Should the government force home owners to upgrade their homes to be more environmentally friendly?
Should new green housing legislation be applied to new homes only, or also to existing home?
I’m listening to an ABC By Design podcast that is interviewing Tim Redway, the chief marketing officer for AV Jennings, one of Australia’s larger residential builders. He is advocating for the federal government to enforce green standards on all new houses. Old houses are also targeting, when an old house is sold he reckons the owner should be forced, through legislation, to improve their sustainability.
You can listen to the podcast here. The segment discussing the legislation of green housing in Australia is from about 14:00 – 26:00.
What do you reckon? Should the government force home owners to improve the sustainability of their homes? Should it include old and new homes? Let us know below in the comments …
I don’t think older houses should be forced to comply with newer environmental rules. It is one thing to say “from this day forward, we build them like this…” But older buildings have many issues with modifications. Perhaps, for a particular house, there is no way to bring it to the newer code. What happens then, does it get torn down? What about people who can’t afford to upgrade? They can’t sell their house?
I am in the solar business. I think that everyone needs to do there part to protect the environment, but it can be expensive.
I have the same thoughts on the subject as you do.
Australia is doing an alright job I think at the moment using the stick and the carrot approach. It is a very fragmented approach though, as each individual state is doing their own thing.
Some states are offering incentives (money back / subsidies) for things like rain water tanks and solar hot water systems. At the same time many of the individual states are requiring new houses to be built to an environmental standard.