Healthy House Profile

Date: 2000 - 2001
Client: Australian Building Energy Council

The Healthy House is an energy efficient, low toxicity family home located on the Gold Coast in South East Queensland, Australia.  Exergy recently completed a case study examining the design and operation of the home.  The case study was one of a series commissioned by the Australian Building Energy Council, investigating resource efficient buildings around Australia.
 

Exergy worked together with the house occupants and other members of the project team to profile aspects of the design and construction process, including:

• The impact of the house and landscaping on the surrounding environment;
• Embodied energy and toxicity of materials selected for the house, as well as the potential for materials re-use;
• Response of the design to local climate conditions, including airflow and solar gains

Exergy also collated energy, waste water, air quality data to assess the environmental and occupant-comfort performance of the house.

The case study identified that the house was performing well in most areas, but that some of the design goals were contradictory.  The case study is available on the ABEC website, located at www.abec.com.au.