As winter nears, the flicking on of gas heaters and firing up of ovens become increasingly common in Australian homes.
But amid a push to build more houses and reduce living costs, experts underline the need to focus on buildings that don’t rely on fossil fuels and can instead sustain themselves.
Net-zero-energy homes generate as much energy as they use through a combination of solar panels and batteries, along with efficient appliances and building materials.
While more costly to set up than homes with gas appliances, consumers are willing to pay the cost of switching or building all-electric, efficient properties when presented with long-term estimates, Paul Himberger says.
The environmentally focused housing developer pointed to data from one builder that found three in four consumers chose induction cooktops when given a sustainability forecast.
“People feel comfortable with what they know, a gas boiler, gas hot water and a gas cooktop,” Mr Himberger said.
“But if more people educate consumers about the benefits of going all electric … consumers will demand it.”
The developer walks the walk, constructing 22 net-zero apartments in South Melbourne that optimise natural light and cross-flow ventilation, reducing the need for heaters or air-conditioning.
But he would like to see far more as Australia aims to build 1.2 million homes in five years and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Net-zero-energy homes would also help reduce bill shock particularly for low- and middle-income households, Mr Himberger said.
“Affordable housing isn’t about discounting the cost of the house, it’s about taking away gas bills, knocking down water bills and letting people have control of their electricity,” he said.
Maria Atkinson lives in an over-55s estate that switched from gas to exclusively electricity in recent years.
“At the time of it being developed, none of the old people wanted to come off gas,” she said.
“One year later, we changed to induction because they were frightened of leaving the gas on at home.”
But as NSW’s net-zero commissioner, Ms Atkinson is concerned Australia’s most populous state is “falling short” on sustainable home-building.
The state government is upgrading the energy efficiency of 24,000 social houses, while the national energy regulator on Wednesday made it substantially cheaper for 1.5 million NSW homes and businesses to break free from gas permanently.
But Ms Atkinson wants to see the state follow in Victoria and ACT’s footsteps.
Gas connections in new dwellings have been banned in the southern state, while the nation’s capital is due to turn off gas in all but a few areas by 2045.
“The NSW government is currently working on putting solar and batteries on homes, and they’ve got a lot more work to do on it,” Ms Atkinson said.
“Current policy initiatives fall short of what needs to be done in greening our homes.”
Net-zero-energy homes are also in developers’ interests, Jan van der Bergh says.
The senior executive at property management company Mulpha has helped erect 181 net-zero apartments in northwest Sydney.
“Housing is so unaffordable … so we marketed that our apartments are 30 per cent less to run,” he said.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, no other developer could compete with that.”
Most major Australian banks are committed to a net-zero emissions pathway and hence looking to shift where they put their capital, he said.
“We’re going to have easier costs, easier access to capital and that flows down to the individuals who purchase the properties,” Mr van der Bergh said.
NSW’s environmental body said the government would ensure all homes were compatible with reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
That included requiring new homes to be built to energy-efficient standards and providing grants to upgrade existing homes.
“An average home meeting the standards will save $1070 per year in energy bills and reduce their environmental impact,” a spokesperson said.
The national housing sector is world-leading in creating sustainable properties, with one-third of all homes having solar panels, Property Council of Australia policy lead Matthew Kandelaars said.
But he also called on the industry to have a clearer plan to encourage market confidence.
“The decarbonisation challenge is profound,” he said.
But one developer lobby group said the added up-front costs of net-zero homes would deter the market, where one in three homes were already valued at more than $1 million.
“We’ve got to ensure that we don’t put idealistic rules in place in order to fix one major problem, which is the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, but in doing so creating unaffordable housing,” said Tom Forrest, head of the development industry advocate Urban Taskforce.
“Delivering housing is unaffordable across Australia, but in the built-up urban areas of Sydney in Melbourne, the cost of housing is particularly acute.”
But Mr Himberger hopes people in the construction industry and beyond will start advocating for net-zero housing to their neighbours and colleagues.
“It isn’t going to happen without collaboration,” he said.
Source: AAP
