{"id":89596,"date":"2025-02-14T04:01:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T18:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=89596"},"modified":"2025-02-14T04:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T18:31:58","slug":"apartment-energy-study-mb3117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Apartment Energy Behaviour Study Under Way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-89597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study.png\" alt=\"Apartment Energy Behaviour Study - CSIRO\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study-1024x538.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study-768x403.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>CSIRO is inviting selected households to join the largest investigation of apartment energy usage behaviour in Australia, but has had to overcome an unexpected recruitment challenge.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) assesses the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy-efficiency\/\">energy efficiency<\/a> of homes, providing ratings for new dwellings. NatHERS looks at design aspects such as construction materials, and makes assumptions about how people use energy. But several assumptions about energy usage have their roots in the 1950s, and don&#8217;t take into account changes in behaviour since &#8211; especially in apartments.<\/p>\n<p>With an increasing number of Australians living in apartments and this group often ignored in energy efficiency studies, it&#8217;s time to bring things up to date.<\/p>\n<p>Led by Dr Pippa Soccio, the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahd.csiro.au\/aebs\/\">Apartment Energy Behaviour Study<\/a> (AEBS) is aiming to install related monitoring equipment in 430 apartments. CSIRO says the results from AEBS will help improve apartment energy efficiency research and inform changes to the NatHERS software.<\/p>\n<h2>Sensors For This And That<\/h2>\n<p>There are quite a few devices involved in the monitoring:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An air quality sensor (temperature, humidity, particulate matter)<\/li>\n<li>Environmental comfort sensor (temperature, humidity, light levels and noise level &#8211; decibel only, it doesn&#8217;t record conversations!)<\/li>\n<li>A monitor for recording use of heating and cooling.<\/li>\n<li>Sensor recording use of windows and balcony doors.<\/li>\n<li>Motion sensor (for recording occupancy).<\/li>\n<li>Household energy consumption meter (installed in the apartment&#8217;s switchboard).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are all small devices installed by the AEBS team &#8211; except the energy consumption meter that is installed by an electrician &#8211; and most are battery-powered. They&#8217;ll record data every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day.\u00a0 CSIRO also provides a Wi-Fi router and a data-only subscription for each apartment.<\/p>\n<p>Along with the devices, a floor plan of the apartment is drawn up, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy-efficiency\/appliances\/\"> major appliances<\/a> and key design features documented. A 15-minute survey asking for details about who lives in the apartment and lifestyle is completed at the beginning of the trial. Once a month, a text message with one or two questions about specific household behaviours is sent that should take 1 minute to complete.<\/p>\n<p>The Apartment Energy Behaviour Study involves monitoring over a period of two years, and at the end participants get to keep the gadgets that are collectively valued at $1,500 if they wish. Every household participating for at least six months will receive a report summarising the data collected.<\/p>\n<p>CSIRO says the data obtained through AEBS will be utilised to test more than 50 assumptions in NatHERS.<\/p>\n<h2>Recruitment A Challenge<\/h2>\n<p>Getting all the gizmos together and into apartments has provided its own challenges, but something <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csiro.au\/en\/news\/All\/Articles\/2025\/February\/Improving-home-energy-efficiency\">Dr. Soccio hadn&#8217;t counted on<\/a> was suspicion. After writing to occupants in targeted buildings with personalised, hand-written letters and postcards, Dr. Soccio found some residents thought it was a scam.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Because it\u2019s so customised and bespoke and very much about trying to target people to make them feel special, it\u2019s had the opposite effect, because it doesn\u2019t look like what they expect from CSIRO.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s a sign of the times I guess, and in a way the suspicion is good in this day and age. Dr. Soccio is now placing sandwich boards outside targeted buildings with information and identifying households within who can encourage and reassure others.<\/p>\n<p>Another NatHERS related project involving CSIRO that we recently wrote about is a trial providing free <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nathers-existing-homes-mb3110\/\"> home energy ratings<\/a> to eligible owners and renters of existing homes (and not just apartments).<\/p>\n<p>On a related note; apartment dwellers have been left behind in Australia&#8217;s home solar power revolution. Plug-in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/balcony-solar-panel-system\/\">balcony solar panel systems<\/a> aren&#8217;t permitted in Australia, but among the solutions that are is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/allume-energy-solshare-review\/\">SolShare<\/a> (more on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/pros-cons-of-solshare\/\">pros and cons of SolShare here<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CSIRO is inviting selected households to join the largest investigation of apartment energy usage behaviour in Australia, but has had to overcome an unexpected recruitment challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":89597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-battery-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Australian Apartment Energy Behaviour Study Under Way<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Largest investigation of apartment energy usage behaviour in Australia is proceeding, but had to overcome an unexpected recruitment challenge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australian Apartment Energy Behaviour Study Under Way\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Largest investigation of apartment energy usage behaviour in Australia is proceeding, but had to overcome an unexpected recruitment challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T18:31:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Bloch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bloch\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66afd571aa00c2e442f0192ebac2f6f1\"},\"headline\":\"Australian Apartment Energy Behaviour Study Under Way\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-13T18:31:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/apartment-energy-study-mb3117\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/apartment-energy-study.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"General Solar &amp; 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Short answer: between around $14,000 and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economics Of Solar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economics Of Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/economics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar panels and a cash register","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/solar-home-value.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/solar-home-value.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/solar-home-value.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/solar-home-value.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/solar-home-value.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64882,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nathers-ratings-homes-mb2611\/","url_meta":{"origin":89596,"position":1},"title":"7-Star NatHERS Rating For (Most) New Homes From Late 2023","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Solar panels will become an even more common inclusion on new Australian homes from next year as a result of the re-jiggered National Construction Code (NCC). 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When NCC 2022 fully\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nathers 7-star energy rating","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nathers-7-stars.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nathers-7-stars.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nathers-7-stars.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nathers-7-stars.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nathers-7-stars.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89318,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nathers-existing-homes-mb3110\/","url_meta":{"origin":89596,"position":2},"title":"How To Score A Free NatHERS Home Energy Rating Assessment","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) has teamed up with CSIRO for a trial providing free home energy ratings to eligible home owners and renters; carried out by trained assessors. What Is NatHERS? NatHERS is a national program that was established in the 1990s to assess thermal performance and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NatHERS energy rating assessments for existing homes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nathers-energy-ratings-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nathers-energy-ratings-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nathers-energy-ratings-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nathers-energy-ratings-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nathers-energy-ratings-2.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":88149,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-assessors-mb3055\/","url_meta":{"origin":89596,"position":3},"title":"Learn And Earn: Call For Aspiring Home Energy Assessors","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"November 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever wanted to be an accredited home energy assessor? Here's an opportunity for some to get on the path while making a few bucks - and no previous experience required. Australia's Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is an initiative that was established in the 1990's to assess thermal performance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NatHERS Home Energy Assessor training","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/nathers-assessors.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/nathers-assessors.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/nathers-assessors.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/nathers-assessors.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/nathers-assessors.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90844,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/","url_meta":{"origin":89596,"position":4},"title":"Upgrading Australia&#8217;s Energy-Sucking Homes Brings Big Benefits","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"March 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Newly released analysis suggests that by upgrading Australia's worst-performing homes, the energy savings would be equivalent to keeping 4.5 million electric vehicles on the road a year. Residential buildings are responsible for around 24% of overall electricity use and more than 10% of total carbon emissions in Australia according to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Energy efficiency upgrades for Australian homes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":94625,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/emissions-target-electrification-mb3273\/","url_meta":{"origin":89596,"position":5},"title":"Australia&#8217;s 2035 Emissions Target: Home Electrification","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"September 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A 2035 emissions target range has been set for Australia and plans to achieve it unveiled. So, what's on the cards for home electrification? What Target Has Been Set For 2035? The Albanese Government has set a national target to reduce emissions by 62\u201370% below 2005 levels by 2035; on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Policy","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-policy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Australia's 2035 emissions target plan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/emissions-target-plan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/emissions-target-plan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/emissions-target-plan.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/emissions-target-plan.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/emissions-target-plan.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89599,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89596\/revisions\/89599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}