Your Sustainable Home - Here to help

 

Published 15 May 2020

Your Sustainable home - here to help

Did you miss our ‘Warm, dry, healthy home - here to help’ webinar? No worries, here’s an overview of it, including a recording of the webinar + helpful links and supporting information for you to check out at your own leisure.

 
 

Session 2: Warm, Dry, Healthy Homes - here to help

With home energy consumption a hot topic right now, lots of us are looking to establish warm dry, healthy homes that won’t cost an arm and a leg. If you are not sure where to start, the second of our two-part series gives you advice and information regarding our subsidies, services & assessments and the different standard to meet. Whether you are a homeowner, student, landlord or a family living in a rental property, this webinar will help you take care of your home.

Panelists & Chair:

  • Craig Auty, Home Performance Advisor  

  • Chris Mischeski, Home Performance Advisor

  • Amanda Ashby, Curtain Bank Coordinator

  • Phil Squire, Fair Energy Manager (Chair)

Still, want to know more? See the further resources below the video.

In this webinar, we give free advice and talk about what subsidies and support are available for tenants, homeowners, students and landlords throughout the different COVID-19 alert levels.

 
 

Ready to have your home assessed by the pros?

 
 

How can I improve my home to meet the current standards for healthy housing?

Because it’s difficult to know where to begin, we’ve narrowed down for you some useful resources and the most commons topics to get started. First of all, if you want to learn the best ways to reduce your power bills and energy consumption, do not hesitate to read the blog of our first webinar Warm, Dry, Healthy Homes - What does it take.

Whether you rent, flat, or own your own house, you can make your home more efficient, healthier, and cheaper to run. Saving water, saving power, and ensuring you have the appropriate insulation and heating system are the best actions to begin with. To help you out, we offer a large range of products and services/assessments ready to go! We are also aware of the eventual costs of improving your home’s health and energy efficiency, so we are working to offer you the most affordable options thanks to our subsidies and low-interest finance plans.

Became a subsidies expert:

  • Heat pump subsidy and eligibility

    Thanks to the Warmer Kiwi Homes programme some homeowners can save up to 90% on the cost of a heat pump (capped at $3,000 including GST). 

  • Insulation grants

    Warmer Kiwi Homes funding is for ceiling and underfloor insulation is available for homeowner-occupiers in Wellington City, Porirua, Kapiti Coast and Upper and Lower Hutt. The grant covers 90% of ceiling and underfloor insulation. Check out the Warmer Kiwi Homes Tools to find out if you are eligible.

The Healthy Homes Standards (HHS) are specific and minimum standards to help the tenants to create warmer drier homes, improving their health outcomes. Whether you are landlord, tenant or curious to know more about requirements for a healthy home, we have developed a procedure to assess rental properties against the standards and to make recommendations for necessary upgrades.

Talking about heating and insulation, you need to know that the things that create heat are the ones that use the most energy. To reduce your energy costs you can stop heat loss and hot water use or install more energy-efficient items. But the most efficient way to save money and keep the warm air in remains a perfect Insulation and a good quality heating system.

According to the most recent BRANZ House Condition Survey, more than 50% of NZ houses have at least one defect with insulation that reduces its effectiveness, so don't be one of them and don’t hesitate to check that your insulation is up to scratch.

To know everything about Insulation: 

To chose easily your heating systems: 

What about curtains? The best first and easy step you can take for your home and yourself is getting curtains. In fact, the double-layered curtains are really effective at reducing heat loss and energy bills. If you can not afford to buy quality curtains and you have a cold home and have a Community Services Card you might be eligible for FREE curtains.

Yes! One of the community initiative we are the most proud of is our Wellington Curtain Bank, last year, we provided more than 2400 curtains for FREE. All you need to do is give us the window measurements of your homes main living and sleeping areas and our Curtain Bank crew will do the rest.

Everything you want to know about our Curtain Bank: 

Questions in the Webinar

Please find below all the questions that were asked (in order) during the session, the answers are in the video:

  • I live in a flat and its very cold. The landlord said that he doesn't need to install a heat pump/change the insulation but I thought he did. what can I do? Also I don't have curtains. What sort of curtains should I pick?

  • Are there any subsides for insulation or heating, and can I pay it off or do I have to pay in full?

  • I am a tenant - are there any subsidies I can access to make my home warmer? Are wooden blinds energy efficient?

  • How can you ensure safe installation of insulation at Level 3? How do I know if I am eligible for a Insulation grant?

  • My landlord paid for a heat-pump downstairs, but we still don't have any heating upstairs - are they legally required to do more?

  • I'm a renter, we have ceiling insulation and a heat-pump. During winter we often have wetness on the ceiling in the lounge that appears to be where the wooden framing is in the roof. What causes that and why is it in lines where the frame would be in the roof?

  • Are there any types of blinds that are better than others?

  • What is a fixed permanent heat source? we have a panel heater attached to the wall - but on a bracket?

  • How many curtains can I get through the curtain bank for my house? And can I request for a specific color?

  • I own my home and want to find out what I can retrofit to make my home more energy efficient - like lighting - is that something you guys help with?

  • Is it okay to use my gas oven with the door open to heat my kitchen, dining space?

  • There is no underfloor insulation at our flat, our landlord says that he is exempt, because the space is too small. How small is to small? I can get under there to set rat traps - so how small is too small?

  • Do you have cheap and easy fixes for drafts?

Other Frequently Asked Questions:

Why insulate with Sustainability Trust ? We’re part of a of the Community Energy Network (CEN), dedicated to delivering effective energy-efficient solutions for warmer homes, job creation and healthier communities.

Why do you only install ceiling and underfloor insulation? We install ceiling and Underfloor as these are the most cost effective way to insulate your home due to their access.  Windows and walls are also important to improve but come at a much higher cost

How thick should my insulation be? At least 120mm consistently in the ceiling or R2.9 rated and 60mm consistently in the underfloor or R1.3 rated

 
 

Level 3 Covid 19: What does it mean for us? What are our safety guidelines?

We are now busy re-booking and taking new bookings for home assessments, at Level 3 we are allowed to assess properties and install heating and insulation. Obviously we are following all the necessary guidelines to ensure your safety and the safety of our staff. Please find below the summary of the policy we are holding in place for Healthy & Safety: 

Health check and disinfectant:

  • All Trust employees will undertake a health check every morning prior to commencing work.

  • We have a process in place to check our employees when they get to work.

  • We screen all customers at the time of making the appointment, 24 hours prior and on the day of the appointment before commencing the assessment.

  • We follow hygiene requirements while onsite, by wiping down with disinfectant any surfaces we may come into contact with.

Social distancing and PPE

  • We actively practice physical distancing at all appointments (min 2m distance) and at our place of work.

  • We will always seek permission from our customer to attend the appointment.

  • We have appropriate PPE gear (face mask, coveralls, gloves).

  • We adhere to an effective contact tracing of our service.

Extra information:

Need more tools? Check out our awesome range of energy efficiency tools made from the highest advisers

Got more questions? Get in touch at customercare@sustaintrust.org.nz

 
Sustainable Homes/ Home AdviceGuest UserSustainability TrustExpert Advice, Heating & Heat Pumps, Insulation, Changes to housing policy