EEHMCH01 PDF

This study presents significantly reduced energy requirements for standard homes in Queensland, Australia. The project, using commonly available and generally off-the-shelf technologies, has demonstrated that the operational impacts of a home can be reduced by more than Factor 5 without any substantial redesign of the home. This improvement is achieved on typical homes of the type currently being constructed on new residential housing development sites in South-East Queensland. Importantly, these sustainability changes are affordable, with additional capital cost approximately paid back by savings on power use. It is an online case study for: E. U. von Weizsacker, K. C. Hargroves, M. H. Smith, C. Desha & P. Stasinopoulos (Eds.), Factor five: Transforming the global econmoy through 80% improvements in resource productivity: Routledge.

The cost effectiveness of building a carbon neutral house in Sydney is investigated. Currently all new residential dwellings in NSW must comply with the BASIX requirements of a 40% reduction in energy consumption compared with the current average energy usage. While this requirement reflects progress towards sustainable housing, there is further potential for energy savings in new buildings. This paper seeks to answer the question: Is it possible that the combined cost of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy can be incorporated into a home loan in a cost effective manner? An important factor that assists in the cost effectiveness of these measures is the ability to secure a "green home loan", at a lower interest rate. Two renewable energy options to achieve a carbon neutral house are explored: installation of a photovoltaic system and the purchase of GreenPower. A higher initial home loan amount is required to pay for the energy efficiency measures, and also for the photovoltaic system. However, the energy savings arising from all measures are used to increase the loan repayments and typically mean that the loan period is reduced. The financial savings generated in this way mean that energy efficiency in combination with a photovoltaic system or GreenPower results in paying out the home loan 1 to 4 years earlier. That is in terms of the operational energy, a carbon neutral home has a lower life-cycle cost than a conventional home with high energy costs.

In the wake of global energy crisis and paramount concerns of greenhouse gas emissions, building sector is identified as one of the major energy consumers and greenhouse gas contributors. Although some considerations are given to energy efficiency in new constructions, the existing building stock remains a major problem. With existing dwellings accounting for around 98 percent of the total building stock, the problem is clearly visible. Although buildings do not last forever, regular maintenance and retrofitting can prolong the life of buildings. Retrofitting is often done to meet the variety of changing demands of the household. Retrofitting also provides an opportunity to make changes in the existing housing stocks planned and designed without due consideration to energy efficiency. Recently, Australian Government has announced direct financial incentives for the households to upgrade the energy efficiency of the existing housing stocks. This paper takes a case of a typical building from Queensland in which different retrofitting options are tried and tested with an aim to make the building more energy efficient. These retrofitting options are simulated using the BERS Pro, a house energy rating software. Climatic design guidelines help to identify the problem areas which are addressed in retrofitting by enhancing ventilation, introducing thermal mass, upgrading windows and installing shading devices. Additional energy and water efficient measures such as, introducing energy efficient lighting fixtures, high performance appliances, solar water heating options and rainwater harvesting are also incorporated.

Building and Environment, 2011

Climate change can significantly impact on the total energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of residential buildings. Therefore, climate adaptation should be properly considered in both building design and operation stages to reduce the impact. This paper identified the potential adaptation pathways for existing and new residential buildings, by enhancing their adaptive capacity to accommodate the impact and maintain total energy consumption and GHG emissions no more than the current level in the period of their service life. The feasibility of adaptations was demonstrated by building energy simulations using both representative existing and new housing in eight climate zones varying from cold, temperate to hot humid in Australia. It was found that, in heating dominated climates, a proper level of adaptive capacity of residential buildings could be achieved simply by improving the energy efficiency of building envelop. However, in cooling dominated regions, it could only be achieved by introducing additional measures, such as the use of high energy efficient (EE) appliances and the adoption of renewable energy. The initial costs to implement the adaptations were assessed, suggesting that it is more cost-effective to accommodate future climate change impacts for existing and new houses by improving building envelop energy efficiency in cooling dominated regions, but installing on-site solar PVs instead in heating and cooling balanced regions.

