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Wasting Energy
A new report warns that the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) could lead to less energy efficient housing unless the current Building Code of Australia (BCA) is amended.The “Wasting Energy” report examines the unintended consequences of the CPRS and BCA interacting and concludes that without changes to the BCA, the CPRS will make energy inefficient houses cheaper and therefore more appealing to the market.
The report is based on the interim findings of an eight-year research program undertaken by the University of Newcastle. The study, which is the first of its kind in Australia, measures the energy efficiency of Australian housing construction styles in real climate conditions.
The research has concluded that thermal mass is critical in increasing energy efficiency, demonstrating that the incorporation of thermal mass into a home can reduce heating and cooling energy consumption by up to 22%.
The CPRS will increase the cost of materials with inherent thermal mass, such as bricks and concrete, relative to lightweight materials (timber, fibre cement), making the most energy efficient materials the least affordable.
Read full Wasting Energy media release
