Getting the right aspect

If you’re building a house and find the conventional concrete box version a tad limited for your greener construction dreams, branching out may prove harder than you thought. Having spent a year researching the possible routes to creating my environmentally-friendly, energy efficient dream house, I have come to one conclusion: there are no clean-cut answers to what constitutes building an eco-friendly house. But there are ground rules to ensure less reliance on oil and therefore a much friendlier electricity bill.
So what is considered an eco friendly or green building? Eco architect Petros Lapithis gives an honest reply: “There are so many possible answers to this question and the subject itself is so massive, it’s almost like giving a calculated answer to how long is a piece of string!” The reason even Lapithis has such a hard time defining what a green building is comes down to the simple fact that unless your house is built from natural, sustainable materials such as straw bales and lime plaster or earth bags, a lot of energy has gone into bringing it together. Wood, brick, concrete and metal have all used up much energy to be transported and assembled, so maintaining an eco-friendly stand in this case just isn’t accurate. Of course many argue that wood has a much lighter impact on the environment than concrete as it is biodegradable and renewable. But then again concrete’s thermal mass has tremendous heat storage capacity, which means that maintaining a desired temperature is easier and it uses minimal energy input. And this is precisely where you’ll make the difference in a green house.
“This is the ultimate secret to an energy efficient home,” confirms Lapithis, who lives in a concrete house, where walls have been lined with polystyrene. “Insulation is so important it can make the biggest difference in how comfortably you live, environmentally and financially.” Insulation, does not only concern homes keen on keeping rooms warm throughout the winter but most importantly, in our case especially, it’s all about keeping them cool. There are a number of ways you can insulate your house, even existing ones can benefit from minor changes.
Lapithis’ house does not have a/c, which means that his electricity bill is already halved. This astoundingly brave act comes down to the polystyrene-lined walls, which successfully manage to keep the temperature within the house low, and its orientation and shade from trees. In fact the entire house is engulfed by strategically placed tall, thick trees. “This is another major reason why the house is so cool even during the hottest times of the year. I have learnt how to control the sun by blocking it completely but this is also because the house’s position is correct in terms of location.” Something that every architect should take into consideration is that with correct orientation you get the right amount of sun in winter and optimise the amount of sun at the right times of day; you are also protected from strong winds while having the benefit of cooling breezes.
The basics? “The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, is higher in the summer sky and lower in winter. This and several particulars of each site and climate should be taken into account when building a new home.” In addition to placing windows almost one metre away from the wall exterior to limit direct sunlight into the rooms while creating a scenic window surround, Lapithis also keeps the shutters down throughout the day, opening the entire house to a beautiful breeze every evening.
Naturally, cold and winters come into the picture and for this Lapithis’ home is also equipped. “Although I have used wall-mounted central heating, a lot of the time I depend on my fireplace to warm up the house.” This is possible through tiny holes positioned at the top of the chimney where heat, not smoke, travels throughout the house all the way up to the bedrooms, which are situated in a circular fashion around a grand opening. To maintain the warm temperatures, Lapithis has built a glass room around the front door. “This was done because Cypriots always stand in the doorway when they’re about to leave. I want to be able to close my front door without sending them and myself into the cold.”
Lapithis insists anything that makes sense and life easier can be done and shouldn’t be thought of as an extra cost. “It’s about time we changed and people start demanding a change. There are so many ways to survive the heat and the cold without dreading the bill every two months. It’s just a matter of research and awareness.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.