CORA would encourage Wellingtonians to support the Friends of Baring Head who are fundraising through Million Metres Streams with the assistance to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Their mission is to plant 5,000 native plants and trees along 550 metres of the Wainuiomata River in 2019. This is the second year of a 10 year … Continue reading Million Metres fundraise for Baring Head habitat restoration
Category Archives: General
The Passive House Conference – personal impressions As a lay person, attending the Passive House Conference in Christchurch was a daunting prospect. After all, the Passive House system relies heavily on data, modelling and real science (yes physics!), an approach which is hard for me to get my intuitive and non-scientific brain around. However, the … Continue reading The South Pacific Passive House Conference and Trade Show Christchurch, 04-05 March 2017
Overview Passive House (PH) is a tried and true performance standard for building extremely low energy buildings. The up-front costs are easily absorbed over the life time of the building because expensive plant is significantly reduced and does not require as much maintenance / replacement. Many parts of Europe have a requirement for all their … Continue reading The benefits of social housing to passive house standard
Why do we settle for so little when it comes to buying a house — the single biggest purchase most of us will ever make? I’m an American engineer. I grew up with winters in the North-East, where the snow can be two metres deep. We know about cold; and we know how to insulate … Continue reading Don’t settle for ‘code’
Anne Rowe – January 25, 2016 We have the knowledge and materials to build outstanding new homes—but the fact is most New Zealanders are going to continue to live in our existing housing stock. We can retrofit older homes in order to provide better health and energy efficiency, and really we should be doing so. … Continue reading A villa retrofit case study
With double-glazing now required in new homes, awareness is growing of its value and more older homes are being retrofitted with double-glazing. It’s not a cheap improvement and sadly, many people are making bad choices that won’t perform well. There are many different types of double glazing. The better performing ones: Are argon-filled. Argon is … Continue reading Retrofitting? How to choose double-glazing.
what is a Passive House? The Passive House building standard originated in Europe 25 years ago, and despite what uninformed critics might say, it’s an approach to building which is entirely able to be applied to construction projects in New Zealand. If you’re thinking about a new build or a significant renovation, it’s really worth … Continue reading Passive house: A new way to create better NZ homes
The Passive House (or in German, Passivhaus) concept is new here and not widely understood. It’s a building standard entirely relevant to New Zealand conditions. Here’s a general introduction. In this post, I want to clear up some of the misconceptions I hear about Passive House. We don’t need that here — it’s designed for … Continue reading Some of what you hear about Passive House is wrong
40,000 children a year are hospitalised with poverty- and housing-related illnesses. Children are dying due to poor-quality housing in New Zealand, according to the former Children’s Commissioner Russell Wills.I’m very glad that in recent years there’s been a lot more attention given to the link between cold, damp housing and health. I grew up in … Continue reading Let’s raise our expectations