Beacon Pathway Limited

Presentation by Lois Easton Beacon Pathway Limited

“The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that we were at when we created them” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

Beacon’s Focus

Creating homes and neighbourhoods that work well into the future

and don’t cost the Earth

Beacon’s Objectives

• To bring the vast majority (90%) of NZ homes to a high standard of sustainability by 2012

• Every new subdivision and any redeveloped subdivision or neighbourhood from 2008 onwards to be developed with reference to a nationally recognised sustainability framework

Challenge: how to bring about mass change in a short time?

The Scale of the Challenge

• 1.7 million homes in NZ

(1 million pre-1979)

• 25,000 built each year

• 7,000 demolished

Affecting 90% of homes requires a major emphasis on retrofit

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New Zealand’s Third World Housing Stock

• New Zealand’s housing stock has a reputation for being cold and damp.

• New Zealand has one of the highest levels of asthma and bronchial diseases in the world (1 in 6 people have asthma)

• Over a million of our houses were built before 1979 - the first full year when insulation was mandatory in new houses

• 30% of houses have an average living room evening temperature below 16°C The average winter bedroom temperature in pre-1979 houses is 13.2°C and in post-1979 houses 14.5°C.

Beacon’s High Standard of Sustainability

• Setting benchmarks at the house level for new and retrofitted homes

– Energy– Water– IEQ– Waste– Materials

• Benchmarks based on theoretical calculations verified by real life research data (eg BRANZ HEEP Project, NOW HomesTM) where this exists

• Benchmarks have been set within a context of affordability and future flexibility

High Standard of Sustainability – Draft Benchmarks

The benchmarks set represent:

• a 25% reduction in energy use in new homes;

• a 15% reduction in energy use in existing homes;

• a 25% reduction in water use in both new and existing homes;

• Average indoor environment temperatures which meet the World Health Organisation minimum standards;

• adequate ventilation without excessive draughts;

• provision for waste minimisation during construction, renovation and operation of homes;

• consideration of sustainability issues in the choice of materials used for construction or renovation of homes.

High Standard of Sustainability Benchmark - Water

Per Capita Residential Water Consumption (litres per day)

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Min. required for survival (5 litres)

Auckland Region (300 litres)

Germany 1995 (132 litres)

High Standard of Sustainability (180 litres)

Wellington City (451 litres)

Water reduction target set by Kapiti Coast District (400 litres)

Christchurch City (355 litres)

Kapiti CoastDistrict (600 litres)

Queenstown (700 litres)

Now HomesTM Project

•NOW HomesTM hypothesis• Using current technology and knowledge it is possible

to build a home significantly more sustainable than current new housing for a price that is affordable to most New Zealanders

• Two NOW HomesTM have been built in Waitakere (Energy Climate Zone 1) and Rotorua

• Homes are occupied by “normal” families with no special training

• Homes are monitored against a Beacon’s High Standard of Sustainability

Waitakere NOW HomeTM

• 3 bedroom home

• House size 146m2

• House built for $214,000

• Construction waste significantly less than that produced by normal new home (2.5 tonnes vs 4 tonnes)

• 4 person household (2 adults, 2 children)

• Average income – and full range of appliances

Waitakere NOW HomeTM

• Have undertaken physical monitoring of key features (energy, water use, temperature, humidity) as well as monthly occupancy surveys

• Preliminary 12 month data in – 25% less energy use and 65% less reticulated water use per capita than homes in the surrounding area

• Occupants find the home warmer, drier and healthier than previous housing experiences -mean winter temperatures in bedrooms and living room exceed World Health minimum standards

Rotorua NOW HomeTM

• Is a collaboration with Housing New Zealand so affordability was a key consideration

• 3 bedroom home • 141 m2 (plus concrete deck)• Built for $180,000• Was tenanted in October and will be monitored for two

years

Retrofit NOW HomesTM Project – Types of Homes

•10 “ordinary” homes in Papakowhai, Wellington selected

•A range of house types with a range of different typologies (skillion roofs, conrete floors, suspended floors, cavity roofs etc)

•From an era which is know to be difficult to retrofit for energy efficiency, but represents about 10% of NZ housing stock

Papakowhai Retrofit NOW HomesTM

Project

• Pre retrofit monitoring has been undertaken for 6 months

• Energy, Waste and IEQ retrofits in Feb-March

• Water retrofits in July

• Have modelled theoretical cost benefits and will compare with actual data

• Will monitor homes for 18 months post retrofit to capture “take back” in efficiency gains

Conclusions

• New homes are easily able to be developed which use substantially less resources in their construction and operation than “standard” New Zealand homes – at no greater cost

• Waitakere and Rotorua NOW HomesTM are being used to provide real life data verification of efficiencies able to be achieved

• Papakowhai Retrofit NOW HomesTM project seeks to verify benchmarks for retrofitted homes

• Technology is not the issue – what is needed is engagement by home owners with the performance of their dwelling and ways to improve it

Beacon Research Funders

NOW HomeTM Suppliers

• CHH Woodproducts

• Climate

• Dimond

• Eco Block

• EECA

• Energy Options

• Fisher and Paykel

• Fletcher Aluminium

• Gib Plasterboard

• G J Gardner

• Glover Real Estate

•Housing New Zealand

•Kresta

•Nulook

•Pilkingtons Glass

•Placemakers

•Resene

•Ross Roofing

•Solar Genius

•Tasman Insulation

•The Laminex Group