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Unhealthy advances in Australian building regulations
Citation
Dewsbury, MA and Nath, S and Olaoye, T and Kunzel, H, Unhealthy advances in Australian building regulations, InnoRenew CoE International Conference, 10-11 June 2021, Online (2021) [Conference Extract]
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Abstract
Housing in Australia is mostly low rise, detached dwellings, with a timber-framed structure (Nolan and
Dewsbury, 2006). Due to Australia’s generally temperate climates, national building regulations requiring
the insulation of houses was not introduced until 2003. The primary focus of these new regulations was
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are associated with energy used to heat and/or cool houses
(ABCB, 2003). Since 2003, there have been three significant enhancements to the energy efficiency
requirements requiring greater levels of envelope insulation and air-tightness (Ambrose, et al, 2013;
Ambrose and Syme, 2015). The Australian regulations have included the establishment of the Nationwide
House Energy Rating Scheme, (NatHERS), which initially set the bar at 4 Stars in 2003, followed by 5
Stars and 6 Stars. It is planned that the national residential energy efficiency building regulations will
advance to 7 Stars in 2022. However, the singular focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, without
due consideration of hygrothermal design principles has created an influx of housing constructed in the
last fifteen years that has shown unwanted surface condensation, interstitial condensation and mould
growth (Dewsbury and Law, 2016; Law and Dewsbury, 2018; Nath et al., 2019). The team at the University
of Tasmania has explored steady-state, hybrid and transient hygrothermal simulation methods, settling
on the transient WUFI suite of hygrothermal simulation tools in 2018. One of the key challenges facing
the national building regulatory framework is the diversity of hot-humid climates to cool-temperate
climates that span between the northern and southern reaches of the continent. Attempting to have all
jurisdictions agree on the need for regulatory development poses significant challenges for forwardthinking manufacturers, researchers and regulators. This paper will report on the Australian experience to
date, current areas of research focus at the University of Tasmania and plans for ongoing improvements
to bio-hygrothermal simulation and national regulatory improvement.
Item Details
Item Type: | Conference Extract |
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Keywords: | energy efficiency, air-tightness, condensation, hygrothermal, bio-hygrothermal, timber-framed construction, mould, Interior Air Quality (IAQ), |
Research Division: | Built Environment and Design |
Research Group: | Architecture |
Research Field: | Architectural science and technology |
Objective Division: | Construction |
Objective Group: | Construction design |
Objective Field: | Residential construction design |
UTAS Author: | Dewsbury, MA (Dr Mark Dewsbury) |
UTAS Author: | Nath, S (Mrs Shruti Nath) |
UTAS Author: | Olaoye, T (Mr Toba Olaoye) |
ID Code: | 144822 |
Year Published: | 2021 |
Deposited By: | Architecture and Design |
Deposited On: | 2021-06-15 |
Last Modified: | 2021-07-02 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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