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S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S

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Living Machine storm water overflow

Buried telecom connection line

White sandstone pervious driveway

Native evergreens to shade southwindows and inverter

Deciduous trees to shade eastwindows in summer

Deciduous trees to shade west sun in summer

2m high recycled AAC block wall to actas windbreak against winter winds

Deciduous trees to assist as windbreak against winter winds

Workshop sewer drain

Mains water connection

Living Machine greenhouse

Mains electricity connection

Overhead electricityMains gas (underground)Mains water (underground)Mains sewerage (underground)Electricity (underground)Water (underground)Sewerage (underground)Telecommunications (underground)Telecommunications pit

Living Machine sewer overflow

N

Winter winds

Summer evening winds

SITE PLAN1:200

BENJAMIN STREET

CA

LLE

RY

CR

ES

CE

NT

the low winter sun during the day to

Tall, slender windows that reach the ceilingallow for light to penetrate deep into thefloor plate, while preventing air leakagesdue to being fixed, and preventing west and east morning and evening direct summer light entering the rooms

Short, wide vertical sliding sash windowsopen to floor level to allow cool summerevening air, which has been cooled evenfurther having crossed the garden toenter the house

Fixed window above door

TYPICAL WALL AND FOOTING DETAIL1:50

temperatures

Vertical sliding sash operable windowsopen to ceiling height allowing hot air toescape, aided by cool southerly summerevening winds

Double entry solid core wood doors acts as airlock, preventing heat from escaping or entering living areas during winter andsummer respectively

Internal brick walls and concrete floor actas a thermal mass, absorbing heat from

release it at night

HOUSE PLAN1:50

B&D Enviropanel insulated door systemallows workshop to be used at comfortable

Winter solstice solar noon angle

Concrete floor and internal brick wall act as thermal mass

Summer solstice solar noon angle

Eave overhang blocks light entering the building

Cross flow ventilation

Garden beds planted against ground level bedroomwindows on the southern elevation assist to cool

evening summer winds

Continuous insulation throughout building envelope

Plasterboard exterior claddingpainted with UV reflective paint

Dupont Tyvek HomeWrap

R2.5 Batt insulation andSisalation in recycled steel frame

Sisalation facing brickwork

50mm cavity

Recycled brick reverse veneer

Continuous rigid phenolic foamperimeter slab insulation

COLORBOND Coolmax steel roofing

50mm cavity

Sisalation facing cavity

R3.5 batt insulation

Distribution box

ELECTRICAL,LIGHTING AND

COMMUNICATIONSPLAN1:50

Hanging light fixture fitted with 10W LED globe

Downlight fitted with 3W LED globe

IR heat lamp

Smoke alarm

Exhaust fan

Single light switch

Double light switch

Triple light switch

Double power point

Weatherproof double power point

Wireless router

RJ45 Ethernet port

Hydronic panel heater set into timberfixture against window sill

Underground telecom connection totelecom pit

RJ12 telecom connection in closet

12 roof mounted Solahart 240W series PV panels

Solahart 2500HF inverter

Upstream and downstream electricity meters, allowing feed-in tariff

Underground mains electricity connection

All internal telecom cables paired withNBN compliant cabling

In-wall and in-ceiling electrical wiring

Underground electrical wiring

DC electrical wiring

RJ12 telecom cabling in skirting and door frames

RJ45 Category 7 Ethernet cabling in skirting and doorframes

Convection diagram

Hydronic heater not only acts as a radiant heat source,but circulates rising convective heat as it meets falling air cooled by the window into the space of the room

WATER SUPPLY PLAN1:50

Roof-mounted Solahart LSCS 302 series thermosiphon

Steibel Eltron DEL Instantaneoius 3 Phase In-lineelectric water heater

Water meter

Water pump for stored Living Machine treated water

Underground mains water connection

Copper 25mm nominal cold water piping

Copper 25mm nominal hot water piping with ThermotecE-flex Solar Hot Water Pipe Insulation

