Once a solemn Kevin Rudd squatted down in Canberra
He was the chief of the ALP
And he sang as he watched and waited till election time
We need a climate change policy
Hoping the voters just mightn’t notice
Seems to have exhausted its currency
So he sang as he watched and waited till election time
We need a climate change policy

Down came Ross Garnaut with a great big fat report
Up jumped the PM and grabbed it with glee
No-one understands what emissions trading is about
This now can simulate a policy
Crass short-term thinking, ethically stinking
Classic political expediency
No-one has a clue what emissions trading is about
This now can simulate a policy

Down came the Murdoch journos, mounted on their hobby horse
Down came the lobbyists, one, two, three thousand
Don’t you dare put a cost on polluting industry
Water down further your policy
Greenhouse pollution, there’s no solution
Pollies in bed with the coal industry
Don’t you dare put a cost on polluting industry
Water down further your policy

Then Malcolm Turnbull, desperate to keep his job
Said he’d cave in to the big end of town
We know his package really wasn’t worth two bob
It made a weak ETS a dark shade of brown
It’s a tradition, they’re the COAL-ition
Dancing to the tune of the dirty end of town
We know his package really wasn’t worth two bob
It made a piss-weak ETS a shitty shade of brown

It still wasn’t bad enough to satisfy the lunar Right
Minchin and Abbott and Tuckey the clown
They took on Malcolm Turnbull, rolled him in a dirty fight
Joined the Nats and Fielding to vote the package down
Greenhouse deniers, morons and liars
Proof that empty vessels make the greatest sound
They took on Malcolm Turnbull, rolled him in a dirty fight
Joined the Nats and Fielding to vote the package down

Then the backroom boys from the ALP in Sydney town
Told Kevin Rudd that he had to retract
He dropped the ETS but his ratings still went steeply down
Next thing he knew there’s a knife in his back
Spare a thought for Kevin, elected in ‘07
But didn’t have the courage to go on the attack
He dropped the ETS but his ratings still went steeply down
Next thing he knew there’s a knife in his back

Then Julia Gillard said there’d be no carbon tax
Under the government she temporarily led
Tony Abbott used that to mount a series of attacks
Suddenly the Liberals came back from the dead
Typical of Tony, simplistic and baloney
Glib three-word slogans and nonsense that he said
Tony Abbott used that to mount a series of attacks
Saddled Australia with the government he led

Ten years of doing nothing to slow global climate change
Gas-led recovery, you know what that means
2022 the attackers finally found their range
We voted in Albo, the Teals and the Greens
By 2030, our power should be less dirty,
Coal-fired stations will all be has-beens
2022 the attackers finally found their range
We voted in Albo, the Teals and the Greens

I didn’t think the coalition could do worse than Morrison
But Dutton and O’Brien were a double-act sublime
They tried to tell Australia that the country could go nuclear
Lumber us with waste for geological time
Only the coalition could try to sell us fission
Climate change deniers were all behind that line
They tried to tell Australia that the country could go nuclear
With radioactive waste until the bloody end of time

We have a powerful minister, I think they call him Killer Watt
But I have to wonder what he has between his ears
His new legal framework’s not much better than we’ve got
And he’s extended gas fields for nearly fifty years
Ther’s no elixir, he’s just a Labor fixer
He would be convicted by a jury of his peers
His new legal framework’s not much better than we’ve got
And he’s extended gas fields for nearly fifty years

Now there’s bipartisan agreement down in Canberra
Miners and smelters can all give a cheer
Bugger the planet, prop up the economy
Studied inaction for year after year
Albo and Sussan, we know what we’re losin’
The big end of town will have nothing to fear
Bugger the planet, prop up the economy
Studied inaction for year after year

Next year is your chance to slow down global climate change
You can make a difference, let me tell you how
Fire up your laptop, bombard all the new MPs
Tell them that we need some real action now
Give them a belting, the planet’s melting
Please do as much as your time will allow
Fire up your laptop, bombard all the new MPs
Tell them that we need some real action now

Ian Lowe, 2025

Exemplary Energy has begun collaborating with Dr Tim Law, an expert architectural scientist specialising in mould in Australian buildings. Dr Law is Head of Building Sciences at the Melbourne-based consultancy, RIC Solutions, and was previously a part of the University of Tasmania’s Tasmanian Architectural Science Laboratory (TASL).

Currently, RIC Solutions is researching compliance paths for the condensation and mould provisions in the National Construction Code (NCC) including how they relate to the AIRAH guide DA07 ‘Criteria for Moisture Control Design Analysis’ proposing Moisture Design Reference Years (MDRYs) and Moisture Reference Years (MRYs) along with the alternative of 10 or more consecutive years of weather data which include hourly precipitation data.

For now, our collaborative work is focused on three radically different sites: Brisbane, Darwin and Melbourne. For each place, a 15-year weather file has been prepared along with the MRY derived from that data for testing and analysis. RIC Solutions has been provided with this data along with the identification of the 10th and 90th percentile years according to the 3 alternative definitions of temperature. They will use that data in hygrothermal simulations and report on the sensitivity of the results to the definition of temperature selected. 

On Monday 13 October, AIRAH’s STG on Building Physics spontaneously convened a virtual meeting for an update on weather and climate data available for hygrothermal simulations. Exemplary Energy’s Trevor Lee and Hong Gic Oh attended to advise the STG of the current status of our analyses. RIC Solutions’ Dr Tim Law was unavailable due to an unfortunate clash with the Building and Plumbing Commission industry conference in Melbourne.

