New Zealand is blessed with a moderate maritime climate. This means the temperature swings are modest compared to a land climate. You would think it is not too hard to design a house in NZ that is comfortable all year round without having to spend lots of money on heating and cooling?
Still most of the houses in New Zealand are either too hot in summer and/or too cold in winter due to a number of factors. The main ones being:
- Orientation of the house and glass openings.
- Poor insulation
- Thermal bridging of building elements. (eg. un insulated steel beams protruding to outside or no foundation perimeter insulation)
- Lack of thermal mass
- Air leakage from outside to inside
- Poor heating system
All these factors can be addressed during the design phase to create a house that uses Zero Energy for heating or cooling. SIP panels are a great product create a Zero energy house as they have a very high insulation value, prevent thermal bridging and are air tight ones in place for floors, walls and roofs.
Combined with the right placement of glass and orientation of the house, a SIP panel house will be very warm and comfortable.
The panels allow for great design freedom without structural restrictions relating to the house design. These houses perform really well in an earthquake and in high wind zones. Building a SIP panels house is not only faster, but does not cost more compared to a stick framed house. The choice is easy if you compare a SIP panel house with a traditional stick framed house.
Sip panels outperform traditional building methods on every aspect.
We, as sought after modern Passive solar architects, recommend the use of SIP panels for our passive solar eco homes to achieve the highest standard for comfort and quality as well as reducing the cost for heating.
Kind regards, Stephan Meijer, Modern Passive solar architect.
