The majority of Australia's 9 million homes rate relatively poorly when assessed on their energy performance.21 This presents significant opportunities to generate bill savings for residential energy customers, reduce peak demand on the grid and improve comfort and health.
However, households have limited time to address this issue, while opportunities to improve residential energy efficiency are often poorly understood and competing with other household expenses.
Home energy-saving initiatives Energy productivity in homes can include draught sealing, insulation, ceiling fans, lighting, shading, solar panels, battery storage, more efficient hot water, and reverse-cycle air conditioning. |
Increased awareness and accessible information can help consumers navigate opportunities in a changing market and prioritise decisions to invest in energy efficiency through home upgrades, appliance purchases or as part of larger renovations.
The broader promotion of information and education campaigns that support residential energy efficiency will help them to better understand their energy consumption and help inform their choice of retailer. Only 55% of households and 57% of businesses are confident in using the available tools. A similar proportion think information is easily understood.22
To be effective, a new campaign will need to use a variety of communication methods to reach different groups, including mainstream broadcast media and social media platforms. The campaign should be supported by user-friendly websites, such as Energy Made Easy and Your Home, that help customers understand and compare their opportunities.
It should also support national programs to increase energy efficiency standards, such as the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act (Cth).
For low-income and vulnerable households, investments in residential energy efficiency have wider benefits. For these consumers, poor energy performance correlates with increased risks for poorer health and wellbeing outcomes. Heatwaves and chronic cold are increasing risks for the elderly and those with pre-existing illnesses. For social housing, low-income households and associated rental properties with poor energy performance, there are substantial opportunities to increase energy productivity and the associated health and social outcomes through funding assistance programs that support energy audits and energy productivity upgrades.
There are approximately 440,000 social housing dwellings in Australia, so the opportunity is significant.23
For more information on reforms that will provide high-quality social and affordable rental housing, see the Social infrastructure chapter.
The Sustainability and resilience chapter outlines ratings tools and sustainability approaches to consider for social infrastructure investment and services.