New research into Australia’s housing thermal performance has highlighted that minimum new build standards fall short of requirements for a low carbon future and must increase.

Aiming for mediocrity: The case of Australian housing thermal performance analysed over 187,000 NatHERS certificates from 2016 to 2018 to determine the response to market desires and the regulatory environment. The report found that 81.7% of housing is designed only to meet minimum standards, and 98.5% falls below the economic and environmental optimum.

Other key research findings include:

• Average NatHERS rating for hew housing in selected Australian states is 6.2 stars;
• Colder climates were found to have slightly higher star ratings; and
• Only 1.5% of new homes are built to optimum economic and energy performance.

The report proposes that systematically raising minimum building energy regulations is the most important and effective mechanism for governments to decarbonise the built environment.

More information here