Positive Footprints Design and Build Services in Altona, Victoria, Australia | Home improvement

Positive Footprints Design and Build Services

Locality: Altona, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9315 0566

Address: 15 High St, Seaholme VIC 3018 3018 Altona, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.positivefootprints.com.au

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23.01.2022 Like many things, there are numerous paths to sustainability, such as choosing materials that take less energy to make, or those that help the house perform better, or materials that are durable. One criteria we often overlook is what effect of what happens to a material at the end of its life. Plastic pollution is one good example we see in our everyday life. We call this consideration Design for Deconstruction. Insulating under slabs increases their performance by at ...least 1/2 a star, by slowing heat loss to the ground during winter. However there is a major disadvantage with pouring concrete over polystyrene - it stops recycling at end of life. At end of life, concrete slabs on ground, can get broken up, and sent to a recycling facilities, where they crush the concrete and remove the metal with an electro-magnet. The steel gets recycled, and the crushed concrete becomes road and pavement base. However when polystyrene is introduced, like in a waffle slab, the concrete is then classified as 'contaminated fill' and instead of recycling, goes to landfill. On our Studio Project we are trying something new. A suspended bondek insulated slab. The polystyrene sheets sit in the channel of the steel bearers, which are insulated from the bondek slab above on high density rubber strips to limit thermal conduction from the slab to the sub-frame. It has been designed so that at end of life the full uncut sheets of polystyrene can be removed and the slab cut up and recycled as normal. Another benefit is, that the system sits on pads, using less concrete than an integrated slab, and actually rates up better too! See more

22.01.2022 By making choices, and understanding the impact behind those choices, and passing on this knowledge, we - builders, consumers, industrial corporations, policy makers - can contribute to our zero carbon emission goals. This is the link to the webinar Jeremy presented 2 weeks ago about The Roadmap to Zero Carbon Homes. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk5HfEeeKfjUmmYVhuGfq5A

22.01.2022 Mid Century House Extension is one of the many houses that are going virtual for you to visit as part of Sustainable House Day 2020. From 12/9, videos of house tours conscientiously made by owners and design professionals will be available on https://sustainablehouseday.com/. This is a version of the one we made, just as a taste of what you may find. https://youtu.be/3n1Rhhauxrc Subscribe to our channel & keep abreast of the videos that will be showing up leading to Sustainable House Day 2020 and beyond.

19.01.2022 If you are like me, you will be scheduling some huge amount of screen time, as from 12/9, over 100 videos made by design professionals and home owners are made available for virtual touring on Sustainablehouseday.com. Since you are here...click link below to watch our clients from Hillside House sharing their beautiful sun-drenched home with us. https://youtu.be/Zk0oK2NeJrI

17.01.2022 Net Zero Housing is no longer a pipe dream; it is achievable for all with today’s technology. I will walk you through in 7 simple steps. An average Australian household consumes approximately 7 tonnes of CO2 or $2500 in electric & gas bills annually. For Victorians, it is closer to 12 tonnes due to the burning of brown-coal and the cooler climate. The following pie chart shows how our energy is consumed 40% in space conditioning, 25% on appliances, 23% in heating our w...ater, 7% in lighting and 5% in cooking. (source: https://www.energyrating.gov.au//report-residential-baseli) 1. By choosing to build a 7.5 star (or more) house, we cut down 80% of space conditioning requirement 2. By choosing solar hot water if you have gas, or an efficient heat pump (with co-efficient performance of 4 or more) for an all electric home. Combined with water efficient shower heads, washing machines, we cut down 70% of the water heating requirement 3. By choosing appliances with higher star rating will cut down a further 30% of the appliance power requirement 4. By choosing LED lights will cut down 20% of lighting energy use 5. By choosing induction cooktop, which is twice as efficient as gas, will save 20% of cooking energy requirement 6. Install a 5 KW solar PV system (currently under $3000 with rebate) would break even your household’s energy use each year. 7. Switch to Green Power, so you are using only renewable energy source, even when the sun's not shining. The path is simple, but if you need a little help to pull this off, there are more and more professional designers and builders (including Positive Footprints of course) out there who are committed to resolving Climate Emergency and are ready for you to reach out. https://au.buildersdeclare.com/

17.01.2022 Jeremy is running a webinar for Builders Declare on Roadmap to Zero Carbon Homes. When: Aug 19, 2020 05:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney Cost: Free Register in advance for this webinar. Go to:... https://us02web.zoom.us//register/WN_Faum1I9kTBik5btFuCC2IA Webinar Description: Sustainable homes are not just a fad, and climate change is not something that will be solved by ignoring it. It is clear that Australia and the world must head towards a low carbon future, and the sooner we act to reduce our carbon footprint the better for society and our world. The good news for the construction sector is that we already have the knowhow and the technology to produce cost effective carbon neutral buildings. This webinar is for those who want to know how it can be done? What the big ticket items are to focus effort on? What gains are realistically achievable? And what are the costs? Speaker: For almost 20 years Jeremy has been a registered builder, energy rater and director at Design & Build company Positive Footprints. Positive Footprints have won multiple awards for sustainability from both MBAV and HIA, and the National Sustainability Awards for which he is now a judge. His company has worked to show that energy efficient sustainable design and high performance construction is a cost effective option and can be a mainstream reality. A previous GreenLiving lecturer and educator in an earlier life, he is a strong believer that together we can bring about change in the way we build. Jeremy is founding member of Builders Declare, and currently sits on the Design Matters Board, the Sustainability Hub, and the NatHERS Stakeholder Consultative Group.

