An interview with a landlord who asked the question ‘Would I want my children living here?’.
Judy Pemberton has insulated using the Warm Up NZ scheme and her local council scheme which allowed her to pay the bill through her rates. She says doing the right thing is a value.
Straight from Statistics NZ… Thirty-eight percent of those disabled people in rented homes said they have difficulty heating, Stats NZ said today.
The rate for non-disabled people in rented housing was 27 percent. Difficulty staying warm was less common for disabled people who live in an owner-occupied home at about 20 percent.
New research has found the toxins produced by mould sprouting in the damp corners of your house can also become airborne.
The discovery could help explain what is referred to as “sick building syndrome”, a broad collection of symptoms that appear to increase in severity the longer a person occupies a room or building.
Tell your clients …The Government will extend the eligibility for home insulation grants to include low-income home owners, landlords and high health need tenants.
The Warm Up New Zealand Healthy Homes insulation grants, will provide 50 per cent of the cost of ceiling and underfloor insulation for those already eligible.
They have until end June 2018 to take up the offer.
The homes had to be warm and dry: they use coloured galvanised steel internal and external panel with 70mm of bonded insulation, called PIR Panel. Panels used for the roof have 100mm of insulation.
As well as the bonded wall and ceiling insulation, the House It cabins, studios and homes also have underfloor insulation.
The government hoped its two-year $18 million ‘Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes’ programme would lead to 20,000 more homes being made warm and dry. One year in, only 3700 homes have been insulated using the subsidy.
The programme splits the cost of providing ceiling and underfloor insulation in rentals occupied by low-income New Zealanders between landlords and the government – typically they pay about $1500 each.
Registrations for Homestar have risen from 670 to 6,700 since 2014. Homestar was introduced by the council in 2011 to give the property industry a sustainability ”stamp of approval,” and a new, improved version is due for release at the end of July.
Sistine Solar joins the race to make rooftop solar systems more visually appealing — a factor, along with cost, that has been holding back adoption.
The new start up, out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has developed roof-mounted panels which feature a graphic interlayer that can display an image — such as that of roof shingles, grass, a company logo or a flag — without impacting performance.
Non-profit research institute Motu Economics looked at the first 45,000 homes retrofitted with insulation under the Warm Up NZ Programme, and found the scheme had a 6:1 benefit-to-cost ratio.
Motu Economics senior fellow Arthur Grimes said the research showed retrofitting insulation prevented one death for every 1000 homes insulated.
The healthy building movement is getting traction – it won’t surprise HPAs or EDAS!
Talks about the key drivers being indoor air, more natural light, active design (eg encouraging people to use stairs), bringing the outdoors indoors, and building for resilience.
Read more http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/urban-expeditions/green-buildings/surprising-ways-green-buildings-improve-health-sustainability/
