Over a building’s life, greener is also cheaper

IN the construction industry, the accepted wisdom is that eco-friendly translates as hip-pocket hostile.

Perth-based engineer Richard Haynes disagrees. Last month, he launched eTool – web-based software that figures out the full greenhouse impact of your new home or renovation.

Both he and his collaborator, Alex Bruce, were surprised by the results when they tallied the long-term costs and impacts of different building materials.

“The most interesting thing we’ve discovered using eTool is that there’s a good relationship between sustainability and prices. Now, even if I was making purely economic decisions, I’d choose many things that are very sustainable, just to save on the costs,” he says.

The reason green products are often cheaper over their life cycle, Mr Haynes says, is because of the higher replacement and maintenance expenses of many conventional products. But those costs normally remain hidden.

Internal fittings and finishes, such as floor coverings, paint and plaster can eat up a hefty portion of a home’s carbon pie, over its lifetime. “When you build, the embodied energy of the carpet might only be five per cent of the carbon emissions, but if you re-carpet every ten or fifteen years, it becomes significant – and in a cost sense as well,” he says.

Similarly, a low-embodied energy rammed-earth wall that doesn’t need painting could prove cheaper than double-brick and plaster, even if it costs more to begin with.

The eTool software is free for householders. It uses life cycle assessment to provide an estimate of the building’s carbon footprint and its likely costs, both upfront and ongoing.

It takes into account the energy that goes into manufacturing the materials, as well as transportation, assembly and maintenance. The program also considers the energy required to run the home once construction is complete, by combining the building’s star rating with extra factors, including the lighting, hot water and heating systems, and the number of occupants.

“We’re engineers, so we’re all about quantifying,” Mr Haynes says. “But our motto is to be vaguely right, not precisely wrong. Any life cycle assessment could be out by a third, due to the differences in the way people operate the same house.”

Based on his research for eTool, however, he has clear advice for anyone considering a building project.

“The best thing you can do is to increase the design life of the home,” he says. “It’s an unfortunate reality in Australia that the vast majority of buildings get demolished for fashion or economic reasons, rather than the building envelope wearing out.”

So how can you prolong your home’s longevity?

Mr Haynes suggests investing in top-notch design, opting for higher density, or renovating instead of rebuilding.

“Better design means the home has a more timeless quality. It will be appealing well into the future,” he says. “And if you can surpass the average density for your suburb then it’s likely your building will be a lower priority for redevelopment.”

Renovating extends the lifespan of the existing home, but for long-term energy savings, you have to do it with passive solar design and energy efficiency measures in mind.

“By preserving the structure, you’re preserving that embodied energy,” Mr Haynes says. “You can make an enormous difference to the aesthetic value and liveability of your house by renovating.”

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Meet a city community that combines high-density living with open space.

SIX years ago, Jo Thomas moved into Adelaide’s CBD – but not into a lonely, city shoebox. She moved into Christie Walk, a residential development on the site of an old bottle-recycling depot. On land the size of about three suburban blocks, there are now 27 apartments and townhouses.

“I work long hours in my job as a doctor and when I first came here my daughter was still at school,” she says. “Her grandparents lived here too and she really liked being close to them, but she also had a lot of other people around, with diverse interests. It was good company for her.”

Christie Walk is included in a new book by American architect Ross Chapin, called Pocket Neighbourhoods: creating small scale community in a large scale world.

In a pocket neighbourhood, Mr Chaplin says, houses or apartments are grouped around shared open space, which can be a courtyard, a lively pedestrian street, or even conjoined backyards. There, residents will meet by chance and children can play safely.

Dr Thomas believes living at high density would be much more difficult without that kind of design. “We can stop and chat if we feel like it, or share a meal in the community room,” she says. “We know each other, but we have our own private space and dwellings. It’s the best of both worlds.

Despite a narrow, awkwardly shaped block, the layout of Christie Walk feels open and lively. There’s no driveway through the site. Instead, plants cover about a third of the space, including a deep rooftop garden and a vegie patch. The buildings also far exceed the minimum efficiency standards; residents’ utility bills come in at one-third to one-half of the state’s average.

