The types of materials selected at the design stage of building a home will have a fundamental impact on its longer-term sustainability. These choices have implications for saving energy, improving bushfire resilience and improving comfort. Building materials typically considered to be "green" include mud brick, renewable plant materials like straw, recycled materials and other products that are non-toxic, reusable and renewable. There's also timber, although the entire question of sustainably-sourced timber is a large can of worms. Opening that can is beyond the remit of this piece-see "A knotty problem" in Sanctuary 52 for an in-depth discussion of the subject. Choosing these materials will help make mitigate your home's impact on our climate, but it's also important to check their bushfire resistance and compliance with Bushfire Attack Levels (BALs).
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