It can be difficult to assess exactly how sustainable a product is and which materials are preferable to others. Often we have to rely on manufacturers’ information, which can be biased and incomplete. This chapter aims to bring some clarification to the issue. It outlines some tools that can help you to choose your building materials, but the i...

Many surfaces in the average home are painted - furniture, walls, ceilings, wooden floors, exterior cladding, roofs. Paints have been used for centuries to make surfaces more attractive, easier to maintain, or to protect them from the elements. Paints and finishes can extend the lifetime of some materials, such as weatherboards, dramatically. ...

Straw bale, in most situations, makes an excellent building material. The main benefit of straw bale construction is the high level of insulation it provides. This insulation is achieved because of the thickness of the walls (around 45cm) and the trapped air inside which makes a poor heat conductor. Straw bale houses are generally constructed as...

More than six litres of household paint is sold each year for each and every person here. That's a lot of paint particularly as much of it is left sitting in paint containers and ends up in landfills. There are lots of ways you can reduce this burden on the environment... here's some ideas to get you started: Reduce, reuse and recycle Buy Env...

Energy efficient appliances and products comparison database

Solar water heating is generally more economically viable the more people in the household and the more hot water used. This means the more hot water you use, the better your savings will be.

In New Zealand, solar radiation is an abundant energy source. Many homes are exposed annually to 20 - 30 times more energy from the sun than they use in electricity or gas.

Tank water may be collected from: • rain off the roof • natural water, for example, from streams or lakes • a bore (a deep hole in the ground) • a spring. Water supplies from all these sources can very easily become unsafe. For example: • roof water may be corrosive, or may become contaminated from ash, dust, agricultural spraying or bird o...

It is an independent method of assessing the environmental performance of new homes. The Scheme offers new home owners, designers, architects and developers a means by which key environmental issues can be examined, using a rating system

Rainwater is a free, perpetually-renewing water supply. Installing a rainwater tank is relatively simple and inexpensive, and the benefits are ongoing. Rainwater is a good source of water for using on your garden. It can also be used for washing your clothes, flushing the toilet, and - if it’s properly treated or purified - for drinking and...

By reducing the water flow from your taps, you’ll save on hot water and reduce condensation. Do you get splashed when you turn a tap on full? In many New Zealand homes, water flows much faster from taps and showerheads than it needs to. There are simple, inexpensive ways to reduce the flow of water from your taps and shower.

You may be able to use greywater from your bathroom, laundry and kitchen in the garden or to flush your toilet. By re-using greywater instead of sending it down the drain, you may be able to save on water and wastewater charges and reduce demand on water supplies in your area. However, it’s vital that any system you use for collecting and r...

If your home has no mains sewage connection, you’ll need an on-site sewage system. An on-site sewage system that doesn’t adequately cope with your household’s wastewater can endanger human health and the environment. Any system needs to be big enough and efficient enough to treat all of the wastewater from your household, and to be properly i...

Poorly-managed stormwater can damage your property and the wider environment - but, managed properly, it can be good for your garden. Stormwater is the water that runs off surfaces such as houses, roads, driveways, footpaths. In urban areas, it runs down drains into stormwater pipes or channels and is carried to rivers, lakes or the sea. St...

This excellent web site helps you work out the best way to save petrol by looking at the effect of the car you drive, the distance and the way you drive.

As a nation, we are committed to using energy wisely and effi ciently. As a New Zealander, you can do your bit to help. Improving the energy effi ciency of your house means both lower power bills and a warmer, more comfortable home. Much of the energy we use in our homes and buildings is wasted or could be reduced. A booklet produced by the Depa...

There are about 50 to 60 million insect species on earth - we have named only about 1 million and there are only about 1 thousand pest species - already over 50% of these thousand pests are already resistant to our volatile, dangerous, synthetic pesticide POISONS. We accidentally lose about 25,000 to 100,000 species of insects, plants and animals e...

We seem to be naturally curious about a technology that can produce a long-term supply of electricity with no continuous financial input, environmental side effect, or significant change to our lifestyle. Yet industry, consumers, and government only seem able to relate the value of the investment to its energy ‘payback’.

A number of web based sustainability guides, calculators and work books available to guide your business to becoming more sustainable.

The Clovelly House is a three bedroom, south facing semi-detached residence, with in-ground pool and off-street car parking, in Clovelly, an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia. The house, designed by Kennedy Associates Architects and completed in 2004, was designed to meet the very specific spatial and accessibility needs of the client with ...

This is the sort of energy-conserving future Martin and Liz Irvine have planned for their family when they build their holiday home at Tupare on the shores of the Kaipara Harbour – and by next summer it should be a reality. The Auckland business couple wanted an out-of-Auckland getaway that was energy neutral – or better – for themselves and the...

Replacing an average 10 year old fridge with a new model will save up to $100 a year, and an ENERGY STAR fridge could save you up to an additional 30 percent on top.

Scientist-turned-filmmaker Dr. Randy Olson, is a fan of Al Gore's global warming movie, but asks, "Where are the scientists?" He sets out to make his own documentary about global warming featuring scientists, but the only backers he can find are a fabulously flaky couple who top their list of people they want him to interview with Tom Cru...

We have just experienced – once again – a year of weather contrasts. In New Zealand, it brought floods to the north and droughts to the east and to the south, with Taranaki suffering tornadoes in-between. Insurers lament the costs, increasing by the millions from year-to-year, of damaged homes, roads and infrastructure. Adding flow-on costs to the ...

New Zealand homes have historically been extremely inefficient: 30 years after insulation became mandatory, around 350,000 homes are poorly insulated or have no insulation at all. Many of those are in the Queenstown Lakes District, where many houses were built for summer use only but are now lived in year round. In addition to the insulation pro...

Use our guide to find out what fish not to buy and the alternatives available.

Compost is a mixture of organic material and is used as fertiliser. Generally, the ingredients used to make compost come from our gardens and kitchens (food scraps) although organic material is anything that was once living. Compost results from the eventual decomposition or break down of the ingredients. It can take anywhere between two and 18 mon...

Compost can also be produced using worms. This is known as worm farming. It is also called ‘vermiculture’ or vermicomposting. Usually tiger worms are used for worm farming in NZ, though red worms can also be used. Worm farming uses the same principles as composting, but it does not generate heat, making it cold composting. Value is added to the ...

This guide provides builders and homeowners with information on energy and water efficiency, improving indoor air quality and selecting environmentally preferable building materials.

Transition Initiatives are bringing people together out of a desire to explore how we – and our communities – can respond to the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil. We know we don’t have all the answers but we believe we have the innovation to create those solutions. Each transition group networks with their local community on a coordin...

Edible Gardening When most people hear ‘edible gardening’ they imagine the vege plot around the back of the house. Straight rows of caterpillar eaten lettuce and wilted silver beet! Today; as garden’s become smaller and lives busier, edible gardens have the opportunity to become the main garden. As we are faced with issues such as genetic e...

Worm Farming When I told my long suffering husband that I was getting 5000 new pets and he had to help me come up with names for each one, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! Worms would have to be the best low maintenance pets available. They don’t need daily walks, don’t scratch the sofa, don’t require costly trips to the vets or get th...

Even renters can make changes to their home to make it more comfortable, save money and reduce their environmental impact. The Renters Guide to Sustainable Living, published by the Alternative Technology Association, shows how it’s done. The 16 page booklet is a free resource for anyone looking to lighten their carbon footprint as a tenant. The...

A farmers’ market is a food market where local growers, farmers and artisan food producers sell their wares directly to consumers. Vendors may only sell what they grow, farm, pickle, preserve, bake, smoke or catch themselves from within a defined local area. The market takes place at a public location on a regular basis.

How to ‘squirrel’ your Produce For centuries families have squirreled away their garden surplus to feed their family through winter. Plenty of crops will keep for months if stored correctly with no need for freezing, bottling or preserving. The golden rule is to store only fruit and vegetables that are in perfect condition. Allow air circula...

Creating a Bee Friendly Garden Nothing evokes the sense of an organic garden like the hum of honeybees toiling among sun-warmed summer flowers. Honey bees are important for pollination of all our fruits and berries and many of our vegetables crops. They don’t need us but we certainly need them. World wide their numbers are on the decline and exp...

Good Wood comes from ethical and ecologically sustainable sources. When you choose Good Wood, you support a solution to deforestation and related climate change, you protect unique biodiversity and you help local forest communities find alternatives to poverty and loss of livelihood.

Throw a Green Birthday Party! Are you tired of going to or hosting a child’s birthday party which results in rubbish bags filled with plastic and other non-biodegradable rubbish. With some small changes it is easy to create an eco-friendly fiesta! Try using some of these ideas for your next birthday Bash. Balloons:-choose latex over mylar....

Living Roofs is an independent organisation that is promoting the uptake of green roofs in New Zealand. Living Roofs is a resource for information, which is supported and sponsored by leading green roof companies, authorities and organisations. On this website you will be able to find the latest information, research and case studies of projects he...

RANZ has been engaging with the building and construction sector with the aim of understanding, preparing for, and perhaps even helping the industry to shape the developments that will influence New Zealand's built environment between now and 2025. This has produced some contrasting views of the built environment and the drivers of change betwee...

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root Path to Freedom presents 'A Homegrown Revolution' A collaboration of selective media clips which feature their urban homestead and farm which focus on the need of radical action -- growing food in the city. This self produced, short music video was shown at Peter Seller's Cultural Art's class...

The future of green is local -- and entrepreneurial. At TEDxMidwest, Majora Carter brings us the stories of three people who are saving their own communities while saving the planet. Call it "hometown security."

New Zealand is blessed with abundant renewable energy resources compared to many other countries, and this has helped achieve a high percentage of renewable generated electricity in our electricity grid. Large-scale renewable energy development, such as wind farms, geothermal, and hydro energy, already provides cost-effective and ‘clean’ electricit...

This is the most common question we are asked on the subject of solar power systems. People are naturally curious about a technology that can produce a long-term supply of electricity with no continuous financial input, environmental side effect, or lifestyle change. Yet industry, consumers, and government only seem able to relate the value of the ...