Energy efficiency in the residential building sector has improved globally due to a variety of country-level regulations in recent decades. However, energy consumption has continued to rise despite these gains, not least in part due to increasing house size. While previous research has identified a relationship between dwelling size, energy consumption and energy efficiency improvements, national-level assessments on the impacts of building energy regulations across multiple jurisdictions are lacking. Now, Katherine Wingrove and colleagues, from the University of Wollongong and University of Sydney in Australia, present insights from a large-scale assessment of the relationship between energy efficiency and floor size in new, detached homes across Australia.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme are used to assess 580,956 thermal energy design certificates for newly approved detached homes over a five-year period. The team find that although 87% of homes met minimum star rating standards for energy efficiency, average energy use for space conditioning in new homes increased by 10.4% from 2018 to 2022, reaching 16.4 GJ per year per dwelling. Although results notably vary by state, wider implications are that energy efficiency gains may, in some cases, be offset by increasing home size. Results shed light on the importance of accounting not only for energy use intensity, but also dwelling size and implementation of national policy at the state level when pursuing sector-wide energy reductions.

由于近几十年来各种国家级法规的出台，住宅建筑领域的能源效率在全球范围内得到了提高。然而，尽管取得了这些进展，能源消耗仍在继续上升，部分原因是房屋面积的增加。虽然之前的研究已经确定了住宅面积、能源消耗和能源效率提高之间的关系，但缺乏对多个司法管辖区建筑能源法规影响的国家级评估。现在，来自澳大利亚卧龙岗大学和悉尼大学的凯瑟琳·温格罗夫 (Katherine Wingrove) 及其同事提出了对澳大利亚新建独立住宅能源效率与建筑面积之间关系的大规模评估的见解。

澳大利亚统计局和全国房屋能源评级计划的数据用于评估五年内新批准的独立住宅的 580,956 份热能设计证书。研究小组发现，尽管 87% 的住宅达到了能效最低星级标准，但从 2018 年到 2022 年，新住宅空间调节的平均能源使用量增加了 10.4%，达到每套住宅每年 16.4 GJ。尽管结果因州而异，但更广泛的影响是，在某些情况下，能源效率的提高可能会因家庭面积的增加而被抵消。结果表明，在追求全行业能源减排时，不仅要考虑能源使用强度，还要考虑住宅规模和国家政策在州一级的实施情况。