1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: A study from the Building Research Association has found that 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: indoor summer temperatures have gone up six to ten percent 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: in the last twenty years. That's inside during summer tempts 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: up six to twenty It's two ten percent in the 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,959 Speaker 1: last twenty years, and the new insulation standards that came 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: into force in twenty twenty three aren't to blame for this. 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: The study found that homes of all ages are overheating. 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: Doctor Chris Listen is a Building Research Association General manager 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: of Research. Welcome to the show, Chris. 10 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 2: Hi, Ryan, how are you? Yeah? Good? 11 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: Thank you. First of all, I asked Laura, who's our 12 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: producer here. I wanted to find out whether you've got 13 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: any skin in the game here are you? You know, 14 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: you've got shares and insulation companies anything like that. But 15 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,239 Speaker 1: you're you're quite independent. I've found out. 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, we're completely independent. I am. Brains is all about 17 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 2: providing some ex independent advice into the system. So that's 18 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 2: what we're about. Brilliant. 19 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: Okay, So two things. One, it's getting hotter in the side. 20 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: What's the temperature? I mean, how hot are we talking 21 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: in summer? 22 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 2: Some people are saying it's somewhere between twenty five and 23 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 2: thirty degrees and that's for some people that feels really hot. 24 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 2: And I think one of the really interesting things from 25 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 2: the study shows that Willingtonians are likely to say it's 26 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 2: too warm when they're homes despite them actually being colder 27 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,839 Speaker 2: than the people in Auckland who are saying it's quite comfortable. 28 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 2: So it's really about perception about what people are actually 29 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 2: feeling like they're in their homes. 30 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: What do people feel like is a good temperature. 31 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 2: Again, that really comes down to personal preference. Like I'm 32 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 2: in Wellington. I think if my home was twenty five 33 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 2: degrees I'd feel that's pretty warm. But you know that 34 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 2: would be quite different to someone else than from Auckland 35 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 2: or from christ Church. But I think at the end 36 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 2: of the day, there's actually no agreed definition of when 37 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 2: it's too hot. The world health organizations see something between 38 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 2: over forty degrees is probably not good, which is probably right, 39 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 2: but it's not actually a real measure of plants saying 40 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 2: when it's when hot is too hot. 41 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: Now, one of the things you looked at was the 42 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: new insulation standards that came into fours in twenty twenty three. 43 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: You've said that they're not to blame for our houses 44 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: getting warmer. That doesn't make sense to me. 45 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 2: There's two parts of actually. First of all, none of 46 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 2: the houses in the survey actually had that new insulation 47 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 2: levels in them, so we can certainly say that didn't 48 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 2: make any difference. But I think the other thing that 49 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 2: we have shown in this worker insulation but also keeps 50 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 2: the heat out, so no one is it keeping you 51 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 2: warm in winter, which is a really great thing, but 52 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 2: also keeps the heat out in summer. I think what 53 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 2: we're really seeing is that homes are really complex, complex constructions. 54 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 2: There's a lot that you need to think about. There's insulation, 55 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: there's the amount of windows you've got, how much sun's 56 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 2: coming in, how much shade you haven't, haven't got they 57 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 2: facing north or south. It's really complex, and that's what 58 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 2: we're really trying to trying to get across to everybody. 59 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 2: Really right, there's to design things right and to build 60 00:02:57,480 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 2: them properly. They need to actually if you're living, then 61 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 2: you need to open the window and insulate them. 62 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: So none of the homes you looked at actually had 63 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: the new standard of insulation, so that's correct. So therefore 64 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: you can say, well, they're still getting hot, but how 65 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: do you know that they wouldn't have gotten even hotter 66 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: had they had that level. 67 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 2: Well, again, that comes back to that complex relationship between 68 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 2: everything that's in the in the house. There is that 69 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 2: there's a lot there's a lot of people who don't 70 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 2: have any shaving at all coming into your really large 71 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 2: open windows and onto concrete flour. So insulation is one 72 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 2: part of it, but it's not that it's not the 73 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 2: only thing that's contributing to things getting warmer. 74 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: Okay, is there anything you want changed? You know, whether 75 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: it's to do with insulation or anything else with the 76 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: building code, anything you want change to cool our houses down? 77 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 2: I think the building code has always been updated and 78 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 2: people are always thinking about That's not our job. We 79 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 2: provide advice to the government that does do that. But 80 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 2: at the end of the day, people need to think 81 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 2: of the gain. That's the whole the whole building code, 82 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 2: the whole strom as hellistic. Things are a complex. You 83 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 2: change one thing and something else will change. You need 84 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 2: to consider that in the whole process of designing and 85 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 2: building your homes. 86 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: Okay, does everyone get will we all need air conditioning 87 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: at some point? And if so, when do you think 88 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: that might be. 89 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 2: I don't know about that. I think there's always some 90 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 2: way to operate your home better. It doesn't have to 91 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 2: be with air conditioning. You could intellate properly. You can 92 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 2: close the windows that you know, close your blinds at 93 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 2: the right time. You can put some shaving, plant a 94 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 2: big tree outside your window. There's lots of ways to 95 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 2: cool things down when you actually need to put a 96 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 2: calling pump and the air conditioning. And I don't know 97 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 2: that's going to be very gay, very much for people 98 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 2: how they feel that their perception of living in their 99 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 2: homers interesting. 100 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: Chris, thank you for that. I appreciate your time. Welcome 101 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: doctor Christ Building Research Association General manager of research, very 102 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: independent man. 103 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen live to 104 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,239 Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow 105 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.