What is your biggest concern when someone starts talking about green homes and environmental house design?  If you are like most of the residents of Queensland your first fear is whether the home will still be comfortable or not.  You have visions of lower quality heating and cooling.  You probably envision standing in a shower battling to get the soap out of your hair.  You might even wonder if that new style toilet is really going to flush cleanly.  Those fears are all common items which are brought up during the new house design process.  What is the reality?

Heating and Cooling In an Environmentally Friendly Home

When it comes to keeping your house heated and cooled properly you should have zero concerns.   High efficiency systems are actually more effective at maintaining the proper temperature zones.  The only thing you lose is a little extra money initially and the higher electrical bill.  As you can probably guess; those lower bills you receive in the mail will result in the more efficient system being less expensive over a short period of time.

If you choose to go to a higher level and implement solar or wind systems on your home you will just increase the overall efficiency.  They most commonly integrate with a standard system to boost the overall efficiency and cut your bills even further.

Will Low Volume Water Lead to Dissatisfaction?

This is one area where you might have a few legitimate concerns.  Low flow showerheads do make it slightly harder to rinse the soap out of your hair, but it is not as big of a difference as you imagine.  For all other parts of your shower you would probably never notice the difference.  The savings are substantial.  You go from using approximately 20 litres of water per minute down to just 9 litres per minute.

The low volume dual flush toilets are designed to work very effectively.  You choose whether you want a half flush or full flush.  The half flush saves water and take care of most bathroom situations.  The full flush is just as effective as regular toilets.  These toilets are worth the investment and should be part of your new home design.

Other items where you can save money on water are with faucet aerators and high quality fixtures which avoid leaks.  These two items will not add to frustration, but will lead to higher enjoyment while saving you money.

Do You Want to Reuse Your Water?

This is an item which frightens some new home buyers.  When someone talks about reusing water it just seems wrong.  Before you jump to any conclusions you might want to visit with someone like Daryl Woods at Drafting Concepts Pty Ltd.   He can help you understand how grey water usage can become part of your new house design.

Grey water is simply water which is lightly soiled or has a little soap from your washing machine, dish washer, or other drains.  This water is 100% safe to be reused for watering your yard and plants, with the exception of vegetables.  This can help you sidestep watering restrictions in many areas around Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.  These systems are another item which can be part of an environmental house design which has little affect on your comfort and enjoyment of your home.

When you start getting environmental house design quotes from a company like Drafting Concepts make sure they understand what is most important to you.  If comfort is more important than environmental concerns simply tell them.  They can help make your home efficient, comfortable, and enjoyable.