Dennis and Jeanette’s House 2015

House Notes – Dennis and Jeanette’s House

This 9 star house was owner built in 2013 and is a contemporary design based on passive heating and cooling principles. The design was aimed at producing a house that would be comfortable all year round, with low heating energy requirements in winter allied with natural ventilation and a ground bed heat exchanger for zero cooling energy in summer.

The house is oriented to exactly true North and benefits from passive heating during the cooler months, with protection from the sun through passive shading in the warmer months. The house is heavily insulated and incorporates double glazed low-e glazing to all fixed elements.

Louvre windows are used extensively to enhance ventilation in summer months, whilst clerestory windows compliment the raked ceiling design to all living areas, providing additional cooling capability in summer.

Active ceiling space ventilation is used in summer for managing heat build-up in ceiling spaces.

Thermal mass is included in the design both through concrete slap floors and a solid concrete spine wall which runs the full width of the house.

Energy consumption for heating and cooling has been measured at 20.5Mj/m2/annum, which provides a NatHERS Star rating of better than 9 stars.

The ground-bed heat exchanger system is powered by battery which is in turn charged using a separate PV panel and charge controller, meaning zero energy consumption from the grid.

Electrical energy requirements are minimised through the use of energy efficient appliances, supplemented by a Tindo PV solar system. This PV system generates on average 3.75Mw/year against an average consumption of 2.2Mw/year.