Your Home Technical Manual

Detail of LeafLink: Your Home Technical Manual. Australian Greenhouse Office

Information on how to design and build a more comfortable home that is less expensive to run while more environmentally friendly. Written by designers and builders, for designers and builders. Definitive tool for creating a home that is enjoyable to live in, cost effective and environmentally sensitive. Contains over 60 individual fact sheets.

Resources

Passive Design - Design that does not require mechanical heating or cooling. Takes advantage of natural energy flows to maintain thermal comfort.

Water Use - Good building design can greatly reduce the amount of water we use and the degree of contamination we cause.

Material Use - Careful analysis and selection of the materials used and the way they are combined can yield significant improvements in the comfort, cost effectiveness and energy efficiency of a home.

Energy Use - Greenhouse emissions from household energy use can be reduced through more efficient energy use of energy in our homes, and by obtaining energy from renewable energy sources.

Site Impacts - The local impacts on biodiversity from buildinga house can be minimised through erosion and sediment runoff control, and appropriate onsite landscaping using local plant species.

Community Orientation - A well designed house can enhance the visual character of its street, and help make it more secure. A house located near an urban centre and close to public transport reduces household car dependency and encourages community interaction.

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