Sustainable Features

A Blue Eco Home offers a wide range of sustainable features that can be specifically tailored to your individual requirements – depending on your lifestyle, ongoing maintenance and budgetary needs.

The full range of sustainable features included in our landmark Blue Eco home at Winmalee in the Blue Mountains are set out below:

Landscaping

• Minimal clearing of vegetation for building works (and bushfire protection, where relevant)
• Where possible, all cleared vegetation mulched on-site, and re-used for landscaping and remedial works.

Passive Heating & Cooling

• The home is aligned along a West-East axis for maximum solar exposure and control
• Concrete slab floor (suspended and insulated) to absorb the sun’s warmth during the day and release during the evening
• Glazing and overhangs are designed to allow maximum sun entry for winter heating and minimum entry of summer sun
• Larger openings to North, smaller openings to South, to reduce winter heat loss
• Door and louvre window openings are placed to provide ventilation cross through rooms
• Highlight windows can be opened to allow venting of heat in summer
• Double glazing to all fixed windows to retain heat in winter
• Roof, wall & floor insulation (customised to suit design & materials requirements)
• Slab edge insulation.

Active Heating & Cooling

• Hydronic in-slab heating system. Hot water supplied by evacuated tube collectors (80%) and supplemented by gas boiler (20%)
• Ceiling fans (reversible) in living areas and bedrooms.

Water Saving

• Rainwater is collected from all roofs, screened and stored in tanks around the house
• Water is used in a “whole of house” system (e.g. drinking water is UV-filtered)
• Water in all tanks is also available (where required) for bushfire fighting.

Waste Water Treatment & Re-use

• All waste water from the house, both black and grey water, is re-used via two systems
• Black water system (Nova Clear) irrigates lawns and gardens and can also be used for toilet flushing
• Grey water system (Nova Grey) is used for laundry, toilet flushing and general external use.

Renewable Energy

• Photovoltaic (PV) system, grid interactive (this will provide most, if not all, of the home’s electricity supply requirements).

Building Materials

• Recycled beams used for sub-floor structure
• Concrete blocks used instead of bricks (lower embodied energy)
• Low formaldehyde HMR board used for fit-out
• All timber is plantation grown or recycled.

Windows & Glazing

• All windows are a combination of fixed glazing (double glazed, Low E glass) and louvered panels
• Aluminium frames (low maintenance, recyclable).

Lighting

• A combination of LED and CFL light fittings to reduce energy consumption
• All lighting wired to CBus smart wiring system.

Paints & Floor Coverings

• Water-based, low VOC (volatile organic compound) paints used throughout the house
• Tiled floors for thermal mass, low maintenance and low dust.

Other Sustainable Features

All building debris/ rubbish sorted on site and dealt with as follows:

• Steel: recycled or re-used
• Gyprock: re-used for clay breaker on gardens
• Timber: off-cuts re-used
• Cardboard and paper: recycled
• Other debris: sent to landfill.