Page 3159 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The impetus behind the presentation of this Bill has come from those concerned about energy conservation. The information regarding minimum R values came from Mr Wood's draft energy guidelines from his Department of the Environment, Land and Planning. The recommendations come from a need to take energy conservation into construction seriously. In that document the proposal for insulation and improving energy efficiency is on a voluntary basis. The Government had set out there its intention to make the system voluntary. That is why I decided, having read that document, that this part of the energy system should be compulsory. I see that Mr Connolly and Mr Wood agree with me that it ought to be a compulsory part of building rather than relying just on the voluntary system that Mr Wood had presented. In no way do I mean to demean that system, because it has a place as well.
Perhaps if the Minister were a little more concerned with ensuring effective insulation, and taking his time to get it right rather than pipping others at the post, the regulations would reflect an understanding of heat loss through walls, ceilings and floors, and the savings consumers could expect in energy terms, and thus in dollar terms, if insulation were done properly at the time of construction. Where houses have not been insulated at construction, within a couple of years those who can least afford it are paying more. So the legislation that you have in front of you is based on social justice.
All too often homes have been constructed in the ACT with little insulation, thus creating an excessive drain on energy resources for both heating and cooling. Where consumers wish to upgrade the insulation to minimum R values, they often do so after the house has been built, incurring approximately double the cost of insulation installed at the construction stage; and the money has to be paid up front, not at mortgage interest rates, further disadvantaging those who can least afford it. According to the insulation industry, after-construction installation can be not only very costly but also largely ineffective as insulation materials can easily lose their R values through installation procedures which often allow moisture seepage. Mr Connolly's offer to give new home owners the option of having their ceilings done later suggests that he does not appreciate the logistics of installing insulation into a completed building, nor the added costs. There certainly is little option to install insulation into flooring after construction.
Heat can be lost from the inside of a dwelling to the outside by conduction and radiation through walls, ceilings and floors. The proportion of heat loss for a typical uninsulated detached brick-veneer dwelling in Canberra is 29 per cent through the walls, 26 per cent through the ceiling, 20 per cent through the floor, 14 per cent through all windows and 11 per cent through all filtration, not other filtration. Houses being built in Canberra are mainly spec built and as such use traditional construction materials which have low insulation values. The installation of additional insulation material is usually necessary to reduce heat loss through the building elements. This is something that is obviously recognised by Mr Wood and Mr Connolly and by me. In fact, we have similar approaches to dealing with it. I do not think we should lose sight of that.
Insulation is measured in R values - that is, the measure of thermal resistance of an element of the building. The higher the R value, the greater the resistance to heat flow and, thus, a better insulator. Instead of calling it the R value we could talk about square metre kelvin per watt, but I think the term R value is easier to use. That is actually what it means. The R value can be the combined insulation
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .