At present, the Building Code of Australia (BCA) contains no energy efficiency measures for homes and commercial buildings but work is underway to see their provision into the code. This means that by January 2003 an extensive package of energy efficiency measures for houses should be introduced into the code with measures for other buildings included by July 2004.
While there are currently no overall national energy efficiency requirement in the BCA, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), South Australia and Victoria require ceilings and walls of houses to be insulated with the ACT and Victoria extending these measures to other residential buildings.
The changes to the code will follow a procedure that is consultative and transparent and includes the preparation of a regulation document and a regulatory impact statement detailing the implications of the proposals. The regulation document is due for release in January 2002, while the regulatory impact statement should be formulated by June 2002.
A wide number of industry bodies and associations will help the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) in developing energy efficiency measures, including the Australian Greenhouse Office, the Australasian Window Association, the Building Designers Association of Australia, the Housing Industry Association, the Insulation Manufacturers Association of Australia, the Master Builders Association, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and the Sustainable Energy Industries Council of Australia.
Already, a number of research studies that will help with the inclusion of the measures into the code have been released. They include a scoping study of minimum energy performance requirements for incorporation into the Building Code of Australia, a feasibility study on a national approach to energy efficiency measures in houses and an international survey of building energy codes.
A directions report released at the recent the ACBC national conference on the Gold Coast outlines the timetable for the phasing in of the measures and gives some indication of what they will be and how they will be decided on.
According to the report measures being considered for housing include wall, ceiling and floor insulation, sealing some openings, solar radiation control for eaves and glazing, the use of ceiling fans, thermal insulation of hot water piping, insulating and heating duct work for heating and air-conditioning systems and limiting the size of resistance electric water heaters including spa heaters where gas is available.
For commercial buildings, measures under consideration include increasing the energy efficiency of the building envelope and fabric, using energy-saving lighting, power and vertical transport systems, using energy-saving heating and air-conditioning systems and monitoring energy consumption.
The report says that energy efficiency measures introduced into the code are likely to be “cost effective under an agreed perspective for the economic life of the building.”
It is not proposed to regulate on anything that has an impact on health, safety and security at this time because these are issues that would need extensive consultation before being considered for inclusion in the BCA. Things in this category that are regulated in some other countries are the operational control of pool and spa pumps and the continuous lighting around buildings. As well, it is not proposed to regulate lighting globes or flurorescent tubes because of the ease with which they can be changed and the difficulty of monitoring a change.
Measures will not be proposed for the BCA where mandatory product regulation – enforced through state energy laws – offers a viable method of improving the energy efficiency of equipment used in energy laws.