Next term my kids are looking at sustainable living and energy efficient houses. Once they have learned about all the government rebate schemes, energy efficiency, how to draw a house plan (legend, door, windows, different pattern meaning concrete slab or wooden floors etc)....
They then have to design their own energy efficient and sustainable house. I will be providing them with all the info required, and already have some foam etc, and brochures...
BUT.... Any chance any of you can get your hands on small offcuts of insulation bats, old house plans, aircon ducts... anything that could he helpful for my kids to physically SEE how thick foam is, the particles, how reflective a surface is, etc. !?
The kids and I would be more than rapt! 
Elizabeth,
What a great lesson to teach your students!
Wish my teachers were that motivated.
There are plenty of great career paths in these fields.
I'm an air conditioning contractor based in Brisbane.
I'm Happy to help with practical examples of insulation, duct, copper pipe, wiring, roofing, electrical etc.......
Can also provide photgraphs, drawings, or brochures for what ever you need.
Daniel.
0421 041 990.
Go to Bunnings and pick up leaflets from the DIY section. They have heaps of info, material dimensions etc. Never know they may have samples etc you can have if you explain what you want it for.
Ocean, I went to Bunnings on the way home, but they seem to lack a lot of brochures (or at least the one I looked at does), but have a lot of info of paint, decking oil, doors etc. Thank you for the suggestion! =]
Daniel, I have a few girls and one boys who are potential graphic designers/ architectures; what they can visualize and draw is so impressive! =] Anyway, anything you could supply from samples to brochures would be excellent. I think I'm looking forward to next term a little more than they are! How sad.. 
lol
I'll throw you a PM/ call tomorrow.
What a great idea Liz.
Take a look at www.yourhome.gov.au/
Their technical manual is the best document that I've seen for explaining the fundamentals of energy efficient buildings.
Cheers Tobes. That's a great website-very detailed. I added to the website I have for the kids on 'The learning Place'.
oOO Ocean... I skipped passed the DIY stuff you linked, and I found exactly what I wanted too! =]
www.bunnings.com.au/about-us/sustainability Cheers 
Great stuff Elizabeth.
We built our passive solar house in 96, I've been keeping inside and outside temperature records since 2000.
If the kids or you have any questions about our experiences just ask. We're in Perth, Mandurah, but I don't think there's too much difference in the basic principals.
i can help out liz,
i have drawings that may provide good examples,
the my home website as tobes suggested is a winner. the technical pages are outstanding.
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OK, basic principles for the Southern hemisphere, (I've heard somebody here followed instructions for America, and wondered why their house didn't work)
Firstly Winter sun is in the North, so align the house to the compass, with the main living rooms to the North.
In Perth the Winter (shortest day)sun at midday gets to 30deg above the horizon, so it's easy to get lots of sun in thru North facing windows. In summer (longest day)the sun is at 80deg, so it doesn't take very big eaves to keep all the sun out of North facing windows. However East and West windows can let a lot of sun in, so they should be kept to a minimum, and hopefully have some means of shading them, (deciduous trees, shutters etc.).
Good flow thru night time ventilation gets rid of summer heat. Face southern windows into the seabreeze, (hopefully you get one), and allow it to exit after flowing thru the house.
Of course plenty of insulation keeps the heat in in Winter and out in Summer.
In Perth the ground temp at 1m down is 21deg year round, so good thermal contact between the house and the ground is a big plus. Concrete floors with some sort of tiling, carpets feel warmer on your feet but the house is actually warmer without them.
Thermal mass helps even out the house's temperature, soaks up the heat from the sun in winter and releases it at night. Cool it down Summer nights and it delays the house heating up during the day.
Reverse brickveneer is effective, bricks on the inside add internal mass, and plenty of insulation can go in the cavity.
We have no other form of heating or cooling, (Dot bakes a cake on cold days). Lowest overnight temp in the last 10 years is 16.5deg, when it was 5deg outside. By early morning the house was back up to 18deg.
Highest temp was 31.5 after a weeks heat wave and it was 41deg outside. A bedroom fan is sufficient for a good nights sleep in these conditions.
Lowest winter monthly average is about 20 deg highest monthly summer average is about 26.
In colder climes, where ground temp is much lower, floor insulation would be better. Double glazing also becomes cost effective.
Study the designs of the classic Queenslander homes, ie pre WW II with wide verandahs and plenty of door openings. These homes have suited the Qld climate for comfortable living with energy efficiency (no electricity mains connections, therefore no air conditioning) for well over 100 years.
These homes can be reproduced using modern materials (steel frames, hardie plank exteriors and gyprock interiors with "in wall and roof" insulation) with the added benefit of being an ultimately trendy home that will achieve a premiunm sale price.
