Smaller, well-designed houses the way to go
When I was running the Energy Advice Centre, I would frequently get calls from people who were having a new house built , wanting to know how to make it more energy efficient. Frequently these houses would be rather large (250, even 300 square metres). It took quite a lot of discussion to get people to realise that they needed to seriously consider the costs of heating all that space, and to at least have ways of partitioning some of it off, or having an alternative living area for the winter.
I’ve since become a fan of small to medium, really well designed houses- I live myself in a house of just under 130 square metres. And although I’m certainly not advocating the following housing solution for those of us living here in Wellington, this incredibly well-designed “tiny home”, does have its appeal!! Take a look:
Sarah Free 