Tuesday 23/3/2010 Page: 16
Councils must enforce tougher rules for energy efficiency in new buildings from May. The Building Ministers' Forum has approved changes to the building code to require six-star energy efficiency in new residential buildings. The housing industry says the changes will make new homes more expensive and less affordable and have "next to no effect" on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The new rules include:
- Increased roof insulation and more stringent limits on glazed areas.
- Restrictions on artificial lighting, including separate switching for high- and low-efficiency lamps.
- An energy rating scheme for apartments.
- Electric space heating is banned in most circumstances and "not favoured" for hot water systems.
- A convection barrier in wall cavities.
"The likelihood is that an escalation in the cost of new dwellings will push prospective new home buyers back into established dwellings that are far less energy-efficient than new dwellings," the Housing Industry said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment