While looking for examples of sustainable houses in New Zealand I stumbled across a few useful websites that I’d like to share.
Living big in a tiny house
This site posts videos and blogs about people living in tiny houses in New Zealand. http://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com
Zero energy house
This house was built in 2012 in Auckland and the website gives a lot of information on the choices they made in achieving their zero energy goal. http://zeroenergyhouse.co.nz
First passive house
Jessop Architects designed and managed the build of the first certified Passive House in Australasia in 2014. http://jessoparchitects.co.nz/passive-house/. Based on the need they saw for low energy, sustainable, healthy, affordable and durable homes they developed the Coolhouse range of prefab homes http://coolhouse.co.nz.
10 Homestar home
The first 10 homestar home was built in 2015 in Tauranga. http://www.ecostarhomes.co.nz/showhome
Ideal House
Another house built with high standards for energy efficiency. The website has blogs and graphs of the energy performance. https://idealhousenz.wordpress.com
Climate house
A highly energy efficient home built with structural insulated panels (SIP’s) in Otago. After building the home they started manufacturing SIP panels and they are the only manufacturers in New Zealand of SIP’s. http://www.climatehouse.co.nz, http://www.nzsip.co.nz
Superhomes
After the earthquakes in Christchurch there is a lot of building going on and a lot of initiatives to build better, more comfortable, sustainable, healthy homes. The superhomes are one of them with information on their website of different homes and types of construction. http://www.superhome.co.nz
Rammed earth homes on Maori land Ahipara
Near Kaitaia in Ahipara off grid rammed earth homes are being built as an affordable healthy solution for cold damp unhealthy (state) homes many Maori are living in. The Ahikaa Roa trust has the vision to build 1000 homes on Maori land in Te Taitokerau. https://www.facebook.com/ahikaaroa/
Eco-villages
In an urban area of Whangarei there are plans to build an urban eco-village. Other initiatives on eco-villages or eco-neighbourhoods can be found on http://cohousing.org.nz/communities
Passive solar design
Our own architect Duncan Firth of Solarei has some useful information on passive solar design on his website. http://solarei.com.
Homestylegreen
Posts blogs and podcasts on a large range of topics of green building and has a list of eco designers and architects. http://homestylegreen.com
Ecobob
Has a directory of companies active in different segments of sustainable homes and publishes news and information on eco friendly living. http://www.ecobob.co.nz
If you know of other sustainable buildings or trends in New Zealand just let me know.
Margriet Geesink