The Eco Design Advice Service
Building or renovating your house?
Need advice on environmental issues?
Here's an opportunity for you!
What is it?
A fantastic FREE service operating in the following centres - Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Kapiti Coast, Hutt and Nelson. The Eco Design Advisor is a specialist, providing free energy, water and material related advice on home building projects, to ensure better use is made of resources.
This website provides an introduction to the service, how to access it, as well as a range of examples of work the eco design advisors are doing to help promote good building, forward thinking and thoughtful living in today's rapidly changing environment. Click on the yellow tabs above right to access more details about the service, and the headings in the black bar at top for an introduction to the types of work the EDAs are involved in.
2011 Conference - Wellington
More than 60 council managers, staff from government departments, architects and other members of the building industry attended a FREE introductory day in November 2011 to learn more about the Eco Design Advisor Service and the types of problems that we encounter on a daily basis. Speakers included: Victoria University professors Robert and Brenda Vale, writers of the carbon intensity guide Time to Eat the Dog, delivered an absorbing keynote entitled Green Building: Hairdressing on the Titanic. Dr Julian Crane from Otago Medical School spoke on dust mites and cats and their role in triggering asthma. And BRANZ principal scientist Mark Bassett addressed the conference on the impact of indoor moisture, the next "leaky building" issue. Click here to read the open day papers.
Professor Brenda Vale, Dr Robert Vale and Albrecht Stoecklein
The next day some 16 Eco Design Advisors, Home Energy Advisors and sustainability advocates from around the country shared a learning day, including visits to several homes, and to hear about national and international trends in housing design, with speakers including Andrew Olsen from Lifemark, Lois Easton from Beacon Pathway and Matthew Cutler-Welsh from the NZ Green Building Council.
We received some fantastic feedback on the day. Here's how Matthew summed it up:
"Just a quick note of commendation on the superb day of high quality and vitally important speakers that you put together for the EDA Conference in Wellington. You left us in no doubt of the importance of healthier homes and provided some solutions for combating dampness, mould and efficient heating.
"The line-up and progression of professionally researched and well-presented topics, equalled that of a number of international (and very expensive) conferences that I’ve attended in the past. By far, the most significant downside for me was that there weren’t more people to hear the information and messages.
"Which brings us to the challenge of how we increase the effectiveness of EDAs across New Zealand. Following the presentations this week, there is absolutely no doubt that we need more EDAs across the country and that the work your team does, has real and significant benefit for people in the community. It’s no surprise that a common theme for all the EDAs is that you provide a highly positive point of contact for your councils within the community." Matthew Cutler-Welsh
Survey success
The advisors are very grateful to hear feedback and have recently conducted a survey of customers, who gave a big thumbs up to the service. Beacon Pathway analysed the results and found that 91.8% of participants indicated they had made or intended to make changes as a result of the advice, while 98% thought the advice was suitable or very suitable for their needs. The top five changes identified were:
- ceiling insulation (59%)
- bulk underfloor insulation (47%)
- lined curtains/drapes/Roman Blinds (45%)
- energy efficient lighting (32%)
- hot water cylinder wrap/pipe lagging (30%)
Other interventions that proved popular were double or secondary glazing, underfloor vapour barriers, bathroom extractors, reducing downlights and efficient showerheads. Click here for the report.