Measuring Sustainability
The Association for Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA) is a not-for-profit national membership association that accredits, certifies and conducts training for building performance assessors.
“Sustainability” refers to our capacity to keep living the way we want to without creating some sort of environmental catastrophe such as climate change for ourselves or our children.
Sustainability is a critical issue for Australian householders because energy costs are on the rise and most of our energy comes from non-renewable sources – mainly coal-fired power stations that generate large volumes of greenhouse gases.
Our current lifestyles are threatened in the short, medium and long term. What can we do to reduce our “energy footprint”?
We can reduce our consumption of non-renewable energy by making sure that our homes are well designed, well sited and well insulated. We can then make the most of what we have by engaging in energy saving practices.
Having a “House Energy Rating – Building Thermal Assessment” conducted on the plan of your new home will measure how energy efficient the final product will be.
This assessment provides a thermal performance rating between 1 and 10. One star would mean the building does practically nothing to reduce the discomfort of hot or cold weather. A 5 star rating indicates good, but not outstanding, thermal performance whereas a 10 star home is unlikely to need any artificial cooling or heating. 5 stars is considered to be energy efficient, although all States and most territories are expected to increase their requirements for new building approvals to 6 stars.
When assessing new homes or a major renovation, ABSA Thermal Performance Assessors use sophisticated computer programs to analyse the design and provide an energy or ‘star ‘rating. ABSA assessors can also offer practical advice on cost-effective ways to improve the homes energy performance and create a more comfortable, cheaper to heat and cool and is better for the environment. This advice may be especially needed if the initial rating is found to be too low to warrant approval of the building application.
Did you know that the energy rating of a modest brick and tile bungalow can be increased from 5 to 7 stars for under $4000 if the house is well-aspected, well insulated and double glazed energy rated (WERS) windows are used. Six stars can be achieved for less than $500 under the same conditions as double glazing. Energy cuts of 24% for 5 and 6 star homes and 45% for 7 star homes are often possible.
Of course not everyone gets to have a hand in the design of the home they live in or undergo a major renovation. The good news is that there is still plenty that a householder can do to improve the energy efficiency of an existing dwelling.
Any homeowner or renter, can make plenty of changes to their homes that would make them more sustainable, Not sure where to start? You may like to have an ABSA Home Sustainability Assessor come to your home and advise you on changes you can make to get the greatest savings. This is a free service to you under the Green Loans program, a new Australian Government initiative to help Australians tackle climate change.
The assessor will talk to you, the householder about your needs, using a calculating tool make an assessment of the current energy performance of the house and recommend ways to reduce energy and water consumption. The householder is provided with a report that offers recommendations for changes to the household appliance and behaviour changes that will save on energy and water.
There are plenty of easy, low cost options for householders to make new homes more energy efficient and a growing number of federal, state and local government programs designed to encourage and, in many cases, subsidise any efforts we may like to take to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
Domestic appliances are another obvious area to look at because they account for about 40% of a household’s greenhouse gas emissions. Like houses, choosing the right appliances is easy as they are energy and water rated using a star system, the more stars the better.
The Home Sustainability Assessor provides independent unbiased advice. In fact, they cannot sell product as part of this program so a local tradesman or supplier will be needed to recommend and install the products.
ABSA CEO, Alison Carmichael, says “these programs are all part of a groundswell of change at all levels of the Australia community. It will involve governments, businesses and individuals, whether homeowners or renters. We will all start the journey to put our ‘house in order’ for a sustainable future.
To find about more about ABSA’s programs including training, how to find an assessor or even become an assessor yourself go to www.absa.net.au
To book in for your Green Loans visit go to http://www.environment.gov.au/greenloans.
