The four-bedroom, detached house will blend with the streetscape of the new development but will embody a completely new vision – an affordable zero emissions house.
CSIRO project leader Dr Greg Foliente said that the Zero Emission House (ZEH) project involves CSIRO and a consortium of government and industry partners, including Sustainability Victoria, Delfin Lend Lease and Henley Property Group, in designing and building a carbon neutral Australian home.
“The goal is a home that does not release any CO2, or other greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere as a result of producing or consuming energy on the entire site,” Dr Foliente said.
“The first step is to reduce energy consumption to the lowest level possible through careful building design, considering the climate, the hot water system, how the building is heated and cooled, as well as the appliances which will be used. This new house is expected to use up to 70 per cent less energy than a traditional home of similar size.”
Article continues below…The demonstration house, which will incorporate an energy management system, will be built by the Henley Property Group in the Delfin Lend Lease Laurimar community. It will be occupied by tenants for a year and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions will be monitored over this time. The ZEH’s performance will be evaluated against other homes within the development to gauge the success of the project and help identify key areas for further improvement.
Victoria’s Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Innovation Gavin Jennings launched the project in September. The demonstration house is due to be completed in late 2009.
The project is being undertaken as part of CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship’s Low Emission Distributed Energy research program, which focuses on developing lowemission technologies and solutions for a rapid response to climate change.
