sustainability news
Shades of green
This morning’s Background Briefing on RN examined the flaws in home energy rating systems. The show was unsurprising: they found many houses with low ratings and high performance, and vice versa. No prizes for guessing that architect-designed green homes suffered in the ratings department for not under-glazing, and not air-conditioning. The software wasn’t designed to be used like this and it encourages a conformity of design that suits standard project homes. From my experience, it is a bit of a lottery what the software will think of a custom-designed house.
01.04.12 in sustainability
Sustainability - Your laws do not apply to me
Readings sale table, 2011
08.11.11 in sustainability awards
green maths
Extracts from an HIA Press Release 2011 dutifully relayed by many news services in late May.
18.06.11 in sustainability housing
Comment [1]
Rating the ratings
The Fifth Estate today looks into recent claims by the HIA and The Australian that the NatHERS sustainability rating scheme is inconsistent and that there is a, “lack of correlation between actual energy performance of houses and their star ratings”. The CSIRO, developer of NatHERS-accredited Accurate software, says that they weren’t rating the ratings software correctly – “apart from a few minor glitches with the way the software was running, the main issue was due to errors made by assessors and incorrect interpretation of the results.”.
28.10.10 in sustainability computing
Bark vs. bite
From the Landcorp (Western Australia) website :
- “LandCorp is the Western Australian Government’s land and property developer.”
- Services include “Optimising triple bottom line outcomes from government-owned land.”
- “Sustainable development requires a different way of thinking about neighbourhoods in our cities and regions and involves identifying ways to demonstrate environmental leadership, community wellbeing, design excellence and economic health to produce integrated and holistic development concepts.”
- “We apply our sustainability vision to our work to bring a balance of social, environmental and economic outcomes for West Australians.”
10.02.10 in urban-planning sustainability
World Green Building Day
Hey, happy inaugural World Green Building Day! What can you do to mark this event in Melbourne… um, you could take the opportunity to network with GBCs . Other than that, not sure. Maybe knock off early and have a Green Beer.
24.09.09 in sustainability
Ben Elton wired to the sun
Comic Strip comedian and author, Ben Elton, gets to keep the photovoltaic panels he put on his heritage registered North Fremantle home after a stoush with the council. But he does have to remove them within 25 years, if Freemantle is still above water then. He will move into the house with his “Perth wife” in December, and will probably have enough material for a new novel with this.
06.09.09 in sustainability
Wind turbines not passed
Robert Rockefeller’s plans to mount giant wind turbines to catch the Southerly blusters from his Hobart buildings have been furled in by the council on heritage grounds. The debate was “heated”, possibly by a coal-fired power station.
28.07.09 in sustainability heritage
Comment [1]
Sore thumb building grabs wind
Hobart’s 11 storey Marine Board building, standing unloved in a prime position on Franklin Wharf, may be blessed with a set of 11m wind turbines. Resembling overgrown mobile power towers? Owner Robert Rockefeller, recent president of the Property Council in Tasmania, also wants to add wind to the ANZ building in Elizabeth Street.
20.06.09 in sustainability
Split that McMansion
Sydney crew Reincarnated McMansion aim to take one willing McMansion to pieces and reassemble it into “two best practice, zero emissions green homes”. Best of luck.
19.06.09 in sustainability
green roofs
This one slipped past the radar. A competition (now closed – hopefully someone saw it) for the green roof designs for three existing Melbourne buildings. It has been organised by the mysterious Committee of Melbourne, and there was an article in The Age, buried in the business section.
02.05.09 in sustainability competitions
First Rate 4 kaput
For those many architects able to assess energy efficiency with First Rate version 4, your licence expires tomorrow. It’s 5 or nowt now. Seems they are trying to reduce the number of assessors by making everything expensive – like the required training course. One more external consultant to add to the list?
29.04.09 in sustainability practice
Architecture, Hot and Cold
A detailed technological review of Melbourne’s 6 star Council House 2 (CH2), designed by the City of Melbourne in house Architectural design team in Association with Designinc and Mick Pearce.
14.02.08 in reviews sustainability
Architect / protaganist: