Craft Homes Examine Whether Passive Houses Can Help Beat Climate Change

It has been estimated that buildings are directly and indirectly responsible for up to 20% of New Zealand’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. These emissions mostly come from using fossil fuels for heating and cooking and generating electricity for appliances and space and water heating, cooling and ventilation.

Buildings should be designed to minimise greenhouse gas emissions from energy use. Most importantly, passive design features can help to reduce energy use for heating, cooling, lighting and other activities. Over the life of a building, small gains in efficiency can add up to significant reductions in emissions. The 2016 Royal Society report found that greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced in the New Zealand residential and commercial building sectors through better energy management and improved minimum performance standards for appliances.

Emissions reductions can also result from improving insulation levels, retrofitting existing building stock, integrating renewable energy systems and supporting innovative ‘green building’ designs.

The impact of climate change will vary from region to region, and designers will need to consider incorporating passive solar design features to reduce the need for heating in winter and air-conditioning in summer. They should also be designing buildings with more shading in response to increased solar radiation, increasing structural design to deal with increased wind loading and designing buildings to make more use of natural ventilation.

Apart from the significant benefits to the environment of choosing sustainable building with Craft Homes, there are many advantages to you and your family simply by enhancing the efficiency of your home. There are many benefits of passive housing with regard to carbon footprints, and passive home builds make it much easier to achieve a zero-carbon build, with the addition of green energy.

​Design that harnesses natural warmth and light, use of superior insulation, and an emphasis on using energy and water efficient fittings and appliances gives you significant savings on running costs, so to find out more about passive house builders and green homes NZ please go to https://www.crafthomes.co.nz .