On Monday, 3 November, Exemplary Energy conducted a trial to generate MRY files by adapting the Brambilla (2022) method – originally designed to select MRYs on a yearly basis to a monthly selection for Brisbane, Darwin, and Melbourne. The method is using wet index (based on wind-driven rain) and dry index (based on dry bulb temperature, relative humidity and station pressure) to calculate the moisture index.  Dr Law is currently performing a sensitivity analysis for Melbourne. 

According to AIRAH DA07 (Criteria for moisture control design analysis in buildings), Moisture design reference years: it suggests using MDRY from the 10th-percentile warmest and 10th-percentile coldest years from a 30-year weather analysis. However, there are no measured hourly precipitation data for 30 years in Australia. Accordingly, this would require application of Exemplary’s in-house software for synthesizing (disaggregating) hourly values from daily data in the early years (Oates et al, 2025).

Dr Law mentioned “…Just stuck to 10 consecutive years. That keeps us well within the automatic tipping buckets era without a need to disaggregate rainfall data”. Similarly, Jesse Clarke (Pro Clima) noted “…Using repeated yearly data means the results are periodic in nature, if they are not then there is clearly a simulation problem. This is a massive bonus for fault finding and determining if silly inputs have been used in a relatively immature market of WUFI users. The 10 consecutive years are technically more accurate.”

Work is progressing in this field, including a recent report by RIC Solutions (T Law et al) to the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) entitled ‘Condensation: Physical Testing in Tropical and Subtropical Climates’. Its publication is understood to be imminent, but for now, to appreciate its context, see the ABCB’s ‘Handbook of Condensation in Buildings’ here.

The intention is to expand this to the full NatHERS list of climate zone locations for routine practitioner applications.

The report by RICsolutions is now with the ABCB. Given that the NCC has been ‘frozen’ until 2029, it is anticipated that there will be a long wait before the ABCB chooses to make it publicly accessible. Meanwhile, Exemplary and RICsolutions are collaborating with AIRAH’s Building Physics Special Technical Group (STG) to prepare advanced advice for AIRAH members and subscribers to ‘Ecolibrium’.

Updates on this work will be included in future editions of ‘Exemplary Advances’.

Retail electricity and gas prices have recently increased across Australia: electricity prices generally rose on 1 July but some gas tariffs won’t rise until 1 August.

We offer a free ready-reckoner tool on our website to help homeowners estimate the annual costs of gas and electricity for heating and cooling any dwelling – house, townhouse or apartment – in any of the eight Australian capital cities. The calculations have been updated with current electricity prices that took effect on 1 July 2025 specific to each location, and include the option of all-electric home conditioning. Additional energy costs for ducted systems are separately estimated on the basis of a single-storey house with ducts in its roof space.

Users can select a home size between 75 and 500 m² and compare the estimated energy costs of heating and cooling a home corresponding to a NatHERS Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) using appliances of varying energy ratings. The matrix covers the following five NCC Climate Zones (CZ), and users can apply results to other locations in the same CZ (for example, Canberra values for Armidale NSW and Ballarat VIC in CZ 7):

CZ 1 – Hot Humid Summer, Warm Winter (Darwin)

CZ 2 – Warm Humid Summer, Mild Winter (Brisbane)

CZ 5 – Warm Temperate (Adelaide, Perth, Sydney)

CZ 6 – Mild Temperate (Melbourne)

CZ 7 – Cool Temperate (Canberra, Hobart)

The increased electricity prices can be attributed, in large part, to the country’s energy transition away from fossil fuels like coal and gas towards renewable sources such as solar and wind. General inflation and higher interest costs are other factors known to impact the outcome for consumers.

While renewable energy is cheaper to produce over time, the upfront costs are substantial due to the complexity of developing and integrating these new technologies to the grid. These costs are being passed on to consumers through higher network and wholesale electricity charges. Renewables like solar and wind are intermittent by nature, requiring advanced grid management systems, backup generation, and large-scale battery storage to ensure reliable and consistent supply. Moreover, the closure of traditional baseload power stations has reduced the system’s stability, prompting the need for additional measures—such as synchronous condensers and grid-forming inverters—to maintain frequency control and voltage stability. Ultimately, while renewable energy is essential for long-term sustainability and emissions reduction, the transitional period brings significant financial pressures and these are reflected in the 2025 price increases.

As we do every month with our building archetypes, to produce the EWEI, clients can simulate their actual buildings every month using the existing digital models prepared for JV3 validation of their meeting or exceeding the energy efficiency standards of the National Construction Code (NCC). The metered energy consumption of those buildings can then be compared with the simulation results generated with very little cost to identify possible inefficient operation. 

Readers wanting to test out this method can avail themselves of the free sample RTY file to simulate their buildings operating in the immediate past month. An RTY comprises 12 consecutive months, so historic comparisons can also be applied to establish when the problem arose. 

Calibrated Simulation

A highly targeted version of this routine simulation comparison with metered consumption is the calibrated simulation. Calibrated simulation is a complex and powerful tool for accurately modelling the energy consumption of existing buildings to support cost effective remedial and refurbishment projects using recent real weather data. Exemplary Energy supplied that real weather data used in the simulation case study reported here by Hongsen Zhang, a leading building energy simulation expert and managing director of the company EnerEfficiency Pty Ltd. Hongsen is an Associate of Exemplary Energy, and is shown here receiving the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) W.R.Ahern Award jointly with Dr Paul Bannister in 2018 for their technical paper:A Calibrated Simulation Case Study for an Office Building in Canberra.

Read that award-winning paper here.