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Climate for change in housing
Matthew Benns
November 25, 2007
LAWS should be passed to ensure every Australian house for sale passes tough new standards of environmental sustainability, a peak building body has said.
Archicentre, which advises the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, said the recent release of a damning United Nations climate change report meant it was time for dramatic action.
Archicentre managing director Robert Caulfield said: "Clever and smarter environmental design of buildings, backed by legislation and government policy will need to be introduced on a national level for Australia to play its part."
But he warned that the current "red tape maze between government departments" and differences from state to state threatened the chances of the new laws coming into effect.
Australia has 7.2 million homes, with houses being sold on an average every seven years.
Mr Caulfield called for every house sold to be subject to basic climate change certification, which would include having a water tank connected to the toilet, insulation in the roof, dual-flush toilets, water-efficient shower heads and taps and solar panels for power.
He said home owners who did the work on their homes should receive a 50 per cent tax deduction.
A national policy approach such as this would improve Australia's housing stock over the next decade.
A similar policy should be implemented for commercial properties, he said.
One of the first steps should be legislation for compulsory eaves to shade houses and keep them cool.
"The compulsory-eave legislation would see the water harvesting potential increased by 20 per cent with the shade over windows and walls conserving power," Mr Caulfield said.
"Historically the eave was a fundamental part of Australia homes, however, in the last decade its removal for fashion and mock building design has seen the building of hundreds of thousands of homes poorly equipped to cope with climate change demands such as increasing temperatures."
Global warming would ultimately force houses to be designed with thermal chimneys to disperse hot air at night, solar-powered air-conditioners, walls that double as water tanks and domestic-power wind generators.
Mr Caulfield said the future cost of power and water would be a driving market force to support the introduction of national binding building codes.
Source: The Sun-Herald
Matthew Benns
November 25, 2007
LAWS should be passed to ensure every Australian house for sale passes tough new standards of environmental sustainability, a peak building body has said.
Archicentre, which advises the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, said the recent release of a damning United Nations climate change report meant it was time for dramatic action.
Archicentre managing director Robert Caulfield said: "Clever and smarter environmental design of buildings, backed by legislation and government policy will need to be introduced on a national level for Australia to play its part."
But he warned that the current "red tape maze between government departments" and differences from state to state threatened the chances of the new laws coming into effect.
Australia has 7.2 million homes, with houses being sold on an average every seven years.
Mr Caulfield called for every house sold to be subject to basic climate change certification, which would include having a water tank connected to the toilet, insulation in the roof, dual-flush toilets, water-efficient shower heads and taps and solar panels for power.
He said home owners who did the work on their homes should receive a 50 per cent tax deduction.
A national policy approach such as this would improve Australia's housing stock over the next decade.
A similar policy should be implemented for commercial properties, he said.
One of the first steps should be legislation for compulsory eaves to shade houses and keep them cool.
"The compulsory-eave legislation would see the water harvesting potential increased by 20 per cent with the shade over windows and walls conserving power," Mr Caulfield said.
"Historically the eave was a fundamental part of Australia homes, however, in the last decade its removal for fashion and mock building design has seen the building of hundreds of thousands of homes poorly equipped to cope with climate change demands such as increasing temperatures."
Global warming would ultimately force houses to be designed with thermal chimneys to disperse hot air at night, solar-powered air-conditioners, walls that double as water tanks and domestic-power wind generators.
Mr Caulfield said the future cost of power and water would be a driving market force to support the introduction of national binding building codes.
Source: The Sun-Herald
