Budget’s energy bill relief and home retrofit funding is a good start, but dwarfed by the scale of the task

May 11, 2023

Trivess Moore, RMIT University and Ralph Horne, RMIT University The quality and performance of our housing have big impacts on the environment, cost of living and our health and wellbeing. The 2023-24 federal budget’s announcement of $1.6 billion for energy-saving upgrades to housing recognises the broad importance of retrofitting Australian homes. Until now, much of […]

‘Die of cold or die of stress?’: Social housing is frequently colder than global health guidelines

July 22, 2021

Daniel Daly, University of Wollongong; Federico Tartarini, University of Wollongong; Gordon Waitt, University of Wollongong; Michael Tibbs, University of Wollongong; Paul Cooper, University of Wollongong, and Theresa Harada, University of Wollongong As you huddle inside this winter – possibly as part of a pandemic lockdown – you might be noticing the “thermal performance” of your […]

Does the energy efficiency of a new dwelling vary with the socio-economic status of the area in which it is built?

November 7, 2019

(This research was presented by Melissa James at the Improving Residential Energy Efficiency (IREE) conference held in Brisbane in April 2019) New residential buildings in Australia are subject to the energy efficiency provisions of the National Construction Code (NCC). When designed and built they must meet a prescribed minimum standard. Whilst this confers some protection […]