Connection for possible future installation of dishwasher

SEWER &STORMWATER PLAN

1:75

Semi-buried 1150 litre capacity aerobic tank

Overflow treated water sent to garden via soft piping

Semi-buried 1150 litre capacity clarifier tank

5300mm² wetland

5000 litre capacity storage tank

Pump room

Glasshouse

5000 litre capacity rainwater storage tank

Overflow rainwater sent to garden via soft piping

Workshop sink connected to sewer

Living Machine aerobic tank overflowconnected to sewer

100mm diameter PVC drains connected to tank

100mm diameter PVC waste water piping

25mm diameter nominal copper potable water piping

60mm diameter PVC rainwater piping

LOUNGE ROOM PLAN:NORMAL USE

1:30

LOUNGE ROOM PLAN:PARTY USE

1:30

Michael McLoughlin 538230

1

My intentions with this assignment were to create a green home holistically. With this as mind, I intended to not only use as many passive design tools as possible, but to use renewable resources for all active systems, for all waste to be dealt with on-site, and to select materials only after carefully considering the full lifecycle of the product.

Siting, orientation and design choices

To optimise passive design, the siting of the building is paramount. The house is sited to take maximum advantage of winter sun through its north windows into its living area. However, this leaves the home vulnerable to summer sun penetrating into the house. To combat this, the eaves are extended out on the northern elevation. The roof is pitched at such an angle that winter light would penetrate deep into the floor plate, while summer sun is entirely blocked from entering the building. The floor is bare concrete and the wall that the lounge and kitchen share is constructed in recycled brick, rather than stud frame, to act as a thermal mass. This interaction of the sun with the interior of the building can be seen clearly in the diagrams attached to the house plan. The building is devoid of east and west windows to deny morning and afternoon summer sun.

This north-south orientation also allows the house to take advantage of cool southerly winds on summer evenings. By placing operable windows at the base of the south elevation and at the ceiling of the northern elevation, not only does the building passively ventilate hot air, but received cross-ventilation when cool southerlies prevail. Garden beds are planted below the south elevation windows to assist in the cooling of these breezes. A brick wall is built on the north property boundary to diminish the impact of cold northerly and north-westerly winds hitting the house in winter.

While the trees already on site are taken full advantage of in shading, it is necessary to plant deciduous trees to assist in shading the house in summer months. Deciduous trees have the added benefit of providing shade in the summer, while losing their leaves in winter and allowing light to penetrate. Native evergreens are used to shade the inverter year round.

The grade of the site is taken advantage of by placing sewer drainage, as well as the Living Machine down grade from the house.

Material schedule

The house is designed with reverse recycled brick veneer walls with rich lime cement mortar, glasswool R2.5 batt insulation and Sisalation in a recycled steel frame, with UV reflective painted fibre cement cladding. Reverse brick veneer, unlike brick veneer, uses brick only as a temperature modulator once heat has penetrated the insulation layer. While brick veneer receives heat in the summer day and continues to radiate it at night, keeping the house warmer for longer, the bricks in a reverse brick veneer home only start to gain thermal energy after it has been diminished by insulation. Likewise, any heat generated inside the house, be it from active heating or passively from sunlight, will be stored in the reverse brick veneer during the day, to be radiated during the cold night; keeping the house warmer for longer. The slab, poured on waffle pods and containing recycled aggregate and rebar, is insulated with a layer of continuous rigid phenolic foam. This prevents thermal bridging with the soil. The roof is insulated with glasswool R3.0 batt insulation, a layer of Sisalation and clad with COLORBOND

Michael McLoughlin 538230

2

Coolmax steel: a light coloured steel designed to reflect radiant heat. Roof spaces are sealed to precent dust settling on Sisalation, thereby maximising its effectiveness. Effectively, the building envelope is insulated continuously throughout.

Recycled brick is chosen to keep the embodied energy and environmental impact of the building low. Glasswool batt insulation is chosen due to the relative harmlessness of the material compared to seemingly greener alternatives, such as animal and plant fibres. Such products have to be treated with poisons to protect them from biological attack. One has to think about the lifetime of the material in question and as such I would rather use a building material that only presents a safety hazard if handled incorrectly over something that will poison any landfill it eventually ends up in. Also, I would rather create a system that will be non-toxic at a higher embodied energy cost than poison materials and soils. In a perfect would, I would only select materials that could be recycled back into their constituent components and reused again as the same product: a cradle to cradle system; rather than just using products that can be recycled once or twice then end up in landfill.

