Abstract
Australia has committed to play its part in keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 Kelvin but has one of the world’s worst-performing building stocks for thermal performance. This paper reports on a study of cost-effective retrofits of typical Australian houses to rapidly reduce carbon emissions from heating and cooling, including the effects of climate change on a warm temperate climate in 2050. We used the AccuRate Home Energy Rating System (HERS) simulation program to model actual houses modelled in Adelaide and a typical split-system air conditioner appliance. We also show a retrofit method to be a resilient zero-carbon house. The most cost-effective single retrofits were partial conditioning of a house, ceiling and roof insulation, gap sealing to an optimum level, and external wall cavity insulation. Then they were those that suited the house construction such as underfloor insulation and internal brick walls where there was a concrete floor. Novel successful retrofits include cavity wall insulation and roof ‘cool paint’, while ineffective retrofits included window awnings, shade cloths, a plastic temporary double glazing, and vegetation for wing walls. Rapid decarbonisation retrofit combinations were found to suit various occupant budgets and payback periods, by combining the most cost-effective retrofits per house type. The results are based on the Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) protocols regarding heating and cooling loads for room types and occupancy loadings, and these may need to be adjusted in practice.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank CSIRO’s Dr. Dong Chen for NatHERS assistance and discussions, Architect Graham Hunt for assistance with AccuRate modelling, and four seasons and other suppliers for assistance with retrofit costings.
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Shiel, J.J., Moghtaderi, B., Aynsley, R., Page, A., Clarke, J.M. (2018). Rapid Decarbonisation of Australian Housing in Warm Temperate Climatic Regions for 2050. In: Sayigh, A. (eds) Transition Towards 100% Renewable Energy. Innovative Renewable Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69844-1_47
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69844-1_47
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