On March 30th we held our first webinar with the five pilot Councils recruited so far. We now have Cairns, Mildura, Mt Barker, Playford and Whyalla on board. You can see a map of recruited Councils and authorities here and we will be keeping the map up to date.
The discussion was very helpful. We were testing ideas about our energy efficiency compliance checklist, which we hope to publish soon. We have chosen an iterative process - meaning that we hope to get started with inspections, solicit regular feedback from pilot Councils and update the inspection tool frequently to end up with an efficient process.
One of the good discussions was about insulation. We know from the Phase One report that two of the worst offenders for energy efficiency compliance are insulation and glazing. These are two elements that frequently don't get installed as per the design and they can both contribute significantly to the comfort and energy efficiency of a house.
We discussed how realistic it was that inspectors would thoroughly inspect a roof space. Some authorities do not allow inspectors into the roof space and it is an area where the safety policies associated with inspections come into play. The CSIRO were commissioned to test the star ratings of finished houses and used thermal imaging cameras and blower tests to measure insulation effectiveness and also how well sealed the buildings were. Do you think your authority would invest in a thermal imaging camera? (They are dropping in price to about $800 and a $200 attachment for your device has also been developed recently.)
For those of you mad keen to get started, you can view the powerpoint presentation on the "Webinar" page. And then you can fill in the feedback form or head over to the "Get Involved" page and join the discussion forum.