An update to the National Construction Code (NCC) will see energy efficiency requirements for new homes increased from six to seven stars next year.
The NCC is a set of minimum standards for Australian buildings which covers safety, health, amenity, accessibility and sustainability of certain buildings.
The star rating system assesses the thermal performance of a home from one to 10.
A 0-star home offers no insulation from the external temperature, while a 10-star home is able to maintain a comfortable internal temperature, regardless of external temperatures, all year round.
The change to the NCC will mean new houses built after October 1 2023 must have at least a 7-star rating.
There are currently 2,650 7-star certified homes in the ACT.
Jodie Pipkorn built an energy-efficient home in the new Canberra suburb of Ginninderry, which she opens as a display home on weekends.
"We really wanted to show people how you can achieve energy efficiency really cheaply and really easily in a home," Ms Pipkorn said.
"The key thing we did was really focus on the design."
Ms Pipkorn said by focusing on the design, it is possible to easily achieve seven stars without going over budget.
"If you build a 6-star house and it is not oriented very well it will actually cost you a lot to put in more insulation [and] better windows," she said.
"If you put your windows to the north, make sure you have got some that can shade out the sun and look at the inside of the house to see if you can get some thermal mass to soak up that heat, that is primarily all you have to do."
Jenny Edwards from Light House Architecture and Science said the standard will only require the builder to think about the site and its climate at the design stage.
"Simply orienting the house better, taking advantage of that northern sun and thinking about the window sizes more carefully will get you there to seven stars," Ms Edwards said.
"So it doesn't mean you have to pay more for insulation, doesn't mean you're going to have to double glaze the whole house."
The YourHome Federal Government website has free designs of 7-star house plans, with single-glazed windows.
How much of a difference will seven stars make to bills?
In Canberra, a 7-star home is predicted to use 27 per cent less energy to heat and cool than a 6-star home.
Less energy means cheaper bills, but that is not a guarantee.
That is because the star rating only assesses the thermal performance of the house and doesn't address build quality, appliances, lighting, or whether you have solar panels.
It also does not factor in the size or the lifestyle of the home owner.
Richard Ings renovated his ex-government house in Watson, taking it up to a 7-star standard.
"Previously we were spending around $2,700 a year in electricity and around $1,400 in gas," Mr Ings said.
The house is now 100 per cent electric, and it has made a big impact on his running costs.
Renovating can be a costly venture, and Mr Ings also installed solar panels and a battery, but he said he is saving money in the long run.
"We made it incredibly thermally efficient," he said.
"It is saving us close to $3,000 a year in energy over the previous ex-government house."
'Very uncomfortable': Why Wendy is upgrading to seven stars
Wendy Paterson is currently mid-upgrade, renovating one half of her Kambah home while she lives in the other.
Her house currently rated one-star.
"This is very uncomfortable as far as the energy efficiency and I am spending a great deal of money on electricity and gas bills," Ms Paterson said.
"A couple of health conditions I have have been worsening with the heating and cooling fluctuations."
Ms Paterson's daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter will be moving in — they looked at buying a new place together, but it was cheaper to improve what they had now.
"We actually looked at buying another home and we found that we would have to renovate that anyway to make it more energy efficient," she said.
