Bathroom fans and sliding glass doors: new research shows how those cold draughts sneak into your home

August 27, 2024

Michael Ambrose, CSIRO Winter is now well upon us, and many of us – especially those living in old homes – are discovering just how draughty they are. In fact, Australia has some of the least air-tight homes in the world. But there’s good news. New research by CSIRO, which I led, shows Australia’s newly […]

HERO Certificate data now on AHD!

August 7, 2024

Exciting news this month with the inclusion of the certificate data that has been generated through HERO software. Almost 68,000 HERO certificates have been added and backdated to when they were lodged, so you might notice a jump in some of our datapoints as a result. Overall, we are nearly at the 1.5 million certificate […]

If you’ve got a dark roof, you’re spending almost $700 extra a year to keep your house cool

April 8, 2024

Sebastian Pfautsch, Western Sydney University and Riccardo Paolini, UNSW Sydney If you visit southern Greece or Tunisia, you might notice lots of white rooftops and white buildings to reflect the intense heat and keep residents cooler. It’s very different in Australia. New housing estates in the hottest areas around Sydney and Melbourne are dominated by […]

Australian homes are getting bigger and bigger, and it’s wiping out gains in energy efficiency

March 18, 2024

Kate Wingrove, University of Wollongong and Emma Heffernan, University of Sydney New Australian homes are being designed bigger and so require more energy for heating and cooling, wiping out potential gains in energy efficiency, according to our new research. The increasing energy demand is inconsistent with global efforts to tackle climate change and suggests Australia’s […]