Week 8 Assembly Award - Shaan

Well done with your recent Sustainable home design Shaan, lots of thought and great ideas put into your design.

Vivisection... the debated issue...Felix Hunt

I believe that people should not be doing animal tests in labs.

Lots of people will say that humans are the most valuable form of life on the planet, but I fail to see how. We pollute the air, we are over populated and we destroy other animal habitats. So actually we are one of the least important races on the planet.

People will also say that a human’s suffering is a lot worse than another animal’s suffering but that is not true in the slightest. Animals can feel just as much pain as us, they just don’t have the voice to say “stop”.

So hopefully you agree with me that animal testing should not go on.

Week 6&7 Assembly Awards - Thomas & Ben

Week 6 - Assembly Award - Thomas for a super effort in designing, building and explaining the features of your "Edible Eco-Home"

Week 7 - Ben for a fantastic use fo "Google Sketch Up" and IT skills in putting together the 3d image design of your eco home (some fantastic input into this by Shaan also)

Eco Home - Thomas

These are the design features that my house has to make it eco-friendly. (The best thing about my model I made was that it was Edible - A tasty Chocolate Cake that we "Demolished")

Water harvesting and recycling –my house has a sloped roof so the water runs off into a tank. Grey water is also used in the toilet and outside taps.

Day-lighting systems-the sunlight streams through the windows and sliding doors so you don’t have to use artificial light as much.

Thermal mass-the driveway, veranda and floor of the house is all thermal mass which keeps the house an even temperature.

Insulation-the walls, floor and roof of my house are all insulated.

Solar gain­-my house is facing north so lots of sunlight gets in and heats the house.

Security-my house has good visibility from the street.

Energy use-my house uses renewable energy and has star rated appliances.

Solar power and water-the solar panels on the roof and walls are used for heating the hot water and generating electricity.

Wind power-there is a wind turbine to produce more electricity.

Georgia - Eco Home

If my house was a real Eco House it would feature a mud brick wall at the front and back of the house to keep the warmth in all year long. My house has a 1.5 meter roof overhang to shade the house from the sun in the summer and in the winter to shelter the mud brick walls from the rain and bad weather. My roof is slopping, there is a rain water tank collector at the back of the house that water would flow into and then would get filtered for other house hold needs. This house also has a glass conservatory to soak up the heat and transfer it though the vents that lead into the house in the conservatory also has a black slate tiled floor to pick up more heat . My house has a vegetable garden to grow its own vegetables and a windmill to have my own electricity generated, I have 3 solar panels on the roof for hot water and at the front of the house I have high windows so the sun can shine directly in the house, my house is painted in dark colours so it attracts heat.

DCC Waste Water Guest Speaker - By Cody and Jacob

On The 14^th of September Mike Ind the DCC waste water operation’s manger came to speak about waste water from where it goes and where it end’s up.

He started of by talking about Dunedin’s main water treatment plant’s the water start’s of at many Rivers and Lakes then it get’s pumped into the treatment plant’s where it take’s out the Sludge, Grit, Mud And So Forth. It then drain’s all of the unwanted bad stuff and then it will pump out the bad stuff into the sewer’s.

Next the water gets treated with chemicals to make it drinkable. They would add carbon dioxide so the bubble’s would rise and take little particle’s of Sludge and Grit that wasn’t empted before. All I can say that it went though a lot just to make it clean and now I will never look at tap water the same again.

Will's Eco Home

My Eco Home has Solar panels for heating water, Insulation – walls, roof and floor for reducing heat loss, Lots of windows for lots of natural lighting, Double glazing on windows for reducing heat loss, North facing = makes the most of the sun, Wind turbine= produces electricity, Rain water collection tank, Vegetable garden, Glass house, Compost bin, Recycling /sorting bins, Worm farm= makes compost for garden, Pond= environmentally friendly and Trees= provided shade and produce oxygen.