{"id":90844,"date":"2025-03-28T04:04:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T18:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=90844"},"modified":"2025-03-28T04:04:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T18:34:45","slug":"home-energy-performance-mb3147","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrading Australia&#8217;s Energy-Sucking Homes Brings Big Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-90845\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg\" alt=\"Energy efficiency upgrades for Australian homes\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades-768x403.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Newly released analysis suggests that by upgrading Australia&#8217;s worst-performing homes, the energy savings would be equivalent to keeping 4.5 million electric vehicles on the road a year.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Residential buildings are responsible for around 24% of overall electricity use and more than 10% of total carbon emissions in Australia according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dcceew.gov.au\/energy\/energy-efficiency\/buildings\/residential-buildings\">DCCEEW<\/a> to its friends).<\/p>\n<p>While standards relating to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy-efficiency\/\">energy efficiency for Australian homes<\/a> have certainly improved over the years, millions of houses were constructed prior to any minimum standards existing. Currently, the minimum energy standard for new builds is 7 stars under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS).<\/p>\n<p>But homes built before 2003 generally have a pretty poor rating; making them heating and cooling money pits, and just plain uncomfortable. I remember our house in Canberra, built around 1973, having a metal roof and no insulation to speak of. Summers weren&#8217;t much fun (no air-con) and in winter we used an oil heater in the lounge and electricity-guzzling fan heaters in the bedrooms.<\/p>\n<p>Climateworks Centre operates as an independent not-for-profit within Monash University, working to bridge the gap between research and climate action not just in Australia, but elsewhere in the Pacific region and South-East Asia. The organisation recently built on its &#8220;Enabling Australia\u2019s Home Renovation Wave&#8221; report released in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>For the purposes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climateworkscentre.org\/\">of their new analysis<\/a>, Climateworks defined low-performing homes as having:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimal ceiling insulation.<\/li>\n<li>Gaps near windows and in walls leaking air.<\/li>\n<li>Gas heating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Centre considered these low-performing detached homes and townhouses to have a NatHERS rating of between 2.3 and 2.9 stars, while apartments were between 2.7 and 4.2 stars<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/#en-90844-1' id='enref-90844-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(90844)'>1<\/a><\/sup>. It conservatively estimates at least 10 per cent of total dwellings &#8211; more than 1 million homes in Australia &#8211; to be in this category.<\/p>\n<h2>Energy Efficiency Packages For Places<\/h2>\n<p>The Centre developed several upgrade thermal upgrade &#8220;packages&#8221; for this exercise, being:<\/p>\n<h3>Quick-fix<\/h3>\n<p>Ceiling insulation, draught sealing, heavy drapes and roller shutters along with an efficient electric heat pump (assumed to mean reverse-cycle air-conditioner rather than a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/hot-water\/heat-pump\/\">heat pump hot water system<\/a>). This would provide a NatHERS rating of between 3.4 and 5.1 stars. Estimate cost per residence: $13,700.<\/p>\n<h3>Modest<\/h3>\n<p>The above plus floor insulation and an additional layer of glass or film on windows; bring properties up to between 3.6 and 5.4 stars. Estimated cost of $19,000 per dwelling.<\/p>\n<h3>Climate-ready<\/h3>\n<p>Quick-fix plus floor and wall insulation, high levels of draught sealing, double-glazed windows and a heat recovery ventilation system, which brings the rating to between 6.3 and 8.7 stars. Estimated cost of $37,100 per home.<\/p>\n<p>As for the package recommended for each state\/territory:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>NSW: Modest<\/li>\n<li>VIC: Climate-ready<\/li>\n<li>ACT: Climate-ready<\/li>\n<li>QLD: Quick-fix<\/li>\n<li>SA: Climate-ready<\/li>\n<li>NT: Quick-fix<\/li>\n<li>WA: Modest<\/li>\n<li>TAS: Climate-ready<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Quick Fix &#8211; Cost Vs. Value<\/h2>\n<p>That &#8220;Climate Ready&#8221; package is really pricey &#8211; what if the &#8220;Quick-Fix&#8221; package was used throughout instead? For the 1,069,509 homes nationally, that works out to around $14.65 *billion*. Still ouch, just not yelled quite as loud. That would buy a lot of rooftop solar and home batteries; although that wouldn&#8217;t address the root issues.<\/p>\n<p>But what would be the benefits of quick-fix?<\/p>\n<p>According to Climateworks, the approach would result in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A 1,471.9MW reduction in total peak demand.<\/li>\n<li>Annual energy consumption savings of 8,418.2 GWh.<\/li>\n<li>Annual emissions savings of 2,204,558 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.<\/li>\n<li>A collective $1.81 billion in annual energy bill savings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That would put simple payback for the whole shebang at around 8 years.<\/p>\n<p>One of the aspects I found confusing was the energy bill and emissions savings &#8220;includes electrification of cooktops and hot water in addition to thermal upgrades where indicated&#8221;. But it doesn&#8217;t explain if their inclusion affects the average upgrade costs as neither was mentioned in the packages. And I&#8217;m guessing &#8220;where indicated&#8221; means &#8220;where needed&#8221;, rather than certain states\/ territories as there were no flags for this on any jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<p>While acknowledging there are some programs already in place around Australia supporting various energy efficiency upgrades (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/victoria-energy-efficiency-mb3145\/\">Victoria&#8217;s VEU program<\/a>), Climateworks says more government action is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newly released analysis suggests that by upgrading Australia&#8217;s worst-performing homes, the energy savings would be equivalent to keeping 4.5 million electric vehicles on the road a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":90845,"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-90844","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>Upgrading Australia&#039;s Energy-Sucking Homes Brings Big Benefits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Analysis suggests by upgrading Australia&#039;s worst-performing homes, energy savings equivalent to keeping 4.5 million EVs on the road a year.\" \/>\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\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Upgrading Australia&#039;s Energy-Sucking Homes Brings Big Benefits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Analysis suggests by upgrading Australia&#039;s worst-performing homes, energy savings equivalent to keeping 4.5 million EVs on the road a year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-03-27T18:34:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg\" \/>\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\/jpeg\" \/>\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\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bloch\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66afd571aa00c2e442f0192ebac2f6f1\"},\"headline\":\"Upgrading Australia&#8217;s Energy-Sucking Homes Brings Big Benefits\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-27T18:34:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/\"},\"wordCount\":679,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-energy-performance-mb3147\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/energy-efficiency-upgrades.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"General Solar &amp; 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