Energy

A typical New Zealand home consumes 10,500 kWh of energy per year.

All energy consumption has environmental impacts, ranging from the production of greenhouse gases in burning fossil fuels to direct effects on landscapes from dams and other sources of generation.

Sustainable energy use means designing homes to conserve energy, obtaining energy from sources that do the least possible long-term environmental harm and, where energy is used, to use it efficiently. (Find out more about embodied energy.) Energy efficiency will also reduce long-term energy bills for home occupiers.

Energy-efficient design may incorporate small-scale on-site energy production to meet demand.

This section of the Level website incorporates material from the BRANZ publications Energy and Electrical design.