Editorial to the Proceedings of the Improving Residential Energy Efficiency International Conference, IREE 2017

摘要

Throughout Australia, and around the world, the issue of household energy efficiency has become increasingly important as energy prices continue to increase significantly, putting ever increasing pressure on household expenditure and quality of life. In addition, the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, including heat waves and major storms, points to the likelihood of greater numbers of power outages and blackouts in the future. One part of the solution is to make homes and households more energy efficient by various means, including: retrofitting of existing housing stock;; improving the design of new buildings;; education and behavior-change programs;; improvements to low income housing;; improving the implementation of government residential energy efficiency programs;; and the development of new technologies. The Improving Residential Energy Efficiency International Conference, IREE 2017, was the first of its kind in Australia where the primary focus of the conference was the improvement of energy efficiency of households and homes. The conference was organised by the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC), of the University of Wollongong (UOW), in partnership with the Group of Energy Efficiency Researchers (GEER) Australia. IREE 2017 brought together the people and the findings from many state-of-the-art projects, which were undertaken by a wide range of academics, government agencies and practitioners. The conference was of great benefit to many people and organisations including building designers, housing providers, energy utilities, state and national government agencies, and researchers from many different technical, health and social disciplines.