For the first time in Australia, practical information on every key topic relevant to environmentally sustainable housing design is available at one convenient source, and it is being snapped up as fast as it can be printed and distributed across Australia. Your Home is a Federal Government initiative that gives building professionals and the public access to the most comprehensive package of home design material ever produced.
Your Home is a valuable publication that shows how to create a home that is comfortable, stylish and better for the environment. The publication was written with Local Government in mind.
Every Council in Australia has been provided with a copy and it should prove a much used reference tool as Australia moves into a new and more sustainable age in housing. The package includes a 32 page guide for consumers and a 300 page technical manual for building industry professionals.
The consumer guide is free and comes with a CD Rom of practical case studies for homeowners. Topics covered include solar passive design, insulation, glazing, water use, energy use, renewable technologies, noise impacts, biodiversity, waste reduction and site impacts.
A joint initiative of the Federal Government and the building and design industries, Your Home was developed with expertise from all facets of the housing industry. The publication is an invaluable tool for helping builders and designers meet the mandatory energy performance requirements being introduced into the Building Code of Australia.
Your Home is proving to be very successful, with distribution so far of over 30,000 free magazines and CD ROMs and sales of over 4,000 technical manuals. Nearly 6,000 copies have been ordered by tertiary institutions across Australia for free distribution to students of architecture, building and environmental design.
Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland have developed their own versions of Your Home and distribution has already commenced in NSW and Queensland.
You will start to see the ideas and building methods coming back across Local Government counters in the form of more energy efficient designs for new homes. Local Government can promote this material to their community using the brochures and publicity material available.
As the material is available free of charge, there is an opportunity to distribute the Your Home material widely throughout the community. It is a sure way of assisting the community to understand the need for, and the benefits of, energy efficient housing design and practices.
The recent National General Assembly of Local Government passed a number of resolutions covering issues, such as the Kyoto Protocol and energy efficiency in building. As Local Government is the sphere of government closest to the community, it is very well placed to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by assisting in the education of consumers and practitioners alike.
For more information on the Your Home guide, or to order copies, contact the Australian Greenhouse infoline on 1300 130 606 or visit the website at www.yourhome.gov.au.
