What are the differences between a conventional house and a sustainable home?
Inside – The inside of a sustainable house is just like a standard house with one main difference – it’s much healthier because less toxic building materials are used to improve air quality. This is good news for allergy and asthma sufferers. Outside – The major consideration is the use of the site to increase the comfort of the house on the inside. This includes the placement of windows, use of low embodied energy or “green” construction materials, and adopting passive design principles into the floor plan. Street appeal is important, but orientation to the site aids in capturing cooling breezes, the warming sun and rainwater harvesting. Deep eaves shade windows and doors reducing running costs by up to 60%. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions for environmental benefit, the Sustainable Home Toowoomba uses materials that are: • recycled e.g. external tiles & gravel; • from renewable local resources e.g. the cypress timber frame; and • require little energy to make (low embodied energy)
