Building an environmentally sustainable home doesn’t necessarily require the latest technology or expensive equipment. By incorporating earth-friendly design elements into your initial building plans, your architect and contractor can work together to build a home both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally conscious. Talk to your architect about passive design strategies and elements in the home that use existing energy resources to keep homes comfortable and efficient.

Here are three ideas to discuss with your architect:

• Design for Movement

Homes in tropical and humid climates need to maintain lots of airflow to keep the home cool without relying solely on expensive air conditioning systems. Consider using lightweight building materials like timber and steel—neither material “traps” heat inside the home like brick or stone. Combined with high ceilings and ventilated roofs, good airflow throughout the home reduces unwanted heat naturally and efficiently

Additionally, each room should have at least two openings on at least two different walls to create breeze pathways throughout the home. Longer floorplans with lots of exposed wall space for windows and doors provide maximum air movement, reducing the need for the manufactured energy.

• Create Light

In addition to providing air flow throughout the home, rooms with lots of windows and open spaces allow for natural light to fulfill most daytime lighting needs. Solar shading or window treatments that manage the way light travels through your home ensures your home utilizes natural light effectively. Motorized window shades can be used to block direct noonday light and adjusted to allow softer morning and evening light to naturally illuminate interior spaces.

Make sure your windows can be left open in rainy weather whenever possible. Awning windows and window casings make windows multi-purpose design elements—letting light in during sunny weather and keeping the house cool when left open.

• Ideal Orientation

How your home is oriented, both externally and internally, plays a key role in maintaining energy efficiency. Homes should be positioned to catch summer breezes during warmer months, with lots of windows available to circulate air inside. If possible, second story windows should be shaded by tree canopies, so cooler air is drawn into the house. Eastern and western walls should be designed to deflect heat-painted in lighter colors and placed away from flat concrete surfaces like driveways and sidewalks which trap and reflect heat back onto the home.

Inside the home, kitchens and living spaces should face north-east to get the most of the bright winter sun during cool months. Bigger windows and avoiding closed-off spaces will not only create an aesthetically pleasing design but an energy efficient one as well.