Barriers and drivers to green buildings in Australia and New Zealand
| Published date | 12 July 2011 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14635781111150367 |
| Pages | 494-509 |
| Date | 12 July 2011 |
| Author | Sandy Bond |
| Subject Matter | Property management & built environment |
Barriers and drivers to green
buildings in Australia and
New Zealand
Sandy Bond
Faculty of Commerce, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – Improving energy efficiency of buildings and appliances has been shown to be the most
cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this research is to identify
householders’ lifestyle choices within homes that impact on energy use and their motivation to
conserve energy. The results help to identify methods to increase the uptake of sustainability practices
that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in residential buildings.
Design/methodology/approach – A postal survey was adopted as the quickest and most
cost-effective way of surveying a large sample of householders across Australia. The survey was sent
to 2,500 randomly selected residents, 500 in each of the five largest Australian cities by population.
Findings – The results identified that barriers to energy efficiency in households include: larger
homes and smaller households; initial costs of sustainable features, and a lack of consumer
information about benefits and savings from incorporating energy-efficient devices. The most
common reason why people are not acting in more sustainable ways is inconvenience or laziness.
Research limitations/implications – The response rate was very low and retired persons were
over-represented, as they are the people with more time to answer surveys. Further research is
warranted to achieve a larger, more representative sample.
Practical implications – These results will be useful to Government policy makers as they help to
identify methods to increase the uptake of sustainable features and energy conservation in homes.
Originality/value – This study is the first attempt at a nation-wide study of residential behavior to
help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in homes.
Keywords Sustainability,Energy efficiency, Greenhousegas emissions, Residential homes,
Householder perceptions, Global warming,Australia, New Zealand
Paper type Research paper
1. Background and literature review
This paper begins by outlining the political drivers, and government initiatives, for
sustainable buildings in Australia and New Zealand and highlights the differences
between each country. Next, the results of research carried out in Australia to identify
householders’ attitudes towards climate change and their lifestyle choices and user
behaviour in relation to the energy consumed in their homes.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international environmental treaty intended to reduce
greenhouse gas concentrations (GHGe) in the atmosphere to help tackle climate change.
National limitations range from 0 per cent reductions for New Zealand, to permitted
increases of 8 per cent for Australia (and 10 per cent for Iceland). Unfortunately, New
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-578X.htm
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.
JPIF
29,4/5
494
Received December 2010
Accepted March 2011
Journal of Property Investment &
Finance
Vol. 29 No. 4/5, 2011
pp. 494-509
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-578X
DOI 10.1108/14635781111150367
Zealand’s overall emissions since 1990 have increased by some 25 percent [1]. This rise
is partly explained by New Zealand’s unique greenhouse gas emissions profile. The
two largest impacts are from agricultural, in the form of methane and nitrous oxide (48
per cent) and transportation (20 per cent). Both of these sectors face considerable
difficulties in reducing their share of emissions. By comparison, other developed
economies largest portion of their greenhouse gas emissions profile is due to
combustion of fossil fuels, as is the case in Australia, which is more readily reduced
through the switch to renewable energy sources[2].
1.1 Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings
Buildings in New Zealand account for 17 per cent of the country’s GHGe, while the
figure for Australia is 23 per cent[3]. According to Foliente et al. (2009), while the
building sector is not the largest contributor to GHGe, it is one of the fastest-growing
sources. A report by the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change
confirms earlier estimates that energy use in the building sector could be reduced by
30-50 percent (Nadel et al., 1998).
Energy usage in residential buildings accounts for around 13 per cent of total
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from all sources in Australia, while in NZ households
are responsible for 10 per cent (MED, 2006). In terms of source of GHGe in the
residential sector, over half comes from electrical appliances selected by residents or
persons outside the building sector (including standby 5 per cent, cooking 5 per cent,
lighting 11 per cent, refrigeration 12 per cent, and other appliances 24 per cent), nearly
a quarter (23 per cent) comes from water heaters, and a fifth from space heating and
cooling. In terms of home energy use the figures are similar but more is used in space
heating and cooling (38 per cent compared to 20 per cent CO2 produced from this
source) and water heating (25 per cent) with just over a third (37 per cent) coming from
electrical appliances (Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO), 2008).
It is not only the amount of energy used in homes that has an impact on the
production GHGe but also the type of energy. Householders could reduce their carbon
footprint by not only reducing the amount of energy they use in their homes but also
by using energy from renewable and green sources. In Australia, the majority of
electricity generated for industry and households comes from fossil fuels (e.g. coal, oil
and gas) whereas New Zealand is more fortunate in that about three quarters of the
electricity generated comes from renewable sources, predominantly hydropower,
though this percentage has been falling from a high of 91 per cent in 1980 to 73 per cent
in 2009 (MED, 2010a,b).
According to ABS data (2010a), despite efforts to reduce energy consumption in
homes, household electricity use per person has being rising. Larger dwelling sizes,
decreasing average household size, more appliances and IT equipment per household
as well as the increased use of heaters and coolers, have contributed to this increase.
The following three sections 1.2-1.4 outline the government actions taken in Australia
and New Zealand to help reduce GHGe from buildings generally, but focusing here on
housing.
1.2 Government actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings
The lifestyle choice of Australasians is for bigger homes. The average size of a new
house in Australia in 2008/2009 was 245m
2
compared with 188.7m
2
in 1993/1994 and in
New Zealand it was 195m
2
in 2008 compared 142m
2
in 1992 (ABS, 2010a; Infometrics,
Barriers and
drivers to green
buildings
495
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