After 20 years renovating other people’s houses and gardens demonstrating sustainable design ideas, Josh Byrne (environmental scientist & well known ABC TV’s Gardening Australia presenter) has undertaken his most ambitious house project yet – the design and construction of two 10 star energy efficient family homes in the Fremantle suburb of Hilton. Tired of hearing that sustainable construction has to cost more, Josh and his colleagues set out to prove that resource efficient homes can be built at a comparable cost and timeframe to regular houses.

‘Passive design’ is design that takes advantage of the climate to maintain a comfortable temperature range in the home. Passive design reduces or eliminates the need for auxiliary heating or cooling, which accounts for about 40% (or much more in some climates) of energy use in the average Australian home. Includes case studies.

Peter Reefman wasn't always a crusader for solar passive design - as he explains, when he built his first house he didn't adhere to any solar passive principles and ended up with an energy hungry home much like the majority of homes in our part of the world. Article with 20-minute audio interview.

These six ecohome designs are stylish, comfortable, affordable and sustainable. Contains interactive house plans with voiceover.

Some houses simply don't need much cooling, thanks to passive design. If you're building a new home, you may have an opportunity to embrace some of the key principles of passive design: north-facing orientation, low-energy design and good cross-ventilation.

Imagine: a home that keeps cool in summer and warm in winter with only minimal reliance on mechanical heating and cooling. Even better, in this house there’s no need to switch on artificial lights during the day. It may sound like an unachievable fantasy, but in fact these are the real benefits of using passive design in your home.

There’s beauty as well as brains behind the funky facade of this two-storey home in South Fremantle. Designed by Evoke Design Group and built by Econstruct, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home — which was named home of the year in both the State and national GreenSmart awards last year — boasts an array of cutting-edge water and energy-efficient features.

An energy efficient home is designed to deliver maximum comfort to occupants by: making the most of free natural heating, cooling and lighting; utilising efficient design principles and building materials to reduce the need for appliances. Includes interactive energy efficient home.

Community interest around sustainable housing is growing as more people realise the benefits are not limited to preservation of the environment.

Open the door to sustainable living by touring some of Australia’s most environmentally progressive homes on show at Sustainable House Day.

Altair® Louvre Windows are an energy efficient way to control natural light and fresh air into your home or office environment.

Following on from his successful web video series and online project Josh’s House, Gardening Australia TV presenter and sustainable expert Josh Byrne presents a groundbreaking new series, “Josh’s House STAR PERFORMERS”. Josh is embarking upon a unique national research tour that will bring together the best high performance housing projects from around the country for the very first time.