This thesis examines the economic viability of building emissions free housing. The additional capital costs are compared with the costs of running typical new houses that comply with the building regulations. Building to an energy neutral standard is shown to produce tangible value for consumers, which can be used to pay back the additional capital cost. The environmental attitudes of consumers, government and the house building industry are researched. Potential emissions savings are shown to have a significant effect on the governments Kyoto commitments. The cost of the ‘business as usual’ approach is compared to the cost of building to an energy neutral standard. It can be shown that radical reductions in energy consumption can be introduced at the design stage by specifying energy efficient electrical equipment. Similar savings can be made with heating energy, using higher insulation values and reducing air leakage. The design of the building can also result in reduced water consumption and its subsequent treatment, resulting in energy savings. These energy savings result in cost savings to the occupants. The remaining energy requirements can be supplied using clean on-site generated electricity and heat, resulting in a house with no net emissions. The additional capital cost of energy neutral housing is compared with the normal cost of energy over the traditional mortgage period. The parameters which affect these costs are determined and the way that they are influenced by possible future trends. The conditions under which energy neutrality becomes financially viable are determined, and how these conditions may change in the future. Two factors are influencing the viability of energy neutrality. The first is that the cost of building and running building regulations compliant housing is rising as a result of more onerous building conditions and higher fuel and carbon taxes. The second is that the cost of building energy neutral housing is falling, due to improvements in technology and a larger market share, as a result of increasing consumer awareness of the environment. The main stakeholders all have an advantage to gain from energy neutrality. • The government can significantly reduce CO2 emissions. • House buyers gain with lower running costs. • Financial institutions gain by increased mortgage values. • The construction industry gains as it turns money which would previously have been generated in the energy supply sector. • The construction supply industry gains by increasing product ranges to include environmentally sustainable products. An alternative financing strategy can be introduced by separating the cost of energy neutrality from the normal mortgage. Cost savings are used to pay the additional capital cost by linking the repayment to the cost of energy. The study shows that this can be repaid in less time than the traditional mortgage period. Once this is repaid, the utility costs are free, which adds value to the house.

Reducing CO2-e emissions from residential buildings through more stringent building codes has gained increasing international focus. Concurrently, Australian houses have steadily increased in size from 1984 to 2009. This paper estimates the capacity of building codes to reduce residential emissions and achieve progressive reduction targets in light of increasing house sizes. A Residential Emissions Calculator was developed to compare heating and cooling loads for 72 new Australian houses—based on star ratings, historic Australian house sizes by state, and international house sizes. The analysis illustrates that house size has significant impact on the capacity of residential building codes to reduce emissions, and informs three key results: (1) Victoria is forecast to dominate emissions from new houses in Australia, (2) The increase in house size from 2003 to 2009 in Victoria decreased the effectiveness of moving from 5 stars to 6 stars by 38%, (3) Progressive CO2-e reduction targets of 80% could be achieved by a variety of house size and star rating scenarios (with significant housing affordability impacts). The result posit building codes and house size as potent strategies to limit energy associated emissions and underlines the need to apply these strategies in tandem as part of integrated national emissions management policy.

2005

The purpose of this study is to review relevant literature and technology concerning energy consumption for domestic water heating. Domestic water heating is estimated to be the second largest energy end-use for Canadian households, accounting for approximately 22 percent of total household energy consumption. Although the proportion of houses from 1945 to 1990 that uses natural gas for water heating and the proportion that uses electricity for this purpose are similar, in aggregate the general tendency is for new houses to increasingly use natural gas rather than electricity for domestic water heating requirements, even though natural gas is not available in all areas.

Proceedings of 4th …, 2002

Ted Gardner Department Natural Resources and Mines, 80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Qld, 4068, e-mail: [email protected] ... Richard Hyde Department of Architecture, Uni. of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld, 4072, e-mail: [email protected]

A/C air conditioning AFUE annual fuel utilization efficiency CFL compact fluorescent lamp dc direct current DHW domestic hot water EER energy efficiency ratio EF emissions factor HSPF heating season performance factor HVAC heating, ventilation, and air conditioning MEL miscellaneous electrical load O&M operations and maintenance PV photovoltaic SDHW solar domestic hot water SEER Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio SHGC solar heat gain coefficient SLA specific leakage area VHP very high-performance

The continued outward growth from a central business district has been the dominant characteristic of most cities in Australia. However, this feature is seen as unsustainable and alternative scenarios to contain the outward growth are being proposed. Melbourne is currently grappling with this issue while simultaneously trying to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Housing size, style and its location are the three principal factors which determine the emissions from the residential sector. This paper describes a methodology to assess the combined impact of these factors on past and possible future forms of residential development in Melbourne. The analysis found that the location of the housing and its size are the dominant factors determining energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.