Updating “Whole of House” approvals in the National Construction Code

Renew’s comments on ‘Whole of House’ compliance in the National Construction Code.

New minimum standards for how homes are built are set to come into force in 2022. This is a great opportunity to improve outdated standards and make homes more energy efficient.

Better household energy performance means better health, lower bills, less pressure on the electricity grid, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. But Australia’s current standards on energy efficiency are lagging behind other countries and leaving residents worse off.

Renew sits on the technical advisory committee that is informing how new energy efficiency standards will be developed and added to the National Construction Code. Over the coming months, we will be making sure the voice of consumers is heard as we push for Australia’s housing standards to be increased to at least a minimum 7 star rating.

We are providing input to the committee on technical assumptions that will be used when updating the ‘Whole of House’ compliance pathway in the NCC, including energy costs, PV issues, levels of heating and cooling, occupant behaviour, industry learning rates, and greenhouse gas intensity.

We believe the priority when developing compliance pathways should be to ensure that a genuine step-change in energy performance can be delivered by an increase in stringency in the 2022 NCC.

You can read our feedback on the ‘Whole of House’ issues paper here.