Design your own sustainable living space

1. Design your own sustainable living space Objective – to examine the new techniques for designing more sustainable living spaces and applying them in a personal design

2. SUSTAINABILITY • What is the meaning of this word?

3. SUSTAINABILITY • The concept of living within our limits – so we do not use up more than we can produce.

4. A sustainable living space needs: • 1. Access to water (for all necessary purposes) • 2. Access to power (the average house uses 15 Kilowatt Hours KWH of electricity per day) • 3. Ability to produce its own food • 4. Use building materials that are easily replaced or have low impact on the environment

5. Make notes on the following sustainable living spaces This “passive” solar building is designed to receive maximum sunlight in the winter but less in the summer. The thermal mass floor is designed to absorb as much heat as possible and slowly release it over time.

6. The sun sends about 4KwH of energy per square metre to earth Solar power cells are about 10% efficient. Also, the sun does not shine constantly all day and storing energy in batteries is very expensive.

7. Unsustainable Buildings use too much energy – they need good insulation and ventilation to naturally control the temperature

8. Read through the information sheet and answer the comprehension questions on each topic. Now use your information sheet to design your sustainable building and living space on a double page of your exercise book.