Urban Ecology, an advocacy organisation founded by Christie Walk residents, has just released a short film and information pack, a decade after they ran their first site tour.

The project’s architect – and a former resident – Paul Downton, says the group set out to inspire better cities.

“We wanted to build something that recognised the city as a positive thing: not a problem to run away from, but a solution to walk towards,” he says.

“In terms of making great places to live, conventional development has missed the point completely. The pocket neighbourhood idea is a way of putting people back in touch with each other without rubbing their noses in it.”

Mr Downton says the idea of “connection” was a key to the design. “You can do it anywhere and everywhere. It comes back to recognising what humans are all about: we are not consumers,” he says. “Development should be about making us better able to enjoy life and connect with each other and the natural environment. Those are big aspirations, but they’re achieved through tweaks at the immediate, local level.”

The scope for this kind of change isn’t limited to new projects. In existing neighbourhoods, a good way to remove social barriers is to keep our physical barriers low.

“If you’ve got a six-foot fence out the front and you can’t see the street, you’re not going to make much connection there. Or compare backyards that are sealed off with ones where the kids can still see each other and ask each other to play,” he says. “Little changes can make a big difference to relationships.”

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Why cycling will get you fit and green

BRUNSWICK resident Rosy Strong rides her bike to work in Richmond. “It means I don’t have to think too much about exercise or going to the gym out of hours,” she says. “My ride to work becomes my hour of daily activity.”

Around the offices of Bicycle Victoria, says Bart Sbeghen, they call this “the extra Tim Tam factor”.

“A lot of people ride for convenience and then they realise they’ve got the health benefit. An extra Tim Tam a day – it’s all justified,” he says.

Mr Sbeghen says there’s been a steady rise in commuter cycling numbers around Australia. “Riding to work just keeps going up and up, especially in the capital cities. Melbourne’s inner-north has almost one in five people riding to work. And the number of cyclists on Swanston Street lately is equivalent to more than 40 trams a day. It’s getting to be like a European city.”

If climate change is a diabolical policy problem, then cycling is one of the saintly solutions. Pedal pushing is an antidote for several modern ills, from greenhouse gas emissions, air and noise pollution, and traffic congestion, to obesity and social isolation.

“It’s a big cost saving too,” Mr Sbeghen says. “In some cases, people can give up the second car, or their monthly public transport ticket.”

But while inner-city residents can cruise on easy streets – especially in Melbourne’s north, which has a web of bike lanes – the roads are rougher for cyclists elsewhere.

Mr Sbeghen is working on design guidelines for new housing estates to make sure developers consider the needs of bike riders, such as direct links to shops, schools and public transport. With smarter planning, he says, cycling can fit in with local errands or make up one leg of a longer commute for people in middle- and outer-ring suburbs.

“Not all jobs are in the city, and shops and schools are always local,” he says. “Trips of between two and five kilometres are in the sweet spot where riding beats any other way of getting about.”

To find out about cycling in your area, contact your local Bicycle Users Group. On its website, Bicycle Victoria has a long list of BUGs and cycling clubs. “They’re popping up everywhere,” Mr Sbeghen says. “BUGs are independent and they talk to local politicians about what they want. It’s making for a much healthier city.”

If you’re hesitant about getting into the saddle, consider cycle safety training. Ms Strong’s business, Bikes@Work, runs regular courses for the Darebin, Booroondara and Whitehorse councils, as well as for individuals.

She says the idea of riding in traffic can be intimidating. “One rider said to me, ‘In a car, you’ve got metal wrapped around your skin, but on a bicycle, it’s skin wrapped around metal.’ People feel there’s a lack of protection.”

But that sense of vulnerability can become a strength, if you ride with it in mind. Ms Strong advises bike riders to use lots of lights and reflectors. “And you need to be looking around you all the time, observing and anticipating what could happen,” she says.

“Position yourself in a predictable, visible place on the road. Keep a metre out from the kerb or from parked cars – never assume drivers will watch for cyclists before they open their door.”

Read this article at The Age online