Just one star needed to halve household energy consumption

Improving the average energy-efficiency rating of household appliances by just one star could effectively halve household energy consumption, new research by Energeia reveals.

Independent energy experts Energeia released a strategic research report - Off-Target: Australia’s Residential Energy Efficiency Market to 2020 - which shows that it can make economic, as well as environmental, sense to choose more energy-efficient products.

“We don’t need to aim for the highest stars,” said Ezra Beeman, Managing Director of Energeia. “Our analysis shows that, to unlock substantial energy and financial savings, we need to shift the average energy-efficiency rating of household appliances by just one star.”

With appliances and electronic devices accounting for around a third of residential energy consumption, “there are big gains to be made in major appliances and electronic equipment”, said Beeman.

Energeia’s report assessed more than 100 products and services, including energy audits, insulation, hot water, space heating and cooling, standby killers and electronics.

The report revealed “significant gaps” in Australia’s energy-efficiency policy and regulatory framework.

Beeman said, “Under current schemes in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, energy-efficiency certificates are restricted to only the most efficient (and usually the most expensive) appliances, which misses a substantial opportunity to shift the majority of households from less efficient to more efficient appliances. Energeia estimates that this is equivalent to foregoing some 1.8 million tonnes of annual carbon dioxide abatement.

“With a well-designed certificate scheme for appliances, greater (safe) use of insulation and uptake of emerging technologies such as voltage regulators, we believe the national target of 30% improvement in primary energy intensity between 2010 and 2020 is achievable in a cost-effective way.”

An extract of the report can be found on the Energeia website.