Page 2567 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 1 August 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
homes can be as simple as taking the way we do things now and ensuring that they are done correctly. We often design a home on paper without considering the way it faces on the block or what other elements might interact with it.
For example, when designing a home, energy efficiency can be optimised by ensuring that most of the windows are facing north, with one or none facing east and west, and with only a few to the south. This layout makes the most of the northerly sun in winter, which can help warm the home, while limiting the hot westerly sun penetrating in summer and allowing for cross-ventilation. Likewise, building a home where the northern sun is blocked by another structure will also limit the energy efficiency of the dwelling.
In moving ahead with our energy efficiency scheme in the ACT, it is important also to ensure that compliance measures are in place to maintain an energy efficiency rating can be reliably estimated after construction. Measures such as requiring paperwork from builders working on the site, ensuring that materials are correctly installed and that buildings are built to plan can help ensure the reliability of an EER assessment. Taking steps in this direction offers peace of mind that when you are building or buying a home you are getting the energy efficiency you are paying for.
There is also a need to consider the role of government and regulators in educating the public on the scheme. As I have outlined here today, there are myriad factors influencing the energy efficiency rating of a dwelling and many more that will not necessarily impact a rating but that will impact the energy usage in a home. For this reason, the motion calls on the review to consider how public education can improve the understanding of the scheme. As I have explained, there are a great many reasons why people benefit from the experience of living in energy efficient housing, and better education can help share those benefits more widely.
In line with the need for public education is considering how we train and monitor our energy efficiency rating assessors. Improving the oversight and skill development of assessors will also help the community’s understanding of the scheme. Should the review decide it appropriate to adopt different tools or models for assessing energy efficiency, there will be further need to consider how the training and monitoring of assessors is impacted. The energy efficiency rating scheme is essentially a mandated system of information sharing.
As part of the review, there is a need to consider the information currently being provided under the scheme. Whether or not there are changes made to the assessment method, there is reason to review the point-of-sale report and to assess whether we require the most helpful information available to be provided to potential renters and buyers. The fact that research indicates there is a market forming around energy efficiency ratings would suggest there is a growing importance that the disclosure requirements are as informative as possible.
Taken together—that is, growing public education, strengthening compliance measures, adapting the assessment method to better capture the current settings and improving the information available to renters and buyers—this review has the potential to drive significant improvements to the wellbeing of all Canberrans. Given
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video