For something more contemporary you might like to look at these links
www.troppo.com.au/
www.bushandbeach.com.au/
www.completehome.com.au/new_homes/new_homes?cid=12239&pid=2067922
www.handcraftedhomes.com.au/index.html
www.nusteelhomesqld.com.au/home.aspx and
randletropicalhomes.com/
Don't you just love the internet. Ask it any question and it will give you a multitude of answers.
liz,
there's a company called allsafe that specalize ininsulation and other energy efficient stuff like heat pumps etc.
also there are some specialist solar companies if you google solar
i love vanacular architecture but i am not so sure the qld'er is a good example of passive design for the brisbane region,
unfortunately they have poor cross ventilation, no overhangs and fail when it comes to heat retention.
quality architects will deliver projects that have a passive nature without it even being the brief.
for images of quality architecture you could look at.http://www.jma-arch.com/home.html
www.donovanhill.com.au/mainmenu.htm
www.richardkirkarchitect.com/
budbranniganarchitects.com.au/
www.arkhefield.com.au/
www.gabrielpoole.com.au/
www.owenandvokes.com/flash_content/index.html
to name a few.
p.s. will email drawings tonight.
Some of you might be interested in this data from a terrace house in Melbourne.
Nothing outrageous in the desgin, but some good and relatively simple water & energy saving features. We have used it as a demo site for work and are remotely monitoring water use, PV power production and energy use in detail.
Data can be viewed at http://www.metermate.com.au/MMLogin.aspx with username: brod, password: brod.
They rarely use mains water supply at all at this time of year and generate a significant proportion of their energy needs from a 1.35kW system (they're net exporters of energy on some days).
This 1890s double-brick cottage was altered in 2002. The home occupies 110 square metres of a 203 square metre property.
The passive solar home demonstrates the positive greenhouse impacts of a north facing living room/kitchen, materials, thickness of walls, floor and insulation which act as a heat collector and thermal storage. Gas is used when solar energy is insufficient for space and water heating. Gas use for this three person home is 9,500 MJ per annum.
Additional reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are achieved from a 1.35 kW grid connected photovoltaic system. Annual solar energy generation from 18 roof mounted panels is 1,700 kWh. Of this 1,200 kWh is not used in the home and exported to the grid over a year, reducing this families power bill to a total of $100 a year.
Rainwater is harvested from the house roof and used for all internal plumbing, except to operate a dual flush toilet (greywater supply). The rainwater storage is 9,000 litres. Additional drinking water savings are achieved from a 1,000 litre greywater storage and treatment system, hot water circulator, shower shut off valve, as well as low flow plumbing fixtures and taps.
Hi fingerbang
i really admire the conviction to not use aircon. certainly used the same philosophy in my own home. although it's not a touch on winning any architectural awards the planning was all about passive outcomes and function.
result being we don't use aircon or heating at all. there are a couple of days a year where i put socks on at night but all up the design works a treat. surprising really as there is NO insulation. the big thing is that everyone that comes to the house comments on how airy it feels if it's summer and how warm it feels if its winter.
last couple of times we've thought of selling the realestate agents ask if it's got aircon. we reply, nope, doesn't need it.
they reply, well buyers want it so you should get it installed.
go figure hey.
Hi liz,
just wondering if you got the emails?
Justin,
Thank you- I did receive your reply and have them on A3 paper on cardboard and in the class; they are so interested about all of it!
Thank you ALL for the information you've given me! The BSA have actually sent our some more information and brochures on Sustainable Living which has been excellend too!
We are having 'Reverse Garbage' and possibly CSIRO Scientist come out to our school, so an excursion won't be on the cards. We have just under 150 Year 6's! lol... So the cost of 3 buses outweigh what parents could pay etc.
I am still yet to collect some materials from some of you, but thank you all for the information, advice and materials you've given me! Apologies with the late reply, but planning, a hens night and sports day has left me with little time to look on here! I will contact you all soon! Thank you again SOOO MUCH!!!
Liz, If you have a CSIRO scientist coming to talk with you, you should ask him/her about the house that the CSIRO built in Canberra some 20 odd years ago that was designed to be self sufficient in energy requirements.
It was the feature of a TV documentary way back then. The brief for the house was that it had to have all the conveniences expected in a normal suburban home but would be energy self sufficient.
A diesel generator was installed on the property that was set up to start automaticlly if the power levels from the solar panels and other devices dropped below a certain point.
During the whole year that the experiment ran the generator did not have to start up once.
My question is "What happened to all the data from this successful experiment from so long ago? This was funded by the taxpayer. Why was the taxpayer never allowed to get a return on their investment by way of information on how to become energy self sufficient? Why is it only now the government is concerned about domestic power consumption?"
I believe it is the same old con that we always get and vested interests.
Cisco,
try this website on for some really good and intersting stuff from CSIRO. http://www.det.csiro.au/energycentre/
- J
N.A.S.A Would like to here from your students when you they get the FOAM right for their next take off.
