Sustainability imperatives are starting to drive business decisions and government policies. As solutions are sought to developing environmental assessments, it is important to know how much energy, water or chemical has gone into manufacturing a ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency of underlying principles in August 2018.  The disassembly of buildings to recover materials and components for future reuse is not widely practiced in the modern construction industry. This note ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in August 2018.  This note provides a background introduction to the lost art of designing for natural ventilation, and discusses some of the more useful rules of thumb. It considers the principal ...

Circulating fans are defined as a class of axial propeller fans, generally without an enclosing housing, and used for circulating air in a space. The energy-efficiency of circulating fans tends to increase with their size and reduction in their ...

Innovation in ventilation systems is becoming an increasingly popular and targeted topic of architectural discourse. Architects, consultants and contractors are introducing new products and proposing new systems, subject to client requests for an ...

Wood products are a staple of the construction sector, and are important in delivering environmentally preferable projects. However the sustainability of many wood products remains difficult to assess.  This note overviews key issues and considers ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in November 2018. The design of the Prasad house renovation evolved from a fusion of the owners’ commitment to green design, the needs of the occupants, and a staged experimental approach to ...

The Armstrong-Mobbs sustainable house is a celebrated case study of sustainable refurbishment of an inner-city terrace house. The owners, Michael Mobbs and Heather Armstrong, went to unprecedented lengths to integrate energy and water saving systems ...

This case study looks at the passive heating design principles adopted in a Tasmanian House, discusses the designers consideration of the interplay between solar aperture, insulation and thermal mass, and analyses the thermal performance for a week ...

This note was reviewed and approved for currency in September 2018. Sydney is not short of terraces and semis that have been completely reworked with a modernist treatment. They are filled with light, planned for contemporary living on small sites ...