UniSA’s Dr Stephen Berry has reported that the adoption of a low carbon living standard has the potential to benefit the South Australian community in the order of $1.31 billion if implemented state-wide for 10 years. He also estimated that new home builders could expect a net benefit of $25,000 across the life of their home through greater energy efficiency and on site generation, in addition to qualitative gains in the areas of lifestyle, health and wellbeing.

​Dr Berry also said of Lochiel Park: “Many residents said their house is the most comfortable they have ever lived in, with comfortable temperatures throughout the year, neither too hot or too cold. This ‘Goldilocks’ feature is crowned with the added benefit of positive energy bills for most households, making electricity bills a thing of the past.”

The scope of UniSA’s research, funded by the Collaborative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, will be extended to look at a variety of housing precincts and examine the different ways in which people consume energy to answer other important questions about the impact of a zero carbon future on the built environment.