Ideas & Advice
Avoiding the winter cold: Housing retrofits as a health intervention
As well as reducing your energy bills and your carbon footprint, upgrading your home’s building envelope can have a positive effect on your health and wellbeing. Health researcher Dr Toby Cumming explains.
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Ideas & Advice
The household gas dilemma
As Australia’s electricity grid greens, gas is losing its position as the cleaner and cheaper fuel choice for households. In fact, by installing gas appliances, many people are locking themselves into higher bills and emissions compared to choosing an all-electric home, as Renew’s ongoing research shows.
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Ideas & Advice
Are we aiming for the stars?
Two decades after the introduction of the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, an analysis looks at how we’re building, the Star ratings we’re achieving and what needs to change to deliver climate resilient homes.
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Ideas & Advice
Airtight design
If you’re planning to build an airtight home, it’s important that you also consider indoor air quality. We ask building scientist Jenny Edwards to tease out the issues around mechanical ventilation with heat recovery – including when it’s needed and when it’s not.
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Ideas & Advice
Light saviours: ways to upswitch your lighting
With so many lighting products to choose from, why are most homes – even sustainable ones – still so poorly lit? We ask three lighting luminaries for their advice on how to avoid the 'she'll be right' status quo.
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Ideas & Advice
Energy upgrade: From 1 to 7 Star
Danielle King and her partner were keen to find a way to measure the impact of their renovation, and she explains what they did to improve their 1 Star home into one with a 7 Star energy rating.
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Energy & appliances
Solar sizing latest: ‘Go big’ with your PV system
Wondering what size solar photovoltaic system to install? The latest ATA modelling shows that bigger is better, even if you don’t use much electricity.
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Energy & appliances
Case study: Energy renovation
Retrofitting a 0.8 Star brick veneer unit to achieve an 8.4 Star rating proved to be a savvy investment in energy efficiency and better health.
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Ideas & Advice
When do investments in energy efficiency pay off?
Energy efficiency can improve health and comfort and can be good for the hip pocket too. But at what point do retrofits start to pay off? We ask energy efficient housing experts Trivess Moore and David Whaley to find out.
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Ideas & Advice
Gas versus electric for heating, cooking and hot water
Should you select gas or electric to fuel your new cooktop, heating or hot water system? Renew energy analysts Keiran Price and Dean Lombard present the latest economic and environmental findings to help guide your decisions.
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Sustainable Design
Open source home automation
Designer Paul Hendy explains how he used the open standard KNX software to augment his passive solar home for ultimate comfort.
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