Housing into the Future - Stepping Towards Carbon Neutrality

A sustainable society built on a carbon neutral economy will not happen just by building more renewable electric generation.

Understanding today's energy use and services and tomorrow's alternatives is critical.

HEEP provides a unique base to explore the role of and implications for New Zealand homes. The results from the HEEP research were the focus of a seminar held on Tuesday 28 August 2007.

About the HEEP Project

The Household Energy End-Use Project (HEEP) was a long-term study with the objective to measure and model the way energy is used in New Zealand households. The envisaged model of residential energy use used physical building and appliance characteristics as well as socio-demographic factors to describe the energy consumption patterns and some of the energy services, in particular, the achieved indoor temperatures. The model was used to understand current and future national household energy requirements and as a tool to evaluate the implications of building and appliance performance changes.

HEEP commenced in 1995 with a pilot study. Data collection was completed in 2005, and from Year 9, the reports provided regional and national statistics. Each house was monitored for about 11 months. The final sample included four hundred houses from throughout New Zealand - large and small cities, urban and rural, North and South Islands from Kaikohe to Invercargill. Coverage information is available from this coverage table (PDF 43KB), extracted from the Year 7 report.

HEEP monitoring activities included a detailed occupant survey as well as a detailed house energy examination. The monitoring covered all fuel types (electricity, natural gas, LPG, solid fuel, solar water heaters) as well as temperatures in at least three locations. Further information on the types of analysis possible is covered in this background leaflet (PDF 266KB).

Earlier HEEP reports have been removed from download as the analysis was only for small numbers of houses. They are still available in hard copy from BRANZ, upon request.

Unpublished paper

The Need For New Electricity Generation - The Role Of Demand (PDF 26KB) - a paper presented at the Sustainable Energy Forum and Energy Federation of New Zealand joint one-day Seminar on Government Energy Policy held in Wellington, 16 February 2006.

More information

Contact HEEP@branz.co.nz.

HEEP Reports

Executive summaries 

• HEEP Year 1 - 4 Reports (No longer available for download - contact HEEP@branz.co.nz)
• HEEP Year 5 Report - Executive Summary (PDF 319KB)
• HEEP Year 6 Report - Executive Summary (PDF 217KB)
• HEEP Year 7 Report - Executive Summary (PDF 257KB)
• HEEP Year 8 Report - Executive Summary (PDF 258KB)
• HEEP Year 9 Report - Executive Summary (PDF 110KB)
• HEEP Year 10 Report - Executive Summary (PDF 256KB)

Full reports

Download a free PDF of HEEP reports Year 5 - 10 by clicking the appropriate shop item below.