Jason York says his phone has been ringing for 18 months and people want deals on insulation for their homes.
Important points:
- Boral develops low-carbon concrete products and uses alternatives to cement
- Industry-leading Green Star ratings consider everything from building materials to energy efficiency to air quality
- Changes to the National Building Code will be implemented next year, but an energy efficiency rating for existing houses is voluntary
“It gets to the point where I have big problems getting inventory. It was a big problem keeping up with the demand, ”he says.
“When I started in 2016, I apparently lacked confidence that the insulation would even work.”
As the United Nations Climate Change Conference approaches in Glasgow, governments and large corporations face a close look at their CO2 emissions.
But Mr York has also seen growing interest from homeowners hoping to regulate the temperature of their homes to make them more energy efficient and create a smaller carbon footprint.
Buildings make up about a quarter of Australia’s total emissions, mostly from energy use, and homes account for 57 percent of that, according to the Green Building Council of Australia.
The Climate Council says that poor building standards are responsible for a large part of the emissions, due to heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.
In a report this week, she again criticized Australian homes as “glorified tents,” arguing that building efficiency standards not only lag behind other major economies, but that most homes were built before the current standards were even introduced in 2005.
On his website, Jason York claims, “Australian homes are by far the worst-built in the modern world.”Supplied: Australian Forest Products Association.)
As someone who looks inside the roof every day, Jason York fully agrees with this assessment.
He wants building standards to be tightened to make sure the insulation he’s installed works.
“The insulation will obviously control the thermal properties to some degree,” says York.
“But there seems to be this misconception that insulation will work wonders on its own, and it really comes down to the environment: you need to keep it in a dry, moisture-free and airtight environment.”
What is a “green home” anyway?
The economist Diaswati Mardiasmo has examined the landscape of Australia in comparison to other countries and says that there is no mandatory, national definition of what a green home is.
She describes state and territorial systems as “a little incoherent”.
Diaswati Mardiasmo studied the relationship between green buildings and property prices. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)
“Each of these standards has its own language… whether it’s a scorecard or a program or a grant. So there is always a little misunderstanding and uncertainty about what they actually are. “
The various measures include solar subsidies, low-interest loans for energy-efficient devices and disclosure systems for energy efficiency.
At the statewide level, the National Construction Code (NCC) includes energy efficiency requirements, and compliance is managed through the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS), which rates homes based on their potential energy use.
A meeting of state and territory energy ministers in 2019 agreed to consider changes to improve the current programs.
The consultation on the latest NCC update to be launched next year has just closed.
There is also a new national scorecard for assessing the energy efficiency of existing houses, which expands the focus of new buildings.
Owners of existing homes can now request a NatHERS rating of their property, but these ratings and the incoming scorecard are voluntary.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows to volume.RegardDuration: 3 minutes 25 seconds3m 25sGreen houses and buildings are cheaper to run and sell, say experts (Stephanie Chalmers)
Green houses sell for more
Apart from reduced bills and a higher year-round temperature comfort in the house, according to Dr.
Their research has shown that greener homes are selling at a high price.
“They are actually being sold at a much higher price than the average suburb price, and besides [being sold] also faster. “
Dr. Mardiasmo examined existing homes with features such as solar panels, water tanks, and gray water systems.
The financial savings from energy efficiency features can be seasonal and individual usage, which means it can be difficult to quantify the benefits.
“While we can prove, from a capital growth perspective, how much people want to buy and that it sells in the market faster, that becomes a little more tangible than many owner-occupiers will look at,” explains Dr. Mardiasmo.
Dr. Mardiasmo says homes with eco-friendly features like solar panels and water tanks sell faster and at higher prices. (ABC News: Nicole Asher)
In addition to a higher price when the owners sell, another emerging benefit is access to cheaper credit.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation finances home construction loans at a discount of 0.4 percentage points for apartments that achieve a certain energy efficiency class according to NatHERS.
Bank Australia and the non-bank lender Firstmac are currently issuing the discounted mortgages.
“This is kind of a national movement, but not a mandatory national program,” says Dr. Mardiasmo.
She points to more widespread programs abroad, such as Canada’s Greener Home Grants and tax credits for energy-efficient building products or home improvement in the United States.
“These are the things that I think will definitely get homeowners and builders to incorporate green or sustainable items into their homes.”
Evaluation of green building materials
The materials used in buildings contribute to their environmental impact, including through the rating system administered by the industry-leading Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
“As part of the Green Star rating system, we consider materials … what we are investigating is lowering the carbon in them,” said Davina Rooney, CEO of GBCA.
Davina Rooney hopes the government will put in place mandates around green houses.ABC News: John Gunn)
The GBCA has more than 500 members, including private and ASX-listed companies with sales of more than $ 46 billion.
The GBCA’s Green Star rating system is used to rate everything from shopping malls to office buildings to multi-purpose buildings, taking into account characteristics such as air quality, energy use, sewage and plants.
In the past few months, the GBCA has expanded its reach in the housing sector and is now offering Green Star ratings for housing.
It is geared towards scalability and is aimed at developers building large volumes of new homes, such as Stockland and Metricon.
Some new homes in large estates receive Green Star ratings to help alert potential buyers about their energy efficiency. (WSROC: Adam Hollingworth)
Features that contribute to the rating include energy efficient appliances, induction hobs, rainwater tanks, insulation, double glazed windows and solar energy.
However, as of now, there are no Green Star ratings available for existing properties.
“If you look at something like a refrigerator, go in and buy it, see a star rating, you can find out how efficient that refrigerator is,” says Ms. Rooney.
“But the greatest asset in your whole life, your house, we don’t have a national disclosure system for that in Australia.”
Ms. Rooney hopes that the rating system created by the GBCA as an industry body can stimulate policy changes to show that market demand is there.
“Our job is to introduce voluntary standards to strengthen the market and make room for regulation,” she says.
“It’s our job to show that the path is possible and then work with the government to get the standards there as soon as possible.”
Looking for more environmentally friendly building materials
In Sydney, a team of researchers is experimenting with concrete – one of the main sources of carbon emissions, which are mainly produced in the manufacture of its binding agent, cement.
According to the International Energy Agency, cement production causes 7 percent of global emissions; Carbon dioxide is released when the materials used to make cement, including limestone, are heated in a furnace.
The concrete that Dr. Louise Keyte developed today looks very different than it did two decades ago.ABC News: Daniel Irvine)
According to Dr. Louise Keyte, co-director of a research partnership between UTS and Boral, sees the recipe for concrete very differently than it was two decades ago.
“To get to a low-carbon binder, we have to use other substitutes instead of cement,” she says.
“With every gram of cement that we remove, we reduce the CO2 content.”
Boral already has low carbon concrete products in the market and development continues – but they need customers who are willing to buy what they sell.
Concrete samples dry in the UTS-Boral Center for Sustainable Building. (ABC News: Daniel Irvine)
“When you think of building, and especially high-rise buildings or important infrastructure, there will always be an element of conservatism,” says Boral CEO Zlatko Todorcevski.
“It is up to us to work with these specifiers to make sure they understand how our products perform in different conditions and to give them the comfort that these things will last for decades, if not longer.”
Mr Todorcevski says several state governments have recognized Boral’s new road construction products, which helps prove the business case.
“That’s great, but you know, it’s early steps and pretty small steps,” he said.
“We would like governments and other planners to come out on top and be really proactive.”
