The Archicentre Guide to Energy-wise Renovation

During the heights of winter and summer, the environment surrounding your home can have a profound effect on the comfort of the interior. There are ways of designing your home that maximises the amount of energy the natural world produces.

The Archicentre Energy-Wise Home takes full advantage of the sun's natural resources, using simple design features that will help keep your house cool in summer and warm in winter. Try adopting Archicentre's Energy-Wise guidelines below. Not only will these guidelines help make your home more comfortable, they will also naturally reduce the need for products that waste electricity or release harmful gases. Archicentre's Renovation Reports cover these issues.

Council requirements regarding the Five Star Energy Rating scheme varies from State to State. Check with Archicentre to assess what applies in your State or municipality.


Verandahs provide protection from inclement weather

Archicentre's Home Energy Tips for a Cool Summer

  •  Arrange plants around the orientation of the sun and create buffer zones between indoors and outdoors. This can greatly reduce the need for artificial cooling systems.

  •  Shade east and west facing windows with external blinds, vertical screens or plants.

  •  Also shade the western walls of brick or stone houses with deciduous trees because a few hot days of sun on this material can make the house extremely hot.


External vertical blinds and shutters provide protection from summer heat

  •  Insulation is paramount to the energy-wise home experience. Good insulation can keep things 10° C cooler in summer and make it 5° C warmer in winter.

  •  Verandas or pergolas with deciduous vines can effectively shade the hot summer sun in the northern sky. This will prevent the high-angle penetration of heat through the glass.

  •  Unprotected pavement will absorb summer heat all day long, and then radiate it all night, enforcing the need for an air conditioner. Conversely, garden beds and lawn near doors and windows can cool the night air.
  •  The cross-ventilation of a summer breeze can be captured with the correct placement of window screens.

Archicentre's Home Energy Tips for a Warm Winter

  • Living areas situated on the north side will get the longest exposure to the sun. This makes a huge difference during winter.

  •   Eaves and pergolas that blocked the high-angled summer sun, can now invite the warmth of the sun into the house during winter, due to the low angle.
 
  •  Similarly, the deciduous trees that shaded the house during summer, now with its branches bare, allow the sun complete access.

  •  Insulation is paramount to the energy-wise home experience. Good insulation can keep things 10° C cooler in summer and make it 5° C warmer in winter.

  •  Windows lose ten times more heat in winter compared to the same area of insulated wall. The appropriate use of special window glazing types and placement are all part of an architect's expertise. Snug blinds or drapes with pelmets help further insulate from the cold.


North facing balconies gain the longest exposure to the sun in winter

  • Dark-coloured walls and ceilings absorb natural light and heat, particularly through north-facing windows.

  •   Use masonry walls and floors as a heat sink to absorb the winter sun during the day and then radiate it all night.

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