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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!

Buildings account for around 25-30%

Australia

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Focus on Residential

Nearly 75% of spending on buildings over last 5 years have been on dwellings

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

GHG emissions & energy use in homes

Source: Australian Greenhouse Office 2008

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Draft National Strategy on Energy Efficiency 2009-2020

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 2011Hot-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

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 ReviewBarriers to uptake of renewable energy in homes (Environment Victoria, 2009):

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 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

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:

Sydney Melbourne Perth Brisbane Adelaide

Survey posted to 1250 residents Response rate 6.5% (n=85)

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Survey Results

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 environmentAir 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 Already doing

Likely/Highly likely

Unlikely to adopt

Turn off all my appliances at the wall 40% 30% 23% Insulate hot water pipes 40% 21% 19% Avoid halogen down-lights or replace with LED/compact fluorescent globes

44% 29% 7.4%

Turn lights off when not in the room 89.4% 8% 1% Use a warmer blanket while sleeping rather than warming the whole room

88% 8.3% 1%

Dress appropriately rather than cooling/warming the whole room

86% 12% 1%

Replace 10 of the most used light bulbs with LED or CFLs

58% 31.4% 5%

Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when full

82.4% 12% 3.5%

Dry clothes on a clothesline rather than in an electric clothes dryer

85% 10.6% 1%

Install timers on appliances to turn them off when not in use

10.6% 16.5% 38%

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No/Low Cost Actions

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 They forgot Too lazy This information can provide useful clues

of what is needed to encourage people to act, for example: 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 Already doing

Likely/Highly likely

Unlikely to adopt

Have an energy audit/ assessment completed on my home

13% 11% 48%

Install ceiling fans to reduce use of or need for air conditioning

51% 8% 31%

Install a 1kW or larger PV system on the roof

12% 11% 57%

Install a 5 Star instant gas; heat pump; or solar hot water heater

38% 13% 32%

Install or top up insulation in ceilings

63% 18% 11%

Replace single flush toilet with water-saving dual system

82% 11% 5%

Externally shade any exposed western or eastern windows

62% 13% 11%

Install double glazing to windows 2% 5% 69% Switch household power supply to “Green Power” (100% renewable energy)

11% 18% 53%

Install a “Smart Meter” 10% 13% 53%

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Low/medium Cost Actions

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

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: 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

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: 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: 28% were from South Australia 24% from Western Australia 20% from New South Wales 15.5% from Victoria 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

This has been identified as a barrier to the uptake of sustainability in homes

Generally consumers want to know:

the cost of installing a feature

the cost savings from having it

the associated payback period

= better able to make informed decisions

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Ongoing Issues

Type of information required, an example:

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:

audio-visual equipment,

VCRs,

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:

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 & ConclusionsCommon reasons people are not acting in more sustainable ways:

inconvenience

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 reductions!