more innovation was required for the majority to manage. Even with the benefits of modern heating and cooling devices, energy prices and pollution issues in a densely populated country limit certain forms of energy generation.
PS you make an important point about sealing the house. It seems like a minor point but this is major source of heat loss during winter.
PPS are Volets like those windows seen in Italy where the shutters keep the sun out but allow cross ventilation to occur?