Article #4 - "Housing lobby in 5 star mystery"

Browsing through The Age online, I came across an article on the effectiveness of the 5-star rating system on houses for the environmental sustainability called “Housing lobby in 5 star mystery”. While Planning Minister Justin Madden argued that the aim of the system was for the government, in combination with the HIA, to promote the efficiency of buildings in Victoria. However, sources for ‘The Age’ argue that houses built now use more power and create more greenhouse gases than older ones.

Largely aimed at cutting energy use for heating and cooling, five-star building regulations were first introduced in Victoria in 2004, and then nationally over the past year. The HIA lobbied hard against the national roll-out of five-star rules, arguing it would inflate the cost of an average new home by around $15,000.

While concerns are growing that the Government has not out enough pressure on the HIA to force newly built houses to increase their energy efficiency, many are also worried about the HIA’s role in dictating building standards in the rest of Australia.

However, it is believed that the Government is planning on introducing new rules to replace the five-star system, thus taking a more obvious approach to the construction of cleaner households.

Article found:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/housing-lobby-in-5star-mystery/2007/05/24/1179601576302.html