Department/Agency
Australian Building Codes Board
Decided by
Building Ministers
Problem being addressed
The residential building sector is a major source of energy demand and use. While Australia has made considerable progress in the energy performance of residential buildings, there is still opportunity to implement actions that could further reduce the energy consumption of the sector.
The Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) sets out a number of market failures that complicate energy efficiency decisions and result in over consumption of energy and underinvestment in energy efficiency and provides options to address these issues.
Proposal
The Consultation RIS examines the status quo, two options for regulatory change and also considers non-regulatory and other options to address the problem. Both regulatory options set a maximum annual energy use budget (based on societal cost) for the elements of a building regulated by the NCC (space conditioning, heated water systems, lighting and pool and spa pumps). The budget is based on a ‘benchmark home’ as explained in the RIS.
For option B, the societal cost of operating this benchmark building is calculated and a new building is deemed to be compliant if it has the same societal cost as the benchmark building. If a piece of equipment (e.g. water heating) is installed that performs worse than the benchmark, this will have to be offset either through installing other equipment that performs sufficiently better than the benchmark (e.g. cooling) or through the installation of on-site renewables (PVs).
Option A is based on the same energy use budget as Option B, however, the budget is 70 per cent of the Option B benchmark. This means that if the societal cost associated with the benchmark building in Option B is $1,000 per annum, then under Option A societal cost of $700 must be achieved.
Compliance can be achieved either by improving the performance of the building shell, its equipment or by adding some PVs or a combination of these approaches.
No change is proposed to the existing lighting provisions in the NCC under any of the policy options.
The ABCB is accepting submissions on the Consultation RIS until 11:59 PM AEST Sunday 7 November 2021.
The ABCB is also consulting on the technical changes to the residential energy efficiency provisions of the National Construction Code (NCC). Interested stakeholders can review and comment on the proposed changes to the NCC on the ABCB website until 11:59 PM AEDT Sunday 17 October 2021.
RIS outcome
Compliant with RIS requirements for Ministers’ Meetings and National Standard Setting Bodies
Announcement date
20/09/2021