Adrian Joyce, Secretary General of Efficient Buildings Europe and Director of the Renovate Europe campaign

In a panel chaired by EEC Head of Electrification Anna Freeman, Adrian was joined by Anna Malos of Climateworks Centre and Isaac Gravolin of federal DCCEEW to discuss how far Australia’s approach to home energy use has come from the black balloon ads of 20 years ago, the policy steps that have brought us here, and how far we need to keep going in the years to come.

Europe took nearly two decades to move from the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates to making them universally available; by learning the lessons of overseas experience and deploying Australia’s own best practice systems, we have an opportunity to leapfrog Europe and roll out energy ratings fast and at scale. 

And we need to move fast.

Luke Menzel launched the EEC’s Efficient, Electric Homes: Market Acceleration Plan, sharing our plan to rapidly scale the market and ratchet up deployment of home energy retrofits. He outlined our targets: to bring homes in line with the AEMO Step Change scenario, Australia needs to electrify 2.4 million homes and improve energy efficiency in homes by 25%  between now and 2035, while ensuring that all major electric appliances sold being flexibility-capable by 2030.

Every Australian should live in a healthy and comfortable home that is affordable to run, but too many households including renters, low-income households and social housing residents still face barriers to home energy upgrades. Kellie Caught, Davina Rooney, Craig Memery and Lotte Wolfe joined EEC’s Rob McLeod to unpack the policy measures we need to make sure the retrofit agenda leaves nobody behind, and how industry can be backed in to deliver retrofit services in ways that will meet the needs of all households. 

Luke was then joined by Nick Shepherd of Stiebel Eltron for an armchair discussion: Plugged in, switched on and fully optimised. Nick shared insights on the emerging market for electrification both in Australia and overseas. Despite the volatility of subsidies seen in the German market, more electric appliances are now sold than gas boilers; we are seeing this shift here in Australia, and community awareness and strong efficiency standards will only see this grow. 

Nick Shepherd of Stiebel Eltron joins Luke Menzel for an armchair discussion: Plugged in, switched on and fully optimised

In the afternoon, focus shifted to deployment and how we can get boots on the ground. Jeremy Sung was joined by Stephen Procter, Dr Robert Sobyra, Grace Tam and Cecille Weldon to lay out the issues in skills and training, incentive schemes, finance and real estate. Panelists highlighted the need for language and services that resonate with households and are delivered clearly and simply at key moments, including by enabling real estate agents to demonstrate energy features.

In the session and throughout the day, summit attendees actively raised the ways small businesses can be at the forefront of delivering bundled services in a way that is simple for households.  

Everyone loves an interactive session – which is just as well because attendees wrapped up the day with a workshop to compete on big ideas to drive the home retrofit market. Adrian was a good sport in judging the ideas, though was probably a little taken aback by the Australian propensity for home renovation shows, gambling and Robert Irwin.