Energy in our Housing
Even though there are now stricter building regulations Australian’s are building bigger houses and this coupled with a population surge means homes are using record levels of energy. Overall electricity use by Victorian homes is expected to rise by 45% by 2030, with average household and total residential energy use both increasing.
Household energy use has continued to soar in Victoria, despite the 2004 introduction of five-star energy efficiency standards for the 40,000 new homes built each year. In Australia we have “modest” minimum energy efficiency standards compared with standards overseas. “In ’95-96 the average house size was something like 190 square metres, and here we are 10 years later and it is something like 234 square metres,” and at the same time occupancy rates had gone down from 2.7 to 2.5 people.
Sustainability expert Alan Pears, an RMIT adjunct professor, said Victoria should aim for world’s best practice, requiring houses to be built to a rating of between seven and eight stars, on par with standards in California, Britain and Canada. e said future green building ratings should put more emphasis on double glazing, shading of windows and better insulation, and also ought to deal with power consumption for lighting and televisions. “A lot of new houses now generate more.
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