Australian homes are closer to tents than insulated eco-buildings

Freezing indoors? Australian homes are closer to tents than insulated eco-buildings

“There’s no place like home, at least as the saying goes. But if that home is cold, mouldy, expensive to heat and unhealthy, it can also be an incredible source of stress, discomfort and cost. We have an opportunity to improve this by tightening our building regulations and comprehensively refurbishing existing houses. We’ve been behind much of the world for far too long.”

Philip Oldfield of The Guardian stresses national building standards need to be overhauled to fight climate change and energy poverty – and improve our lives. His new article mentions a 2015 study that suggested 28% of Australian households suffer ‘fuel poverty’, either they can’t afford their energy bills or restrict energy use for their health. As always, our most vulnerable are hit hardest, with cold homes linked to increased blood pressure, asthma, poor mental health, respiratory, and cardiovascular disease.

The answer is Passive House. Read the article here.