Lazy industry should not stand in the way of sustainable building law

Thursday, 01 July 2004 10:00

 Criticism from the Housing Industry Association reflects laziness, because some builders don't want to change their habits of building energy and water wasting housing. Their basic housing package is really a financial penalty on those who will be paying the high and rising energy and water bills.
 
"The BASIX law makes sustainable building, mainstream. This means that house buyers will not have to battle builders and councils to get water and energy savings measures. And because there will be much more demand for energy and water saving appliances, solar hot water and rainwater tanks, these will become cheaper as production is ramped up. Further there will be significant reductions in energy and water bills over the years, as people pay off their mortgages," said Jeff Angel, Director of the Centre.

"As a government regulation it provides an objective and practical tool that will have a pervasive impact on new residential construction in our urban areas. Not only does it set a minimum benchmark that can be measured and allows flexibility in how you achieve the environmental results, but it will also create a stable foundation for the growth of those businesses, products and services that enable homes to reduce their ecological footprint."

The new laws that come into effect today require a 40% cut in use of potable water and 25% cut in energy, compared to the average house. It is firstly applied to single dwellings but will be expanded to units, town houses, mixed use developments in October 2004. Alterations and additions will come under the scheme in October 2005. Energy saving requirements will rise to 40% in 2006.

"The next raft of policies and regulations will be no less important," Mr Angel said.
"We need to address the vast bulk of resource inefficient housing that already exists - with substantial demand management programs for energy and water and applying BASIX to renovations and commercial buildings. New neighbourhoods and suburbs will also need to meet strict standards for resource conservation; public transport use and protection of biodiversity, otherwise they should be taken off the drawing board."