What’s it really cost to build a true energy efficient home?

For this article, we are going to dig a little deeper into the issue. We feel this has an importance far bigger than what it is often given — as not only will your domestic costs of heating and cooling your home continue to rise, so will the environmental costs of creating and supplying that energy in the first place. True energy efficiency is not about not running the reverse cycle air con too much, it’s about not needing to run the air con because your home remains cool on a hot day, and warm on a cold day. The really good news is that building a highly energy efficient home is not expensive or difficult, perhaps adding only a few thousand dollars to the overall cost of your new home. This is a once-only cost, but the savings generated will pay you back every year for the entire life of the home. In a nod towards energy efficiency, the government requires every new home to achieve at least a 4.5-star energy rating, plus nominal credits. For an average four-bedroom family home, this will translate to using about 180/190 megajules of energy per square metre, per year. Our own goal for any new home we build on the Darling Downs is to achieve at least a 7-star energy rating. For the same family home, this would translate to around a 50 MJ/M2 rating. If a 4.5-star family home costs around $2000 a year for heating and cooling, a 7-star home will reduce that to around $600. If that saving was kicking straight into your mortgage, imagine where your financial position would be in just 10 years time.

How hard, or expensive is it to upgrade a 4.5-star rated home plan into a cost-saving 7-star home?

First, don’t be confused by the star rating on its own. Just by adding a ceiling fan to your outdoor patio you will raise a 4.5-star rating to 6 — but the reality is there is no energy saving, just more cost. Rather than focussing on the star rating, we focus on what each home plan needs to maximise and minimise what you can’t change — the weather and your outside environment. We often have customers come to us with their plans, either already drawn up, or just as a scratched out idea. One customer showed us his house plan on his block, and we rotated it just one metre around, dramatically improving his home’s energy efficiency, and therefore his ongoing energy savings — without adding one extra cent to the build cost. Just by looking at house plans, along with the elevations and the site plans, we can very quickly see where any potential problems are. At this point, just swapping the layout of rooms around may improve the home’s energy efficiency, without changing any exterior walls or roof line, and therefore not adding any building costs. Extra costs may be incurred in installing the proper insulation, quality glass, adding awnings, sealing doorways and the like.

Let’s sum up and answer our own question

What’s it really cost? An extraordinary amount that keeps biting every year, if you don’t. We only ever see a truly energy efficient home as the genuine low-cost option. When you are comparing builders’ quotes and plans, take a few moments to consider the deeper issues like the ongoing energy costs, and what is really included, and excluded. When house plans are drawn up to a budget, and not to an energy efficiency strategy first, you may end up paying a very high price for a low-price home.