Solarhomes Mission introduction

ESD:
Environmentally Sustainable Design

A collective term for a very broad set of design criteria which are, or are considered to be, sympathetic to the thoughtful and generally conservative usage of natural resources in the production and use of buildings and human settlements.

As with environmental concerns in other industries there are fundamental objectives which few people dispute, eg. It is good to minimise the energy needed to operate a building, but there is less understanding and commitment in more complex aspects such as the embodied energy captured within various building products and the whole of life costs of using those products to construct particular buildings.

In short, ESD is an awareness and a commitment to act responsibly in design choices where there is often conflicting pressures of time, cost and quality.

Sufficient data and definitive eco-analysis is often lacking in the form needed for a particular project at a particular time.

It is therefore important for the ESD orientated architect to take certain positions in principle and to progressively grow a knowledge base on issues in his/her own market area to inform successive design projects.

Research and greater knowledge can then bring more environmentally elegant building solutions which have potential to reorientate and transform the work of a practice and the service to its clients.

Few would claim to have reached their goal in ESD. The pursuit of the ideal however can usually be seen to have benefits both locally and globally, and that alone is reward enough for committed ESD architects and their clients.