Altereco: Pioneering Sustainable Homes with Passive House in Melbourne
A Pivotal Year for Altereco
I founded Altereco with a mission… to create some of the most remarkable, sustainable and livable homes in Victoria. My journey has gone deep into sustainable design.
I’ve developed a passion to raise awareness and teach our clients about the link between their health, sustainability and the performance of their homes. Today, along with my wife, and business partner Claire, and together with our team, not only do we have an impact on the lives of our clients but an impact on the environment too.
When meeting new clients, 9 times out of 10 we are told that one of their main bugbears is that they live in inefficient homes; we had one client aptly describe their pre-reno home akin to “living in a sieve” - it’s funny cos it’s true! Or is it?! A client of ours recently admitted to sleeping in a beanie during the deep winter months! While our homes are outrageously hot in summer. Melbournians can often be found walking around in Jan/Feb in a sleep-deprived daze as the mercury in their bedrooms creeps into the 30C’s!
On a much more serious note; more people die in Australia due to heatwaves than natural disasters, while our rate of cold-associated deaths is double that of Sweden. In an attempt to keep homes at a comfortable livable temperature, Australians are forking out a small fortune in energy bills; with carbon emissions continuing to rise as a result.
Passive House has had its challenges; barely recognised 10 years ago, however it's becoming far more popular now. When becoming Passive House certified earlier this year I felt that most push-back would be from builders, adopting a ‘but this is how we’ve always done it’ approach. But amazingly this is where we’ve received the most positive feedback. A couple of builders we regularly work alongside have even become Certified Passive House Tradespeople.
More than half the buildings expected to be standing in 2050 haven’t been built yet. According to a report from the Australian Sustainable Built Environment, the majority of Australian buildings in 2050 will be built after 2019. This highlights the importance of increasing the building standards to beyond the 6-star energy rating which was introduced in 2010.
Poorly designed inefficient houses are unfortunately accepted as the status quo and left unquestioned by many in this country. Many Australians are unsure of where they can start in order to make impactful changes, often deterred by the anticipated upfront costs. However, often a 1-Star improvement can be achieved through better design - and at no extra outlay to the homeowner. On a positive note, good quality designers and builders are already building higher performing homes’ well above the minimum standards. However, we need legislation to ensure that this is translated across the board so that all Australians can benefit from a comfortable, healthy home that is much kinder to our planet.
The next opportunity for change to raise standards for all new homes is the 2022 update of the National Construction Code.
“The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and make change”
Greta Thunberg