Australian Zero Emission House

When Government develops schemes in policy, regulations or incentives to reduce GHG emissions in housing, there is a need to estimate likely impacts across housing stock over time. This provides a means to benchmark different schemes in terms of cost versus impact as part of setting and meeting national/local objectives. GHG reduction schemes can cost upwards of several billions of dollars to implement, which is not only a cost to the government but also to the Australian public. Ineffective schemes can lead to additional costs in terms of public confidence, rectifying and loss of critical time (or opportunity loss). It is therefore essential that Government are equipped with the necessary set of tools when planning and justifying GHG reduction schemes to meet various targets. To estimate impacts, the AusZEH Housing Stock Option Tool will assess the likely level of adoption across the housing stock, and the consequent GHG reductions resulting from the adoption. The Housing Stock Option Tool will provide Government with the much needed information on likely impact over time, and a means to plan and fine-tune GHG reduction schemes to ensure that targets are met at critical time frames. It also provides Government with a better capability to justify schemes to the building sector and general public, to gain acceptance and support.

The Housing Stock Option Tool can consider housing stock at the estate, community, city or regional scale, whilst accommodating the complex variables associated with the conditions for households adopting different GHG reduction technologies. The Housing Stock Option Tool will provide several capabilities, including:

• Exploration of policy options in terms of their medium and long term impacts on house GHG emissions reduction;
• Exploration of various technology options with associated features and potential costs and return, including technologies in housing retrofit, appliances, and energy sources;
• Optimisation of policy and technology combinations that best meet GHG or budget targets;
• Understanding of and preparation for behavioural and social changes required for large-scale introduction of emission reduction strategies; and
• Facilitate what is directly advocated by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): for 'more ambitious policy-making than what has been done or is being done today'.