If you are building or renovating a house or workplace, you can take steps to ensure the design is energy efficient.

A building can be designed to consider airflows, orientation, roof materials, solar panels, insulation, local climate, breezes, the sun and natural surroundings. The aim is to have a building that fulfils its purpose (such as a comfortable home or productive workplace) while reducing long-term energy needs.

One term for this approach is ‘Passive design’, where the building design works with the local climate to maintain a comfortable temperature. Doing this can result in low energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions over the whole lifespan of the building.

“With passive design, building features such as orientation, thermal mass, insulation and glazing work together to take advantage of natural sources of heating and cooling, such as sun and breezes, and to minimise unwanted heat gain and loss. It is best to use passive design principles when designing or building a new home, but many features of passive design can be added through renovations or simple home improvements.”
Your Home, Australian Government

You can also think about how the needs of owners/occupiers might change over time, and consider building in some degree of flexibility to allow for that (see an example of flexible design). Talk to your architect, builder or project manager about how to maximise space and flexibility, minimise materials and reduce energy needs for your project.

Save up to 2 tonnes of carbon for efficient design of a medium-sized home or business unit.

More information

• Green Street Badges: House design (household) and workplace design (business)
• Your Home – Australian Government guide to creating sustainable homes for the future
• Towards flexible, sustainable homes – insights from Bligh Graham Architects

“The need for flexible housing types is pressing given the issues of housing affordability … increasing numbers of people working from home, and the need to sustainably house a growing population.”
Bligh Graham Architects