Climate affects building design

How you live within your local environment is really important to your comfort and your wallet and sustainable living. Understanding which climate zone you live in and how it affects your housing choices is one of the first steps in living sustainably. Move your mouse over the map and click on each zone to find out more.

Come and visit ANZSES annual Sustainable House Day .

See the Department of Climate Change's Your Home guide

Find out more about the climate from the Bureau of Meteorology

Read a history of home design evolution in Australia

Climate change needs housing change.

"We regard the sun as our enemy when it's really the best friend we will ever have." No matter where you live in Australia this short book (19pp) is a must read. It contains the wisdom and ideas of architect Derek Wrigley. Although the contents are focused on Canberra, the principles broadly apply across all of the major population centres of southern Australia. Many of the graphics in the book look like the average suburban streetscape, but here you can see what is wrong, all carefully annotated and the consequences described.  Becoming educated in the climate you live in is an important step toward sustainable living. Not only saving money by design but minimizing efforts to cool or heat a house could grant you a tax break or even a reduction in premiums for Home and Contents Insurance .

Derek has made his publication available to ANZSES, and if you wish to share this knowledge, please feel free to disseminate it to those you feel would be able to benefit from it.

Click here to download "Climate Change Needs Housing Change" (PDF 1.3MB)