Energy efficiency: Tents to castles

Power price shocks

RESIDENTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA are facing sharp

increases to electricity bills and will be forced to look more closely at their daily usage in a bid to reduce costs, especially those living in one star ‘leaky tents’ with gas ducted heating that evaporates overnight.

In a timely move the Climate Council is calling for greater minimum energy standards as a means of reducing emissions and improving quality of life.

Its latest report Tents to Castles: Building Energy Efficient, Cost-Saving Aussie Homes states an increase in minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes from six to seven stars would dramatically cut household emissions, reduce energy bills in the region of $450 annually, and improve people’s health and wellbeing.

“No more damp, draughty, ice cold in winter and stifling in summer… highly expensive to run and more polluting than they need to be,” the report says.

The Council is asking its followers to send copies of their Tents to Castles report to the relevant minister in their state, urging them to commit to a minimum 7-Star energy efficiency rating for new homes by the end of 2022.

Adding an extra star to each new home being built in Australia would mean 25 per cent fewer emissions compared to homes at the minimum standard now and, with 1.1 million homes expected to be built across the country over the next five years, the sooner we take action, the bigger the impact we can have on Australia’s emission reduction efforts, the Council wrote.

Heating and cooling emissions saved from building 7-Star homes out to 2030 would deliver total savings of 7.7 million tonnes; equivalent to a 12 per cent reduction on 2019 national residential emissions.

The economic benefits of avoiding these emissions over a ten-year period is as much as $90 million and up to $3.5 billion, depending on the cost of carbon factored in.

Among the Climate Council’s recommendations is the phase-out of gas from new housing developments by 2025 and to explore opportunities to incentivise the replacement of all residential gas appliances.

The report is released as state and territory ministers prepare to meet in July to review 11-year-old regulations that govern minimum energy efficiency standards in new home builds.

Time is of the essence

The next opportunity to update the National Construction Code will not arise until 2025, and delaying this action by three years will lock in higher bills and add 9 million tonnes of emissions this decade. “Any delay in introducing new standards will lock in higher bills and emissions,” the report states. An independent analysis from Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council and ClimateWorks (2018) found that a delay in implementing new standards could mean 1.1 million homes (including townhouses and apartments) will be built to a poorer standard; adding $2 billion to residential energy bills and $720 million in additional network costs.

The same analysis found a delay would also add nine million tonnes of emissions this decade making it more difficult for states and territories to reach their climate targets. This would be the equivalent of forcing one of Australia’s larger coal power stations to operate for an extra, unnecessary year. www.climatecouncil.org.au

In related news, President of the Energy Savings Industry Association, Rod Woolley, slammed the Coalition’s poor public policy practice that left leading energy efficient lighting and environmental certificate creation businesses in the dark.

This was in response to the former federal government’s decision to halt eligibility of commercial and public lighting upgrades for Australian Carbon Credit Units under the Emissions Reduction Fund, a snap decision that was made without consultation and was not well publicised or communicated.

“The case remains strong to provide incentives for energy efficient lighting retrofit upgrades. They are not business as usual,” Woolley said.

“We need only look to those states where there are no energy savings schemes to see that large retrofits at scale are not happening. To reduce emissions at scale, financial incentives are still required.”

He added continuing delays on mandatory disclosure standards for commercial and residential properties for sale and rental was not helping the retrofit market transition to energy efficient lighting.