MBA Australia report (July 2010) – taken from national website.
ENERGY-EFFICIENCY IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS: BUILDING CODE STAR-RATINGS
What’s optimal, what’s not
http://www.masterbuilders.com.au/InformationSheets/energy-efficiency-building-code-star-ratings
Central premise: there is no economic benefit increasing from 5 Star to 6 Star.
Executive Summary pg 11
Optimal star rating is generally around or below 5
Apart from one
particular house design with several site advantages, most other
typical new designs in most locations have optimal star rating below
6 and many are below 5.
These results are consistent with the recent
Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) which assessed the benefits and
costs of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) being revised
to raise
the minimum required star rating from 5 to 6 stars. It found that a
shift to 6 stars would impose net costs on the Australian economy.
Chapter 1 Introduction pg15
The Issue
The economic
dimensions of relentlessly pursuing higher star ratings are poorly
understood politically and within government.
The Productivity
Commission has previously expressed concern about how the star rating
system is applied.
It has also recommended that a detailed, ex post,
economic analysis be conducted on the previous decision to move to
the 5 star rating.
This has not occurred. In addition, the Final
Regulation Impact Statement and benefit cost analysis behind the
recent decision to move to 6 stars
showed that economic losses would
be imposed on most states should it be adopted, but the Ministers
Building Forum decided to proceed anyway.
______________________________________________________________________
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Energy-efficiency: building code star rating: what's optimal, what's not?
25 Nov 2010
Residential building
energy star ratings are widely perceived within the community to be a
measure of economic efficiency.
A higher star rating is perceived as
innately desirable. However, energy efficiency is not economic
efficiency.
Findings in this report are that, generally it pays to
achieve a 5-star rating for new houses. However, above this point,
for most houses in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (representing 80
per cent of Australian city residential houses),
forcing home owners
to build houses with higher star ratings will be detrimental to the
community.
To view this report on CIE's website [pdf, 1602KB]
To view this report on the Master Builders Association website, click here