Erika Bartak
Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Property, Environmentally Sustainable Design
Biography
Erika is an ESD consultant and sustainable housing researcher with a background in architecture, and a passion for designing and promoting better housing. She is particularly interested in narrowing the gap between discourse and practice in sustainable housing, which has provided motivation for her doctoral thesis, investigating energy efficiency culture and practice within the Australian volume home building sector.
Erika’s consulting, teaching and research are underpinned by her commitment to sustainable, heathy and resilient housing. To this end, she has worked across government, industry and consumer projects as both a consultant and researcher, and has taught in a range of environmental design subjects at the University. She is enthusiastic about translating academic research for industry and the general public, and educating the next generation of sustainable designers and building practitioners.
Thesis
Energy efficiency in Australia's volume home building sector: investigating the influence of practice and culture
The benefits of high-performance energy efficient housing are well established – from climate change mitigation and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, through to household benefits such as reduced operational costs, improved comfort and wellbeing, and increased resilience in a changing climate. However, the adoption of such housing in Australia is not widespread, and research suggests this is a product of the culture and institutions of the housing industry, rather than a lack of practical and technical knowledge. The study addresses this disconnect between academic discourse and mainstream housing practice by investigating the dominant institution of new housing provision in Australia: the volume home building sector.
Website content analysis and semi-structured interviews are utilised to examine the established routines and practices of volume home building organisations, and to identify the various energy efficiency ‘cultures’ within the sector – both predominant, and outliers/exceptions. The study explores the various elements of culture that contribute to energy efficiency outcomes in volume built housing, and the opportunities and barriers these present within Australia’s mainstream housing market.
The volume home building sector possesses the necessary scale and influence to drive positive change within the housing industry – or to resist change with force. This research makes an important contribution to knowledge of this powerful industry sector, by generating a nuanced picture of its energy efficiency culture. Without such understanding, current regulatory or consumer-driven approaches to residential energy efficiency are unlikely to reach their full potential.