HIGH PERFORMING HOUSES

A high performance house is one that is extremely energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and eco-friendly all at the same time.

Here at Eco Home Builders we advocate that all new builds and renovations should be designed using this high performance ethos.

High-performance houses are buildings that are designed and constructed to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. They are built using advanced materials, technologies, and design principles that enable them to use less energy and water, generate less waste, and have a smaller carbon footprint compared to traditional houses. High-performance houses may use advanced insulation, energy-efficient windows and appliances, and renewable energy sources such as solar panels to reduce their energy consumption. They may also be designed to be more durable and adaptable to changing weather conditions. In addition to being more sustainable, high-performance houses are often more comfortable and healthier to live in, with better indoor air quality and lighting.

How you want to adhere to this mantra is up to you. The balance can be upset easily as varying degrees of insulation and thermal breaking can inflate the builds affordability and potentially require to source offshore-made products to support thermal ratings. At one end of this scale is what has been known better internationally as a Passive House.

Passive House, simply put, is a building standard created in Germany that uses spreadsheets connected to algorithms to sculpt your houses design by adhering to certain energy use criteria and airtightness to produce an extremely energy efficient house. One that consumes little to no energy to keep the living spaces at a comfortable 20°C all year round. But to adhere to this strict grading system can be difficult to follow when trying to keep construction material costs low, eco-friendly and locally produced.

‘But to adhere to this strict grading system can be difficult to follow when trying to keep construction material costs low, eco-friendly and locally produced.’

The end result of a Passive House is without a doubt a superiorly insulated, energy-efficient house, but at what cost to the environment and to your pocket does it make to follow the international benchmark within New Zealand and better refined, Canterbury. We believe a balance between the benefits and mantra of a Passive House with the benefits and ethos of a high performance house needs to be struck. The key to this balance is in sourcing locally produced sustainable construction materials and keeping the build affordable.