17.01.2022 Happiness is when a client asks if you would like to put a sign up to promote your business, because they are very happy with your work! We just visited a sustainable renovation and extension project that was handed over 6 months ago. This 7.1 star home is fully insulated with double-glazed throughout, with northern sun streaming in even in the middle of winter, and PV system on their roof working hard as well to lower their environmental footprint. What's not to be happy about!

14.01.2022 Our forests are depleting at an unsustainable rate all over the world; not enough protection is in place; knowledge barriers as to the source of timbers need to come down. On Builders Declare webinar series, Architect Paul Haar spoke about good timber to use in our buildings. The informative & passionate delivery of the webinar instilled a sense of urgency in me. As specifiers and builders, it is our responsibility to ensure that the right timber is chosen. I would like t...o share one takeaway from the webinar here today. When purchasing framing timber, Paul advises us to check the tightness of the grain. The grain of the Radiata Pine (Photo 2) is distinctively wider than that of the slower growing Spruce or Baltic Pine (photo Left), which are imports from Europe & Russia. Abundant & locally resourced in Australia, Radiata Pine is eminently less harmful to use than the latter, which is harvested from old growth forest and has many more transport miles. For those who missed this webinar, I highly recommend you to subscribe to Builders Declare Youtube channel, to catch it when it’s made available.

12.01.2022 I feel like a little kid in a lolly shop when I check out the live contents as part of the programme available on 20 September, Sustainable House Day 2020. Not only will videos of the over 100 house be uploaded on their website to view at our leisure, we also get to participate in the live panel chat/ webinar with various home owners and building professionals on the day. Jeremy and our clients for Cheese house and Hillside house together with House with No bills and Piano... House will be discussing "Creating Carbon Neutral and Carbon Positive Housing" at 11.45 to 12.25. https://sustainablehouseday.com/program/

09.01.2022 Momentum is building across all strands of our industry for energy efficiency. We are not alone, and the next 10 years will almost certainly see significant change as the state governments push ahead to meet our Paris Agreement of 40% below 1990 CO2 emission levels by 2030. Following the COAG agreed Trajectory for Low Energy Homes (http://coagenergycouncil.gov.au//trajectory-low-energy-bui), NatHERS is working on getting a Whole of House energy rating tool ready for NCC20...22, to include energy performance of appliances (heating and cooling, hot water, lighting, pool/spa pumps and on-site energy generation and storage). Works are also underway to produce tools and loan incentives to open up the retrofit market. And it is builders who are going to be needed to implement all this. Now is the time for builders to start learning about energy efficient appliances, heat/cooling, hot water and Photovoltaics, so they are ready to thrive in the next decade. Here are the views of some of the major players from the recent Energy Efficiency Council's National Summit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V40eP1xekgo&feature=youtu.be

08.01.2022 10 things I love about the Mason House Project (not in any particular order) The blue glass seeded polished concrete floor The clerestory windows that flood up this southern living space with warm winter sunlight. This in turn heats up the slab and keeps the temperature constant. The compact and functional bathroom with the deep soaking bath as requested by the clients The external Cemintel cladding that provides a warm timber look without the maintenance of timber.... The clients! (including 4 legged friend, Beaux) The now-you-see it, now- you-don’t laundry cupboard. The recycled timber screen which delineates the side entry from the 1.5 height lounge room The recycled brick fireplace with its E0 cabinetry seat surrounds. The connection of indoor and outdoor through the intentionally framed window seat. All the great tradies who have worked on this project throughout Covid who’s responsible for us meeting the handover date on time! See more

07.01.2022 Today is World Environment Day 2020, we like to announce that Positive Footprints is a founding signatory to Builders Declare - a growing group of concerned builders who have put up their hands to help shift the paradigm, to meeting the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries. As a group we are committing to strengthen our working practices to create architecture and urbanism that has a more positive impact on the world around us. If you are ...a builder, and wish to join us, please go to https://au.buildersdeclare.com/ If you are a consumer, I would like to invite you to imagine a new normal, where investment in buildings would carry a sustainable element. The Australian government has announced $25k home stimulus package to eligible renovation and new home projects. The new normal would be if everyone's home can be insulated from the cold this winter, windows are high performing double-glazed and our homes will be producing solar energy on our roofs instead of relying on burning fossil fuel. Every little bit counts towards a new normal.

01.01.2022 We are uploading more and more videos about our projects in conjunction with Sustainable House Day 2020. You can find them on our YouTube channel below. https://www.youtube.com/user/PositiveFootprintsAU