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Green Home Architecture
Monday, September 19th, 2011
Key Terms To Understanding Your Eco Friendly Home
You hear a lot of great ideas for designing and building an energy efficient and eco friendly home. From thermal mass and R-values, we break down some of the most important terms that are associated with your environmentally conceived home. So next time you pick up a green directory, try these terms on for size:
Passive Solar Design: A broad term used to describe non-mechanical design of the building’s infrastructure that allows regulation of internal temperature. Principles include orientation of room, location of windows and thermal mass (see below).
Thermal mass: is a material’s ability to store heat. Brick, stone and concrete have high thermal mass; glass and timber do not. Eco designers will strategically place these materials to create heat sinks that absorb heat in the winter and remain cool in the summer.
R – value: A measure of ‘thermal resistance’ or the material’s insulating properties. For example Pink Batts insulation has a measure of R1.5 while strawbale comes in at R4, meaning it retains heat better.
Cross ventilation: Breezes from the outside are naturally drawn into the home to help cool it down. In good design, windows will be positioned in line with each other on opposite walls to create the maximum cooling effect.
Double glazing: Two sheets of glass are sealed together to create a single glazed piece with an air space in between them that help trap heat between the two panes. The air pocket essentially acts as an insulating barrier.
Grey water: Waste water that comes from the laundry, shower, dishwasher and bathroom sink that can be collected and re-used in the garden. It does not include black water which comes from the toilet and kitchen sink.
For more great green building tips, look for the Green Pages, Australia’s leading directory for all things about the green home.
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