8 Star Homes – How to design a home that achieves a high NaTHERS rating

Speakers: Mr Graham Hunt, Director Delisle Hunt Wood Architects and Mr Rob McLeod, Renew Sustainability Housing Advocate, Leader Climate Resiliant Homes Campaign.

[tealkerberus]

The problem with passive solar is that it doesn't heat your house when you need it most - cold windy sleety weather, when if you do go outside you won't be able to tell where the sun is anyway. If you're concerned about the people who are dying of cold in this country, those are the days when they're dying, because they can't afford to heat their houses at all.

About one third of unemployed people in Australia are "long term unemployed" - have been out of work for over a year - because those people are actually disabled, but that the government is defrauding them of their rightful support by pretending they're only "partially impaired." But if you try managing a household budget for over a year (or several years!) on unemployment benefits because you're too sick to get a job, you'll understand exactly why sick and disabled people are dying of cold in Australia.

I suppose it's a more discreet way of killing off economically unproductive citizens than taking them out and shooting them like a lamed horse, but it's a brutally cruel way to die .. and Australia is supposed to do better than murdering its own citizens to save a few pennies.

If we're going to build houses that sick people won't die in, we need to make those houses stay warm enough to keep sick people alive without paying for heating - even when the sun hasn't shone all week. And don't assume anyone's getting up to open and close the curtains or the windows to make the house maintain a comfortable temperature, because sick people don't do that either.