This study commissioned by the ASBEC Climate Change Task Group extended the Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change (BRCC) analysis to include a more detailed analysis of the significant energy efficiency potential of the building sector.

Key Research Findings:

• The building sector is responsible for 23 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and energy use in buildings is rapidly growing.
• Electricity demand in residential and commercial buildings can be halved by 2030, and reduced by more than 70 per cent by 2050 through energy efficiency.
• Energy efficiency alone could deliver savings of 30-35 per cent across the whole building sector including the growth in the overall number of buildings out to 2050.
• Energy savings in the building sector (which accounts for 60 per cent of GDP and 23 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions) could reduce the costs of greenhouse gas abatement across the whole economy by $30 per tonne, or 14 per cent, by 2050.
• By 2050, GDP could be improved by around $38 billion per year if building sector energy efficiency is adopted, compared to previous economy-wide estimates of the 60 % deep cuts scenario.

Australia’s ability to achieve at least 60 per cent deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will be significantly enhanced by transforming buildings to deliver energy savings.

Download Report – Building Sector Potential – Sept13 pdf | 353 kB