In the global push to lowering our carbon emissions by transitioning to renewable energy production and improving energy efficiency epitomised in the Paris Agreement in 2015, the importance of housing tenure to the adoption of low carbon living, particularly for those on lower incomes, is often not fully appreciated. Lower-income households are more likely to be renters on social benefits, and have limited ability to afford either the normally higher priced energy efficient appliances or access renewables due to the problem of split incentives.

Current regulatory pathways to compliance in energy efficiency for Australian housing are via provisions in the National Construction Code (NCC). This paper first identifies performance evaluation criteria set out in the code presented as a comparative analysis across the different methods of achieving compliance. Jurisdictional and concessional variations are discussed and thereafter an examination of the effect of specific design and location factors that impact the commonly used deemed to satisfy route to compliance.

Since 1990, the carbon emissions of dwellings in the UK have declined by around 20%. This reduction per dwelling is mainly ascribed to the impact of energy efficiency measures, such as improvements in building codes/regulations. In the UK, national energy models of the building stock are used to support the formal cost benefit analysis of policies.

The recent European energy proposals for the revision of the Energy Efficiency and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directives emphasize the importance of driving investments into the renovation of building stocks and stimulating retrofitting demand. Moreover, the ambitious targets on Green House Gas’ abatement and energy consumption reduction require refurbishments to a high level of performance. This high level of performance subsequently represents high cost for households.