Change Your Perspective On Healthy, Environmentally Friendly Homes With Harrisons

Here at Harrisons, we're all about ensuring New Zealand homes offer healthy and comfortable living environments and helping improve the overall environment in which we live.

And that's why we're excited about World Green Building Week and this year's theme: “Change Your Perspective”.

World Green Building Week is a truly global event that runs from September 26 to October 2 as the flagship for 75 countries' green building councils to raise awareness about green buildings and to highlight the most effective means of achieving environmental, social and economic goals.

Because New Zealand is in the midst of a building boom to cater to our rapidly growing population, it can sometimes be easy to forget that what we build and how we design our homes can greatly impact our lives. It's not just about fast response to demand – It's about providing long-lasting, sustainable homes that don't waste or consume large amounts of energy and provide healthy places for Kiwis to thrive.

This change of perspective is also about understanding that our existing homes can be converted from drafty, power-hungry buildings to high-spec, environmentally friendly places – which is why Harrisons were happy to jump on board Auckland builder Zane Raphael's pioneering project to convert a 50-year-old house into a 9-star Homestar-rated eco-home.

So, whether you are looking to build a new home, renovate an existing home or find cost-effective ways to help your home make a positive environmental impact, here are a few ways in which we think Harrisons products can help “change your perspective”.

• Ventilation: Having a well-ventilated home immediately prevents that age-old Kiwi curse of old houses: damp rooms and pools of condensation on your windowsills. But as well as that comfort factor of a drier home, a good ventilation System such as i-vent also offers health benefits to you and your family by providing an environment where mould won't flourish and where allergens like dust mites and pollen can settle.
• Solar Panels: Investing in a good quality PV Solar System allows you to make cost savings on your power bill and raise the potential value of your home. Still, as well as those financial incentives, they also provide a certifiable stage towards making your home into an eco-home. By generating renewable energy on-site and combining that with efficient appliances, heating and lighting, your home will become more energy efficient and have less environmental impact.
• Battery storage: Similar to investing in PV Solar Panels, the immediate impact of incorporating your Solar System with battery storage is on your power bill as you're able to use more of your self-generated power during high-use periods in the morning and evening rather than just when you are producing that power during the daytime. But another perspective of battery storage is in seeing how lowering your demand for on-grid energy reduces the county's overall demand for fossil fuels. Very shortly, the combination of battery storage technology and the growth in popularity of electric cars is set to revolutionise our country's overall power consumption.
• Home insulation and heat pumps: In a country with warm summers and cold winters and with the extremes of the winterless north and the Deep South, being able to keep your home at a comfortable, consistent temperature means having good insulation and choosing a simple method (such as a heat pump) to keep warm when It's cold outside, or cool when It's hot outside. But as well as that comfort factor – installing good quality insulation and having an energy-efficient heat pump can also help keep your heating costs down and provide a healthy living environment.

Harrisons Energy Solutions was set up specifically to change the perspective of how we live in New Zealand.

Managing director Phil Harrison says many Kiwi homes – especially the older ones – have struggled to maintain a healthy environment, and many Kiwis “put up with damp, cold homes just because they were used to having them growing up”. “All our main categories – the insulation and ventilation and keeping warm with heat pumps – are about improving living conditions inside the home,” Phil said.

“But It's not just about it being comfortable and pleasant to live in; It's about the cost benefits and the health benefits and the environmental impact benefits. And with Solar power, It's also about independence and choice and the chance to do the right thing for our environment.

“When we set up Harrisons as a family business, we did so because we wanted to look after New Zealand families and help them make their homes healthy, sustainable homes and make sure those homes are habitable to specific high standards.”

At Harrisons, we encourage you to look at ways to help the environment and spread the green word. Visit World Green Building Week's website for more ideas and information.

For more information about our special offers or to have one of our experts visit you for a free on-site consultation and quote, contact us at 0800 003354 or via the website.

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