Can a house renovation cut your carbon footprint?

Here’s how Sydney’s eastern suburb residents are building beautiful homes with a sustainable interior designer.

What if there was a sustainable interior design professional who knew how to create a beautiful home for you, and lowers your carbon footprint and your energy bills?

Here are two ways The Design Commission is doing just that and changing house renovation for the better in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

1. Good design reduces your energy usage

The best way to reduce your carbon footprint is to renovate only once. Your home design needs to be timeless and resilient.

To start with, a sustainable interior designer will focus on floor plans, room layouts and the way your home functions. Each design choice will be purposeful and flexible, accounting for future family changes.

A well-designed home adjusts to the seasons. In Australia, 40% of households’ energy use is to heat or cool for comfort. A sustainable interior designer will aim to minimise the need to heat or cool your home mechanically. They will consider climate, your home’s aspect and materials, and how these impact your energy usage. Importantly, insulating your floors and walls, and preventing heat loss from the glazing, will control the inside temperature of your home.

A sustainable interior designer will incorporate design elements that save energy. Such as natural air ventilation, appropriate window types, sizes, locations and coverings, different types of flooring, efficient heating and cooling, and other factors that impact the future energy usage of your home.

A house renovation is a good time to invest in LED lighting, efficient appliances and fittings, rainwater tanks for gardening and toilet systems, and solar panels for hot water and power. These options will greatly reduce your energy and water usage. That means smaller bills!

2. Sourcing sustainable finishes and fittings

It can be hard to know how or why one product is sustainable while another is not. Sustainable products can be hard to find and the options are ever-evolving, so lean on the experts.

A sustainable interior designer can explain the lifecycle of a product to you, and whether it’s suitable for your house renovation. The lifecycle of a product includes the way it’s sourced, the resources and energy used to produce it, how it’s transported to you and how it performs in the home.

From natural paints and fabrics to products with recycled content, to reclaimed timber flooring and recycled composite benchtops, choose materials that are right for your home and low in VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). They will create a healthy home with unique design features and be long lasting.

It may feel like a lot to absorb, any house renovation requires many decisions. But with a sustainable interior designer, your research will be fast-tracked, and sustainable choices will be easy.

So, where do you start?

THE DESIGN COMMISSION is practised in sustainable interior design. With our network of suppliers and trades and a decade of experience, we can cut your carbon footprint and make your house renovation straightforward.

To arrange a complimentary initial consultation and meet the director of THE DESIGN COMMISSION, Jacqueline Bosscher, get in touch here. We’d love to hear about your project.