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Green home designs in Australia reduce the impact on the environment. Use eco friendly materials in your green home designs in Australia.
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Green Home Designs

Green home designs use recycled materials which conserve energy, are renewable resources and its manufacture reduce the impact on the environment. There are few suggestions you may want to use when you are building a new house with green home design in mind, or taking steps to make your current home as green as possible.

Green Home Designs - Eco Friendly Roofing

An aluminum metal roofing is one of the best choices for green home design:
It is made from recycled materials and can be continually recycled. Aluminum is a radiant heat barrier, and will not hold heat, lowering air conditioning costs.
Use light colored roof for your green home design, if you live in a warm climate year round. It reflect the sun.
Use dark colored roof for your green home design, if you live in a cold climate most of the year. It absorb the heat from the sun.

Green Home Designs - Eco Friendly Cladding

Eco friendly cladding for your green home design include materials such as:

wood,
rendering (stucco),
aluminum

Green home design should not use PVC vinyl. It is not a recyclable material. PVC vinyl and its production releases toxins.

Green Home Designs - Energy Efficient Windows and Doors

Choose wood over aluminum for windows and doors for your green home designs. It is more energy efficient and is a renewable resource.
Use a solid front door for your green home design. Do not use front door with a window if you really want to save on energy costs.
For green home design place large windows on the sides of the house where you have sun exposure. In the winter use dark colored lined curtains or blinds at night to keep the cold out.

Green Home Designs and Eco Friendly Flooring

Bamboo flooring is a great choice for your green home design. Bamboo is a highly renewable wood - takes only 60 days to grow. An oak tree takes 60 years to replace. Bamboo flooring is durable and looks good.

Green Home Designs and Eco Friendly Heating

Green home designs choices for eco friendly heating include:

Solar panels in green home designs - is one of the best ways to heat your home.
Natural gas the most environmentally friendly after solar as it emits the least pollutants.
You can use oil or electric heating as a last option.

Green Home Designs and Eco Friendly Cooling

Use fans for cooling in your green home design. Fans are the cheapest mechanical coolers with the smallest impact on green gases.
Evaporative coolers are really the second choice for energy efficient homes. It is a combination of a fan and a cool air produced from evaporation.
Choose an Energy Star qualified central air conditioner for your green home design. It use up to 20 percent less energy than standard new central air conditioners.

Green Home Designs - Energy Saving Water Heaters

Use solar water heaters in your green home designs. They collect energy from the sun, use it to heat water and significantly reduce heating costs.

There are tankless water heaters which you can use in your green home designs. They have number of advantages:

Tankless water heaters only heat water as you demand it.
They can save you up to 75 percent on your energy bill (you are not paying for hot water to sit idle in a tank).
Tankless water heaters provide unlimited supply of hot water.
They last twice as long as regular water heaters.

Green Home Designs and Eco Friendly Fireplaces

There are 2 choices for fireplaces in your green home designs: natural gas fireplaces or wood burning fireplaces.

Natural gas fireplaces appears to be the better option. Wood burning fireplaces add pollutants into the atmosphere. Wood is a renewable resource, but it is becoming a scarce resource.

Green Home Designs and Safe House Painting

The most environmentally friendly paints to use for house painting are natural paints which use plant oils, extracts and minerals. Paints can release low levels of toxins called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air we breathe. Use low VOC or zero VOC paint in your green home designs.

Green Home Designs and Environmentally Safe Piping

Do not use PVC vinyl in green home design piping. It is not a recyclable material. PVC vinyl and its production releases toxins.

For underground pipes in your green home designs use clay as an alternative to PVC vynyl which is used largely in piping. Clay is a natural resource and will last 5 times longer than PVC.

For above ground piping (such as gutters) instead of PVC use materials including:

zinc,
copper,
galvanized steel
aluminum

Green Home Design Criteria

Things to consider for green home design are:

Quality of Insulation
Green Building Materials
Orientation of the house
Glazing
Shading
Climate Design

The Energy Efficient Houses Require

To make your green home design energy efficient you need to plan for:

Passive Heating and Cooling
Passive Water Usage
Passive Light
Surroundings

Healthy Home and Healthy Life

Again, as a first home buyer of a brand new home green home design may seem to be secondary. However, Australians emit 550 million tonnes of greenhouse gases every year.

This means that the price of reducing global warming will eventually fall on consumers (i.e. home owners like yourself!)

There are many factors of green home design to consider for a healthy home. Generally healthy homes are also energy efficient homes. However, it is the surrounding environment which holds the key. The location, the soil, the vegetation, and the type of area planning are all vital for the healthy house.

The new estates follow strict standards as to the location of the area. City council monitors developments and they are held liable for any mistakes. This does not mean that council will always ensure the healthy environment in new developments with green home designs.

If you could not find the information you are after on this web site - let use know!
Our experts would be glad to help you.

What to Avoid in Green Home Design

For green home designs avoid power lines in the vicinity of your house. Officially a radius of 5 meters from the main power lines is sufficient. However, you can easily detect with the flux meter that 100 meters or more would be more acceptable.

When chosing the lovcation of green home design home avoid trains closeby. It is not just the noise but also the overhead high power lines which pose the health risk. Remember, both main grid and the train lines carry 50-60Hz high voltage electricity of which flux is easily absorbed by the human body.

In green home designs be aware of loose soil under foundations. Light sandy soil is great for all your lemon trees. It does not go well with the foundations.

Combustion products are not compatible with green home designs. If you live close to factories ensure proper ventilation of your home. Design of climate control is also vital in this situation. Ask experts about wall vents and seals.

Heavy metals should not be used in green home designs. Unfortunately, heavy metals are all around us. In the cities the lead is still a common problem. Wooden or laminated flooring will allow for easy vacuuming of heavy metals. Also, floor mats next to doors will accumulate heavy metals before these are brought home with shoes. It is a simple way to accumulate these pollutants away from living areas.

Renovations that use green home designs should be done with proper expertise. This is not just about not having the planning permit (which most of us fear that the council will find out about it). Neither it is about not getting hurt during home renovations. However, there maybe asbestos product build into the structure of the house. Once disturbed it poses serious health problems.

Rules of green home designs do not appreciate a cup-shaped landscape or the location at the bottom of the hill. Any house location which will accumulate water poses health problems and a damage to the property.

Using these simple check points you will be able to improve the green home design of yout home.

Green Home Design - What to Provide

Choose the evaporative cooling over the standard air condition. The evaporative cooling is more natural and healthy. Air condition is more effective to cool your house but it substantially dries the air. Also with the air condition all doors and windows need to be closed (bad for ventilation). The evaporative cooling requires that doors and windows are open.

Provide a crashed rock (or river pebbles) around the outside walls of your house. Most new homes have termite protection. This method further protects houses against these pests.

Remember, your council can inform you about your surrounding area. This includes vegetations, rural planning, urban planning, bush fires and many others.