Location, location, location. If you're looking to buy a home, that's all that matters. Right?One reason is the almost total lack of information about the energy performance of homes in Australia. In other words, we're focused on how much a house costs to buy or rent, but ignore how much it costs to run.
Even if we wanted to choose energy efficient homes, we'd have no way of finding out which ones are better than others. With the exception of the Australian Capital Territory, and to some extent Queensland, that information generally does not exist in the market for sale and lease of homes.
But there are now proposals to fix this.
"Residential Mandatory Disclosure"
After many delays, Australian governments are now consulting on an initiative unfortunately titled 'Residential Mandatory Disclosure'. In short, this would require anyone who intends to sell or lease their home to tell potential buyers or sellers how energy efficient the home is. With this information, people can at least estimate how much they can expect to spend heating, cooling and generally running the home.
This is not trivial. The difference in running costs between an inefficient home – for example, one with lots of gaps that leak all the cool, airconditioned air in summer – and a higher quality home can be thousands of dollars a year. It makes a big difference.
In the ACT, the policy has succeeded in boosting the price of high efficiency homes. This creates an incentive for people considering selling or renting their home to improve its energy efficiency before they sell. As well as renovating the kitchen, they might install wall insulation as an added selling point for buyers. The home will then sell for a higher price.
Know before you buy
From the perspective of the buyer or renter, this makes life a whole lot easier. Instead of 'buying blind' and having heart attack when we receive our first gas bill for $800, we will now have the information provided to us at the time of lease or sale. We will know what we're getting ourselves into, and can choose to pay more for a home that costs less to run, or less for a home that we know will cost more to run.
Of course, there are details that need to be worked out. For example, how do you determine the efficiency of a home? What tool do you use? How do you make the information meaningful? And so on.
But in the end, it just makes sense.
Next steps
If you want more information on the scheme, everything you need is on the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency website.
There's no guarantee this proposal will actually happen, so it's important that supporters of more information for home buyers and renters make their voice heard.
The Moreland Energy Foundation is currently consulting with government on this proposal, and will be putting in a submission expressing our support.
You can This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it before 12 September.
Alternatively, you can let us know your views, by contacting our Energy Policy Advocate, Eli Court.
