RMIT study confirms The Cape estate as national blueprint for better housing

Sustainable, affordable, comfortable, achievable. Photo: Warren Reed.

In exciting news for the Cape, an independent 12-month study by RMIT University and analysis by leading not-for-profit RENEW has highlighted The Cape estate as a scalable blueprint for how the Australian housing industry can build affordable, energy efficient, carbon neutral homes that dramatically reduce energy bills, with consumers, the economy and the environment set to benefit. The results are stunning and the study has received nationwide media attention here.

Net zero emissions living and transportation at The Cape. Photo: Warren Reed

The study has confirmed that The Cape has successfully combined passive solar design and construction techniques with off the shelf, affordable technologies such as heat pump heating, cooling and hot water systems, and solar power, to achieve carbon neutral, healthy homes that are comfortable year round, resilient and healthy in hot spells and heat waves, with super low running costs compared to conventional homes.
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"The houses are consuming 88 % less energy from the energy grid compared to a typical new 6-star house in Victoria,” said Trivess Moore of RMIT’s Sustainable Building Innovation Laboratory. “This results in the houses having very low energy bills making them much more affordable to live in.”

The best-practice fit-outs produce three to four times the energy needed for the estate, and resulted in energy bills of about $500 per year or less.

The 10 star house at The Cape. Photo: Ben Mulligan.

According to Damien Moyse, Policy & Research Manager and Acting CEO at RENEW "it is fantastic to see what the research told us 10 years ago is best practice, now a living reality down at The Cape. The combination of on-site solar energy, efficient appliances, an all-electric fit out and high thermal building performance, is seeing these homes actually perform better, in terms of reduced energy use, reduced bills and reduced carbon, than even we predicted through the original research work.”

​The Cape is a real, live example that demonstrates how energy positive new estates can:

• use less than 15% of the energy of conventional suburbs;
• generate 3-4 times as much energy as they use; and
• are therefore effectively decentralised power stations that can share power locally and beyond.

The Cape team would like to acknowledge RMIT and Renew for their research efforts, our residents for participating in the study, as well as all of our builders, designers and project team for delivering a national benchmark project. With Stage 3 about to open up, there has never been a better time to secure your home site at The Cape.

Regards
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The Project Team