A Greener House E-Book

Richard Reed

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Seitenzahl: 244

Beschreibung

How green should you go? If you would like to make a positive impact on the environment but are concerned about the financial outlay, A Greener House is for you. Property experts Richard Reed and Sara Wilkinson will show you how to decide which sustainable measures are suited to your property, and evaluate the cost implications of installing them. You'll learn how to design a new home that exceeds the highest energy-efficiency ratings available, protect your property from obsolescence and outdating, and evaluate market trends in your neighbourhood. If you own property and would like to increase its value, you can't afford to ignore sustainability. This book will show you how to reduce your environmental footprint while making the most of your greatest financial asset. We all agree that we can't continue to consume the world's resources at the rate that we are now. We must start living more sustainably - and what better place to start than at home? Most of us want to play our part, but we're put off by financial concerns. But what if the cost of building or remodelling a greener house could be recovered in the value of your home when you sell?

Leseprobe

Contents

About the Authors

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: The Theory

Chapter 1: Understanding value

Property value

How Can you Add More Value Than a Sustainable Item Costs?

Key Summary Points

Chapter 2: What Affects Property Value?

Market Perceptions

Conformity

Supply and Demand in the Sustainable Housing Market

Balance

Highest and Best Use

Under- and Over-Capitalisation

Synergy

Utility

Scarcity

Desire

Effective Purchasing Power

Competition

Externalities and Property Value

Social Forces

Economic Forces

Government Forces

Environmental Forces

Depreciation and Obsolescence

Transport Energy

Embodied Energy

Renewable Energy

Carbon Trading

Life Cycle or Whole Life Costing

Durability and Maintenance

Water and Housing

Adaptability

Key Summary Points

Chapter 3: A Matter of Health

Intangible Benefits of Sustainability

Health, Wellbeing and Value

Creating a Healthy Building

Key Summary Points

Chapter 4: Government and Sustainability

Commonwealth Legislation

State and Territory Legislation

Key Summary Points

Part II: Putting Theory Into Practice

Chapter 5: Energy Options

Solar Energy

Key Summary Points

Chapter 6: Existing Properties

Improving Your Windows

A Room-by-room Analysis

Which Options are For Me?

Future-Proofing Your Home

Adding Value to Investment Properties

Sustainable Renovations

Key Summary Points

Chapter 7: New Properties

Environmental Rating Schemes

Issues For New Homes

Key Summary Points

Part III: Looking To the Future

Chapter 8: Alternative Building Options

Adobe Housing

Rammed Earth Housing

Straw Bale Construction

Underground Housing

Value of Unconventional Houses

Key Summary Points

Chapter 9: Where to Now?

Future Links with Value

Can you Afford to Ignore Sustainability?

The Next Steps to Take

Appendix A: Glossary of Terms

Appendix B: Decision-Making Flowchart

Appendix C: Sustainability Checklist

Appendix D: Useful Websites

Index

First published 2008 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall Street, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

© Richard Reed and Sara Wilkinson 2008

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Reed, Richard.

A greener house : the sustainable investor’s guide to buying, building and renovating / authors, Richard Reed; Sara Wilkinson.

Richmond, Vic. : John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

9780731407897 (pbk.).

Includes index.

House buying.

Housing — Environmental aspects.

Real estate investment.

Sustainable development.

Wilkinson, Sara.

643.12

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover by Brad Maxwell

Cover and internal images © iStockphoto/Elena Kalistratova

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and neither purports nor intends to be advice. Readers should not act on the basis of any matter in this publication without considering (and if appropriate taking) professional advice with due regard to their own particular circumstances. The authors and publisher expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person, whether a purchaser of this publication or not, in respect of anything and of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether in whole or part, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication.

About the authors

Richard Reed

Over many years Richard Reed has gained ‘hands on’ experience and knowledge about residential property and real estate. He has a background as a real estate valuer, and has been employed in both private and government firms with the focus placed on residential properties. His higher education was focused specifically on the property discipline, and included a PhD in residential property markets at the University of Queensland.

Richard is a member of the Australian Property Institute, and recently edited their text The Valuation of Real Estate. He is coeditor of The Australian and New Zealand Property Journal, and editor of the UK journal The International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis. In addition, Richard is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and other Australian and overseas property associations, and has been widely published in the areas of property and sustainability. Currently he is Professor of Property and Real Estate at Deakin University (Melbourne).

Sara J Wilkinson

Sara Wilkinson has been working in the renovation and refurbishment of buildings, both residential and commercial, for over 24 years. She first came across sustainability or environmental issues in 1988 and has been active in this area ever since. Sara qualified professionally in 1987 as a chartered building surveyor and is now a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a professional body with over 140 000 members covering land, property and construction.

Sara has been teaching sustainable building practices since 1992 in the UK and Australia. She has completed numerous research projects on the topic of building sustainability and has published her work in professional and academic journals, as well as presenting her findings at conferences around the world. Sara has lectured for many years on sustainability at the University of Melbourne, and is now lecturing at Deakin University (Melbourne) on sustainable construction. She has undertaken sustainable renovations on her own home, and was delighted when she sold her property and realised a 300 per cent increase in value over a four-year period.

Acknowledgements

This book is a result of many years of research into sustainability and value. The authors would like to acknowledge the many people, too numerous to mention individually, including property practitioners, developers, valuers and academics from all over the world, with whom they have spoken about the issues covered in this book. Their knowledge and work has provided an invaluable contribution to the philosophy and contents of this book.

Introduction

In a relatively short period of time, sustainability has become increasingly important to practically all members of Western society. This is evident in the media, and it can be commonly observed in our day-to-day lives. Few people would argue today that climate change is a myth, since we are given regular reminders of unusual climate and weather, including long-term droughts, floods, tsunami, rising sea levels and inexplicable weather patterns. We are constantly reminded about the importance of actively pursuing a sustainable lifestyle and leaving something for tomorrow’s generation.

There are many different ways to live a sustainable existence. One extreme is to become 100 per cent self-sufficient and contribute nothing harmful to the environment. At the other end of the sustainability scale, there are people who believe that simply using an energy efficient light bulb is adequate. In all reality, it isn’t feasible for everyone to adopt a 100 per cent self-sufficient lifestyle, but it is obvious that we do need to take more action than just replacing our tungsten light bulbs, if we want to make a significant positive impact on the environment.