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 can be made climate-ready, reducing bills and emissions – a new report shows how
December 15, 2023
Gill Armstrong, Climateworks Centre and Michael Ambrose, CSIRO Millions of homes were built before Australia introduced housing energy efficiency standards in 2003. They’re leaky. Gaps around windows, doors and between building materials allow air to move in and out. So people tend to compensate, with more heating and cooling. It’s costly and damaging for the […]
Keen to get off gas in your home, but struggling to make the switch? Research shows you’re not alone
July 24, 2023
Sangeetha Chandrashekeran, The University of Melbourne and Julia de Bruyn, The University of Melbourne More than five million households in Australia are connected to the gas network. Tackling climate change requires homes and businesses to move away from gas, and instead embrace electric appliances as the power grid shifts to renewable energy. People can save […]
Enhancing home thermal efficiency report released
May 18, 2023
The RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre (RACE for 2030) commissioned this Opportunity Assessment on Enhancing home thermal efficiency (Research Theme H2), to identify priority research areas to accelerate the adoption of home thermal efficiency. It was conducted through a combination of desktop research (systematic review of Australian and international literature), consultations with key stakeholders […]
Top 10 tips to keep cool this summer while protecting your health and your budget
January 3, 2023
Ross Gordon, Queensland University of Technology; Gordon Waitt, University of Wollongong, and Theresa Harada, University of Wollongong With energy prices and temperatures both rising, keeping cool in summer is an increasingly costly challenge for many Australians. Energy bills are predicted to increase by 50% over the next two years, adding to the cost-of-living crisis. For […]
Better building standards are good for the climate, your health, and your wallet. Here’s what the National Construction Code could do better
October 4, 2021
Trivess Moore, RMIT University; Alan Pears, RMIT University; Erika Bartak, The University of Melbourne, and Nicola Willand, RMIT University The recent IPCC report highlighted we must urgently transition to a low carbon future. One low hanging fruit is to improve the sustainability of new and existing housing. Minimum performance and quality requirements for new housing […]
After the vicious cold snap, here are our tips to warm up while keeping your environmental footprint down
August 5, 2020
Peter Osman, CSIRO and Peta Ashworth, The University of Queensland Yesterday, Australia’s eastern states felt a vicious cold snap, and these wintry blasts make hunkering down in isolation at home a little easier. But as the temperature rises at home, so does our carbon footprint and energy bills. Heating and cooling often accounts for up […]
Renovation rescue: 6 ways to ensure HomeBuilder helps consumers, the climate and the economy
June 30, 2020
Peter M Graham, Monash University; John Thwaites, Monash University, and Michael Li, Monash University The federal government’s new HomeBuilder scheme offers eligible Australians money to renovate or build a home. While it’s attracted controversy, HomeBuilder does offer a much-needed opportunity to make old homes more energy-efficient. Research released in March showed the energy performance of […]
Grid-Connected Net Zero Energy Houses vs Off-Grid Housing in Australia
December 12, 2018
BackgroundWith the observed rapid decline in PV prices and a similar trend for battery storage in recent years, there is a growing interest in off-grid housing in Australia. A study conducted by CSIRO projected that by 2050, around one third of Australian households could leave the grid under some potential future scenarios. However, a recent […]