This new Australian Research Council funded research project, led by RMIT University, will run from 2019-2021 and will investigate the lived experience of energy poverty and low carbon retrofit in Australian households as well as investigating the scaling up of retrofit service providers.

Set across eight global urban sites, the project will provide a socio-material analysis of retrofit that includes householders as well as the businesses that supply retrofit services. Outcomes will include a robust empirical evidence base on the implications of retrofit for households in energy poverty, and a co-designed policy suite that allows stakeholders to tailor actions that will shape the lives of residents in Australian households.

Building on this, the research team will co-develop and document with end users a 10 year strategy to improve both environmental and equity dimensions of retrofit for current and future generations of urban Australians. It will also draw on UK and European context and case studies.