Energy Smart House design should aim to maximise the solar access of the home. This is a measure of how much sunshine is available to assist with the heating of a building. Design for solar access can include maximising the sun available to a rooftop solar hot water system panel, preserving sunlight for the northern windows of a dwelling, and ensuring adequate sunlight is available for outdoor clothes drying facilities.

• Create zones by grouping rooms with similar uses together, separated by doorways.

• Place living areas, such as the family room, kitchen, lounge and dining room on the northern side of your home for maximum thermal comfort. If there is insufficient space for all of them, at lest place day living areas to the north.

• Bedrooms have different thermal comfort requirements and can be located on the southern or eastern sides. Bedrooms used for play or study may be located on the northern side.

• Service areas (e.g. bathroom, laundry, walk-in robe, garage) are usually located on southern or western side, as they have minimal thermal comfort requirements.

• Group together rooms that use hot water (kitchen, bathroom, laundry) to minimise the length of pipe needed to connect them to the hot water system.

• Avoid open plan living areas or high ceilings as these can lead to high heating costs. Maximum ceiling height should be 2.7 metres.

• Circulation zones (e.g. entry, corridors, halls) have minimum thermal comfort requirements and will not generally benefit from solar access, but can impact on other zones if they are open between those zones.