Comfortable living - the art of self respect.
Building designers commonly
concern themselves about structural adequacy and safety issues, and it is proper that they
should. This satisfies your concern for your family's wellbeing and your children's
safety, quite aside from meeting statutory building regulations.
But if your welfare is their concern,
why do designers wholly ignore your thermal wellbeing so often? The answer of
course is that energy has been plentiful and cheap for too long. The tendency is to
shunt your comfort into the hands of appliance and energy suppliers rather than designing
buildings that suit the local climate.
Tragically this backfires on you.
Sure the advertised price of the house is kept down, and everyone loves low prices, but
you'll soon discover that your new house is not comfortable to live in. To make
matters worse, when you come to fix this problem, you'll find remedial costs much higher
than if the building had been designed to be comfortable in the first place.
This happens because your house design forbids the natural collection of ideal
temperatures in your climate zone. Now, because building alterations are prohibited
by expense, you'll find it cheaper to install large scale heating and air conditioning
plant.
And so you're cheated for the
second time. You'll have to pay large energy bills over the years to come.
You will have to service your equipment, insure it, put up with unwelcome noise,
clean hearths and filter pads, and generally suffer inconvenience. All will be to
your cost and detriment, and all because the designer who supposedly considered your
wellbeing forgot to consider all of your wellbeing. Yet this is what
most people consider to be normal and the best that the building industry can
deliver. But you are not expected to notice!
'Comfortable living' is an
idea that promotes a wholesome approach to house design.
It means a house having a different nature,
one that traps winter warmth and provides a cool refreshing summer haven.
Sunlight is bright and cheery in winter
and naturally obtained warmth asks nothing more than to be enjoyed. Fresh cooling air in
summer is invigorating. It revives, stimulates, soothes and protects.
Desirable temperatures free you
from nuisance and ill feeling, Contentment and disposition to others is similarly
influenced. Not shivering from cold, or irritated by summer heat, your mental focus
is naturally alert and your temperament and emotions are at ease.
Naturally comfortable homes bring a rewarding atmosphere that is not
confined to one or two rooms. The outside of the building and the roof respond to
the climate as the building designer intended. As a result inside temperatures are
agreeable and these ideal conditions will naturally be found through the whole house.
Ideal temperatures throughout
means freedom for you to enjoy family togetherness, or to seek solitude. You may pursue
hobbies, study, or seek privacy without having to take a heater with you.
Desirable temperatures throughout open up a whole new range of possibilities, from
furniture placement to space utilisation, and from traffic patterns to decorating aspects.
Interior design is freed from
unnecessary nuisance to better serve family
activities
and lifestyle. Solar efficient design means the need to clean hearths and filter pads
is avoided. Noise is reduced so quiet passages of music and television are more enjoyable.
Safety is improved naturally,
and with no active temperature adjustments there’s less responsibility for
babysitters and greater peace of mind. Fire risk is minimised through solar efficient
design and there’s no need to store fuel or firewood. Electric blankets are made
redundant. Works of art and musical instruments depreciate less in mild temperatures too.
Naturally, building design is a lot more important than many people realise.
Health aspects are improved. Unlike
forced heating and cooling
that is abrupt,
natural temperature changes are gentle, so flue or asthma symptoms are less aggravated as
a rule. Likewise children are less fractious when temperature extremes are reduced.
Family tranquillity is more likely. 
Study concentration
improves when temperatures do not impose. Who can predict how that might
influence a child’s development, and what academic or other achievement might result.
Children and older folk especially love the ambience of naturally comfortable homes.
Comfort solutions expand outdoors. Outdoor
living will be more amenable in sheltered courtyards, sun drenched patio’s in winter,
and under rain sheltered areas. These improved living conditions are often cost
free. Building predicable seasonal conditions into your house design makes a world
of difference.
Patio’s are more serviceable. Their amenity value is much greater
when their design and location harmonise naturally with winter sun and cool summer
breezes. Seasonal use is often extended and your family will experience greater living
enjoyment. Natural comfort is all embracing, much more than just heating and cooling and
saving energy.
Good design means greater economy. The capacity
of these buildings to procure ideal temperatures is built in; the structure itself does
the job and this faculty cannot be removed except by expensive alterations or
demolition.
If you choose to compare a naturally comfortable house with another that is not designed
to perform this way, the cost of providing artificial heating and cooling must be
added to the house that is temperature deficient. If not, the price comparison
is meaningless.
When lifecycle costs over 40 or 50 years are accounted in this way - being the only
appropriate way to make such a comparison - then naturally comfortable houses are found to
be 30 to 40 percent cheaper than those that rely on normal heating and cooling.
Turn assets into equity so easily.
Energy savings really amount to regular dividends from investing in the climate assets you
bought with the land purchase. And those savings (GST included) may be reinvested
like any other dividend. This tax-free investment is exclusive to naturally comfortable
houses. Those that depend on usual heating and cooling miss out!
Solar efficiency becomes financial
efficiency. By contrast, large heating and cooling energy bills are little more than
a 'penalty fee' for not using the natural assets you purchased previously.
You can save thousands of interest dollars
simply by re-directing energy
utility
dollars to pay your loan faster Climatic comfort can knock years off the mortgage
term.
Early equity can then lever more
investment. So nice to buy your holiday home years before others finish paying their
mortgage?
Build character Comfort creating homes offer full size working models to teach
environmental awareness, elementary physics, prudence, integrity and healthy environments
to your children. Your children will love 'operating' their new home and
learning how they can control their own environment. They will pick up other skills
too. These houses nurture independence, self-reliance, and foster
resourcefulness. They reward advance planning and penalise forgetfulness, an
admirable lesson for children. These character-building rewards all come from unity of
purpose.
Enrich your lifestyle Natural
comfort is an invisible and indivisible quality that enriches life, gently, quietly, and
without intrusion. It is nature’s blessing on wise choices and thoughtful
planning. And it all stems from one decision.
Now you understand how to turn assets into
benefits
its time to look at solar houses
