Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) has urged political leaders to ensure that any public stimulus money spent getting tradies back to work on residential and commercial buildings must ensure that it is also slashing energy bills for households and businesses.
“The Australian construction sector has the skills and capacity to deliver,” Heidi Lee, Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) Industry lead, and a trained architect, said.
“Upgrading buildings to alleviate energy poverty, by upgrading building materials to increase efficiency, by switching from gas to electricity, and meeting energy needs with distributed renewables is the key to families and businesses reducing bills for the long term.
“Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) welcomes the government proposal to stimulate construction activity through home renovations but urge that the program be used to improve the energy efficiency of buildings to reduce Australians’ energy bills,” Heidi Lee, Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) Industry lead, and a trained architect, said.
“It is vital that we don’t waste this opportunity to provide healthy, comfortable and efficient buildings.
“We have a unique opportunity to upgrade Australia’s notoriously poor housing stock, and upskill our construction workforce so that we can deliver significantly better buildings for all Australians.
“Our Million Jobs Plan, set for release shortly, demonstrates that over 100,000 jobs can be created with a nationwide retrofit program for existing properties alone.
In a submission to the Federal Government the Masters Builders Association of Australia stated: “renovation grants could be restricted to those with a social or environmental dividend such as energy-efficient constructions or additions and bushfire resistant or cyclone- and flood-proof renovations.”
“There is a massive opportunity to unlock private investment through all of these actions,” Ms Lee said.
Beyond Zero Emissions is one of Australia’s most respected and awarded energy think-tanks. Our upcoming Million Jobs Plan will show how the Australian economy can thrive through a clean COVID-19 recovery program.