It is coming to be accepted that there is a personal and, to a lesser extent, a national benefit in having energy generation and water collection within the family home, but the conversation has not yet extended to applying this thinking to a co-operative community setting.

When reviewing advertisements and promotional materials it appears that photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are promoted, with solar water panels being essentially ignored — why?

The thermal performance of a house is determined by the complex interaction of a variety of major influences. With higher performance being desired, and demanded, it becomes more important that an objective measure is used for an assessment to be meaningful.

When designing buildings for thermal performance, which criteria should dominate when it comes to the selection of building materials?

Should we be reviewing the natural ventilation aspects of the standard form of windows commonly used in our modern houses?

Does the disconnect between the standard temperatures used for thermal performance research, and the actual interior and climatic temperatures to which building are exposed, cause confusion?

Recently there seems to be a developing interest in locating domestic aluminium windows to align with the thermal insulation zone of exterior walls. This interest seems to be focused on thermally broken window frames and the by-passing of the thermal break which occurs with current window installation details.

When there is talk of thermal insulation 'R-values' soon come into the conversation, but how do they relate to the actual thermal comfort of a building? And are they the primary determinant of the thermal comfort of a home?

Thermally broken window frames have been available for a number of years, but for some reason their uptake has not been as rapid as might be expected from the promotion given to them.

There are city councils in New Zealand which offer their citizens and local designers free advice on how to improve the quality and comfort of both new and existing homes.