Transcript Drivers and barriers to sustainability in residential and

Australian Householders’ Attitudes
Towards Sustainability in the Home
Profs Bond & Newman
This research was supported under Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding
scheme (project DP0985410). The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not
necessarily those of the Australian Research Council.
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Sustainability in the
Built Environment

Australia produces the highest GHG
emissions per unit of GDP in the world!
Australia
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Buildings account for around 25-30%
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Focus on Residential

Nearly 75% of spending on buildings
over last 5 years have been on dwellings
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55% = construction of new dwellings
45% = alterations & additions to existing
dwellings over $10,000
Improving energy efficiency of
buildings is the quickest & most
cost effective way of reducing GHG
emissions
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GHG emissions &
energy use in homes
Source: Australian Greenhouse Office 2008
Draft National Strategy on
Energy Efficiency 2009-2020

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 stringency of energy efficient
requirements in the Building Code of
Australia from 2010
Phase in mandatory disclosure of energy
efficiency in buildings
Homes: BCA 6* minimum by 2011
Hot-water systems & lighting: new efficiency
requirements
Incentives, rebates, grants: e.g. Green Loan
program (on hold), water tanks, PV, Solar HW
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Cost as a barrier

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Common argument against “going
green” is that it costs more than a
comparable conventionally designed
building or home
Developers look to minimise capital
costs & continue to provide buildings
that are cheap to build but expensive
to operate
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Literature Review
Barriers to uptake of renewable energy in
homes (Environment Victoria, 2009):
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lack of consumer information when buying
split incentives between builders & the
householders: builders are not motivated to
improve the energy efficiency of homes as
they do not re-coup the benefits
upfront capital costs of EE measures
“bounded rationality” – householders may
not understand the benefits to them of
energy efficiency, or may not act due to
other priorities
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Literature Review
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A 2007 survey of 1700 households showed:
Public consciousness is very high - 90%
agree: “climate change is a major problem
for the planet”
More than half have electric water heaters:
criticised for contributing to GHG
emissions & highest energy use in homes
Up to 20% are unwilling to undertake any
sustainability improvements because of
trouble or expense
35% are willing to be persuaded if the
savings, cost & ease of installation are
attractive enough
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Literature Review
Survey reported by ABS (2006) showed:

Adoption of environmentally friendly
behaviours is greatest where it is
convenient & where it does not require a
lot of time or money

43% said they considered cost to be the
main factor when buying a new white good

44% said energy* rating was main reason

Only 11% of households stated an
environmental factor as their main concern
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Research Aims

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Determine lifestyle choices: size of
home, construction, facilities &
household size
Determine householders’ motivation
to reduce GHG emissions in the
home
Identify & explain user behaviour in
residential buildings in relation to the
energy consumed
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Methodology:
1.
Survey residents in 5 largest
cities by population:

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
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Sydney
Melbourne
Perth
Brisbane
Adelaide
Survey posted to 1250 residents
Response rate 6.5% (n=85)
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Survey Results

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Motivation to reduce personal climate
change emissions:
49 % moderately motivated
32% highly motivated
Choice of house size:
35% live in 3 bedroom home; 35% 4 bed
52% have 2 bathrooms
52% have 2 living rooms
In line with ABS data that shows that the
average home has grown to 258m2.
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Survey Results
Household size:
43.5% have 2 persons
 20% have 3 persons
National average: 2.6 persons/ household
 This trend to smaller household sizes &
larger homes presents a barrier to
reducing impacts on the environment
Air Conditioning:
 73% have air-con (ABS 2006 figures shows

AC use has doubled in 14 years)
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Likelihood of adopting no/low cost behaviours that reduce GHG emissions
Actions
Turn off all my appliances at the wall
Insulate hot water pipes
Avoid halogen down-lights or replace
with LED/compact fluorescent globes
Turn lights off when not in the room
Use a warmer blanket while sleeping
rather than warming the whole room
Dress appropriately rather than
cooling/warming the whole room
Replace 10 of the most used light bulbs
with LED or CFLs
Use the washing machine or dishwasher
only when full
Dry clothes on a clothesline rather than in
an electric clothes dryer
Install timers on appliances to turn them
off when not in use
Already Likely/Highl Unlikely
doing
y likely
to adopt
40%
30%
23%
40%
21%
19%
44%
7.4%
29%
89.4%
88%
8%
8.3%
1%
1%
86%
12%
1%
58%
31.4%
5%
82.4%
12%
3.5%
85%
10.6%
1%
10.6%
16.5%
38%
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No/Low Cost Actions
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Over 50% of respondents were already
taking many of the listed actions
The actions they were most likely to take:
replacing 10 of the most used light bulbs
with LED or CFLs; turning off all appliances
at the wall when not in use; avoiding
halogen down-lights
The actions they were least likely to take:
installing timers on appliances to turn them off
when not in use; insulating hot water pipes
Given listed actions are low/no cost it was
surprising more people would not act
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Reasons for not taking action

