hi,
i am thinking of building energy efficient homes and was interested in people's opinions of these types of buildings in the Australian market. Do you feel this is where Australia is heading or should be heading?Hello camakos
My thoughts are that energy efficient homes (in fact all buildings) are a must for the future but that we will be led towards this end in slow stages ( to avoid the kicking and screaming) because of the extra costs on top of the already high price of housing.
Have you done any costing to see what the difference in price is between a non energy efficient house and an energy efficient one.
This may be a good time to ask something that has puzzled me forever. In a country where we have so many hours of sun, specially in the north, why are we not using solar energy to generate most of the electricity we need in our homes. I have heard that it is expensive to install but if many people used it the price should come down. When you fly into Tel Aviv airport you see that every house has solar heating. Why not here? This may be a very naive question but I have often wondered if this would not be a good business to get into.
Cheers
ElkaDefinitely, the laws have changed in Qld and are changing in WA to be more energy efficient. In WA it will cost approx $10,000 more per house to build – and first homebuyers will be emempt. I think that is rediculous as it will keep them poor with the extra costs of heating and cooling. I'm not sure about other states but you may find there is minimum laws in place already. I think the cheapest and most effective way is to chose a block with a good orientation and have eaves and insulation. There is free publications about building energy effecient houses from govt departments. Linda
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