RMIT’s Dr Trivess Moore, senior lecturer at the University’s School of Property, Construction and Project Management, believes the majority of existing and new housing in Australia is unable to withstand the impacts of climate change.
Moore said that because of this, Australia has a high reliance on mechanical heating and cooling to stay thermally comfortable, which results on high energy consumption and bills.
“The majority of the housing stock performs between 1.5-3 stars on a scale of 0 to 10. Regulations for housing performance were only introduced in the 1900s and 2000s, meaning we have millions of housings which are not fit for purpose,” explained Moore.
Predicted climate changes over the coming decades, according to Moore, will only exacerbate this issue for many Australian households.
“We are already seeing the negative impact on people’s health and wellbeing during extreme weather events. In some cases, households will find their housing unliveable for periods of time if we see climate change much further,” Moore continued.
“Before buying an existing house, people should seek out information about the quality and performance of the house.
“Home energy assessments, such as the Scorecard, can provide households with the likely performance of the dwelling, as well as some key opportunities for improving performance through cost-efficient retrofit.”
Moore added that while new housing standards increasing in 2023 will make housing more resilient to a changing climate, there is more that should be done to futureproof new housing moving forward.
Evidence from research conducted by Moore and his team at RMIT suggests new housing should be built to at least an 8-star performance level, which would help “improve performance now and into the future”.