Inconvenience
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They forgot

Too lazy
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This information can provide useful
clues of what is needed to encourage
people to act, for example:
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automating actions where possible

making actions mandatory or part of the
BCA (dual flush WCs; low flow taps; etc)
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Likelihood of adopting low/medium cost behaviours
Actions
Have an energy audit/ assessment
completed on my home
Install ceiling fans to reduce use of
or need for air conditioning
Install a 1kW or larger PV system
on the roof
Install a 5 Star instant gas; heat
pump; or solar hot water heater
Install or top up insulation in
ceilings
Replace single flush toilet with
water-saving dual system
Externally shade any exposed
western or eastern windows
Install double glazing to windows
Switch household power supply to
“Green Power” (100% renewable
energy)
Install a “Smart Meter”
Already
doing
13%
Likely/Highly
likely
11%
Unlikely
to adopt
48%
51%
8%
31%
12%
11%
57%
38%
13%
32%
63%
18%
11%
82%
11%
5%
62%
13%
11%
2%
11%
5%
18%
69%
53%
10%
13%
53%
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Low/medium Cost Actions
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Over 50% of respondents were taking
action on only 5 out of 17 listed actions
The most common actions already taken:
replacing single flush toilet with dual flush;
installing or topping-up ceiling insulation &
externally shading any exposed western or
eastern windows
Given that 42% of heat escapes through
the roof & that heating /cooling consumes
the most amount of energy, installing
insulation is one of the more cost-effective
ways of reducing energy consumption
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Low/medium Cost Actions
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It is surprising with rebates available for
installing insulation that the take up of
these has not been higher
Similarly, water heating uses 25% of
energy in homes but creates the most GHG
emissions
Only 38% had installed instantaneous gas
or solar hot water heater yet this is another
cost-effective way of reducing both energy
consumption and GHG emissions while
saving money & rebates are available
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Low/medium Cost Actions
The actions they were least likely to take:
 installing double glazing
 installing a photovoltaic system
 switching to “Green Power”
 installing a smart meter
 more information is needed about these
 Help consumers see where, how & when
they use energy = better informed how to
adjust their consumption habits in order
to save $ on power bills
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Reasons for not taking action

Cost was the major reason not to act

Given that there are rebates available in
many States it would seem that:
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Either the respondents were not aware of
the rebates, or
They are not informed about the benefits
of many of these actions particularly in
terms of overall savings in energy costs,
where payback periods can be quite short
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Benefits & motivations for acting
1. Cost savings > $1000 p.a. were considered
the most important
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2.
“doing the right thing”
3.
achieving healthy indoor air quality
4.
increased property value
5.
decreased obsolescence
Cost savings benefits are reported most
widely in the media in relation to acting
environmentally
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Respondent Demographics
Age & Gender:
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62% were male
61% were over 60 years of age (much
higher than National average >65 years
is 13.5%, ABS 2009)
Thus, survey responses are not likely to
be representative of the population as a
whole
Common issue with postal surveys: those
with more time tend to respond (older,
retirees)
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Respondent Demographics
Location:
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28% were from South Australia
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24% from Western Australia
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20% from New South Wales
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15.5% from Victoria
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13% from Queensland
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Ongoing Issues

There is limited information available to
consumers about the costs & benefits of
retrofitting to make homes more
sustainable
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This has been identified as a barrier to
the uptake of sustainability in homes
Generally consumers want to know:
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the cost of installing a feature
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the cost savings from having it
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the associated payback period
= better able to make informed decisions25
Ongoing Issues
Type of information required, an example:
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The cost to install a 1kWh photovoltaic
system is ≈ $12,000
With the available rebate of $8,000 it would
take 15 years to payback this feature
The consumer would save, on average:

$250p.a. in energy costs

1.83 tonnes of GHG emissions
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Ongoing Issues
Other little known facts:
Appliances draw electrical power (3% of a
home’s energy use) if turned off (but not off
at the wall) or on stand by
Some of the largest drawers of energy are:
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audio-visual equipment,
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VCRs,
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printers,

computer notebooks
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Summary & Conclusions
A 2009 survey of householder’s attitudes
towards willingness to act environmentally

Barriers to energy efficiency in homes are:
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larger homes & smaller households
costs & long payback periods of
sustainable features
lack of consumer information about
benefits & savings from incorporating
sustainable behaviours & features
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Summary & Conclusions
Common reasons people are not acting in
more sustainable ways:
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inconvenience
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laziness
Given that water heating & heating &
cooling of homes use the most energy &
produce the most GHG emissions these
areas should be focused on
According to IEA: a total global switch to
compact fluorescent bulbs would deliver
CO2 savings slightly over half of the Kyoto
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reductions!