BASIX decision welcomed but should go further
14/Jun/2006
The Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand (ICANZ) today welcomed the NSW government’s decision to proceed with BASIX but said not going ahead with it’s full commitment to introduce 40% for all residential buildings was disappointing.
Dennis D’Arcy, ICANZ President said that while the decision takes a number of steps in the right direction, we believe the government has missed an important opportunity.
“Unfortunately, apartments will still be built to a poorer standard of energy efficiency and will continue to deliver poor thermal performance and energy waste for the life of the building, around seventy years.
“Improving the performance of these buildings will be left to the owners and tenants as a retrofitting option, which is far more costly and difficult,” Mr D’Arcy said.
An independent study commissioned by ICANZ showed that the full BASIX 40% housing energy efficiency upgrade is very achievable and affordable at the design stage.
“Against the estimated purchase price of the dwelling types modelled, the study showed that BASIX 40% would add only 0.5 percent to the purchase cost of the homes modelled, and 0.7 percent to the units modelled,” Mr D’Arcy said.
“We also believe the NSW government is misguided to generalise and bundle cogeneration with the thermal performance of buildings. Cogeneration is just one option offered by BASIX to achieve better environmental and energy performance.
“While cogeneration can create more economically and environmentally clean electricity that is used more efficiently by the building, it does not stop the waste of energy from the building fabric through poor thermal design and materials.
“Energy generation and thermal performance should be dealt with separately so that we minimise the waste of energy,” he said.
Australians in more challenging climate zones than those of NSW are realising through experience that improving the thermal efficiency of buildings delivers real financial and energy savings benefits for the individual and the community. A recent Victorian government survey found that almost 90% of householders living in a 5 Star home for 12 months or more would definitely recommend a 5 Star rating home to others.
“NSW is heavily dependant on coal-fired electricity. Before we implement additional capacity through nuclear power or cogeneration to meet NSW’s burgeoning peak power demands, it’s common sense to first do everything we can to use current energy supplies more efficiently and stop the unnecessary waste. It’s an economic, social and environmental legacy we simply can’t afford to ignore,” Mr D’Arcy said.