Likewise, steel framing is chosen over timber stud framing for the same reason. Steel can be easily recycled into other products, or used again for new buildings. Whereas CCA or LOSP timber treatments introduce heavy metals, pesticides and fungicides into otherwise biological materials which will end their product lifecycle leeching these chemicals into the soil.

The house features 6/12/6 double glazing throughout, using approved timbers for framing, due to their comparatively low U-value compared to other framing materials, while all lintels are recycled steel.

All paints are water based low emission.

All hot water pipes are insulated with Thermotec E-flex Solar Hot Water Pipe Insulation

FirstRate

FirstRate is an incredibly easy program to satisfy, but hard to impress. Simple changes; such as making the walls reverse brick veneer, adding insulation to the slab, walls and roof, double glazing the windows and sealing gaps and cracks shot my rating up and over 6 stars very easily. It was in an effort to gain more points that I began to discover the limitations of the program. I had designed my roof pitch and north eave perfectly to allow the maximum winter light in while denying summer sun entirely, but FirstRate still wanted me to reduce the size of the eave to gain more points. This was a positive learning experience however, as it taught me to trust my own designs and calculations and to know the limitations of the programs I use to assist in these efforts.

Services

As part of the holistic approach to the green design of this home, onsite power generation, waste management and water production is necessary. Based on a water usage of 350 litres per person per day, a household of four would consume more water than would fall on the roof in rain per year. With this in mind, a micro Living Machine is implemented. At the specified sizes of tanks and wetlands (see the sewer and stormwater document), the Living Machine is able to supply the household with its daily water needs, with mains supplements only necessary in

Michael McLoughlin 538230

3

extended periods of frost. Any water not used by the household is fed into the garden, not only keeping the garden watered without introducing harsh chemicals from grey water, but also placing less of a burden on the city’s stormwater and sewerage systems. It may be possible to increase the cost efficiency of the Living Machine if bordering neighbours agreed to share the costs of the setup to share a larger system.

Based on the size of the family, a 2.2kW PV array is installed on the roof at a 75° angle to take full advantage of the summer sun and thus generate the maximum amount of power. This results in a diminished ability to generate power in the winter, but as this house is not disconnected from the grid, the full-year viability of the system does not need to be considered. A solar hot water heater also joins the PV array on the roof; this system set at a 55° angle to get even sun throughout the year. An electric in-line booster was placed on the hot water line for especially dark days. Combined with an electric stove and oven, the house is not reliant on fossil fuels for its power sources; in the form of both burning gas on site, and coal fired electricity generated off site.

The telecom connection was placed centrally to maximise the efficiency of the wireless router. RJ12 cables are paired with NBN compliant cabling to allow easy upgrade once the NBN becomes available in the area. Ethernet ports were placed in the children’s bedrooms and lounge room to speed up the connection where speed is necessary in streaming data and videos. All Ethernet cables are installed along skirting boards and door frames to allow easy replacement in the event of a fault.

The placement of the small hydronic heater in the lounge will more than adequately warm the living areas on particularly cold and dark days when the passive systems mentioned earlier are not enough. Hydronic heaters have the advantage of not drying out the air they heat, and providing radiant as well as convective heating.

100mm PVC pipes are used for all sewerage piping to minimise blockages. 60mm pipes are used for greywater connections to main sewerage pipes.

The designer would recommend the family compost their own kitchen waste and consider getting chickens as well as growing their own food to create cradle to cradle system for some of their food supply.

SCORE: 56 POINTS

YOUR HOUSE ENERGY RATING IS: STARS 6

Name:

House Title: 04-08-2010

E:\RECTANGLE HOUSE

Date:

Reference:

Address:

FirstRate Report

Ref No:

in Climate: 21

This rating only applies to the floor plan, construction details, orientation and climate as submitted and included in the attached Rating Summary. Changes to any of these could affect the rating.

HOUSEENERGY RATING

They do not affect the House Energy Rating of the dwelling.

NOTE: The appliance ratings above are based on information provided by the applicant and are included for information purposes only.

Appliance Ratings

HotWater:

Cooling:

Heating:

21-08-12 18:12:47 Ver:4.00 E:\RECTANGLE HOUSE.1RT