Think Brick Sustainability Blog

Think Brick Australia has today released a new report that discusses the limitations of existing energy efficiency regulations. According to the report, existing regulations will increase – rather than decrease – residential energy consumption when the emissions trading scheme is introduced.

The report – Wasting Energy – is timely because not only has the Government just released the draft legislation for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), but furthermore, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has elevated the energy efficiency issue in the climate change debate by including increased minimum residential energy efficiency regulation through the proposed National Energy Efficiency Strategy. The strategy, if adopted, will increase minimum ratings from 5 to 6 Stars.

Wasting Energy contributes to this debate by highlighting the limitations of the current methodology for determining star ratings which will not be changed under COAG’s strategy. According to the report the current standards will lead to inefficient houses because minimum standards in the Australian Building Code (the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions) don’t include thermal mass which improves household energy efficiency by an average of up to 22%.

The conclusion is the combined result of an eight-year research program by the University of Newcastle and thermal modelling of 120 different houses in 3 climate zones which represent over 80% of Australia’s population and housing stock.

Wasting Energy outlines that this will occur because building products that contain thermal mass will incur a higher carbon cost than lightweight materials that are often used to meet minimum standards.  Not only does this mean that builders can avoid the
carbon cost and build less efficient houses, but it creates three other problems for the Government:

• increased heating and cooling costs for Australian families
• greater demand on energy infrastructure and increasing future replacement costs
• higher life cycle carbon emisisons.

Wasting Energy makes three recommendations (see below), but ultimately, it serves to put energy efficiency measurement on the agenda; while no one debates the need for increased energy efficiency to combat climate change and reduce increasing costs for Australian families, what we don’t know is if we are actually measuring (a) the right thing, or (b) measuring it the right way.

The Wasting Energy recommendations are:

• R-value be replaced in the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions of the Building Code of Australia (with and alternative metric);
• life cycle analysis complement the carbon trading scheme across the building products market; and
• that the Government provide additional funding for the University of Newcastle to develop alternative metrics that combine thermal resistance (R-value) and thermal mass.

Wasting Energy.pdf