Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Review

A systematic review of barriers to implementing net zero energy buildings

in Australia
Darcy Brown a , Olubukola Tokede a , Hong Xian Li a, * , David Edwards b, c
a
School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Locked Bag 20001, Geelong, Victoria, 3220, Australia
b
School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, Millennium Point, Birmingham, B4 7XG, UK
c
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Xin Tong Building operations use 45% of the total energy in Australia, and Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are
instrumental in achieving net zero emissions by 2050. However, research reveals that various factors hinder
Keywords: NZEB adoption in Australia, and it is imperative to contextualise the barriers, thereby highlighting clear gaps that
Barriers can be addressed to enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia. This study presents a systematic literature
Bibliometric analysis
review and bibliometric analysis to examine the barriers that hinder the implementation of NZEB contextualised
Climate issues
within the Australian building industry. The paper’s novelty resides in its contextualisation of barriers to NZEB
Net-zero energy buildings
thereby highlighting clear gaps that can be addressed to enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia.
Emergent results reveal the most impactful barriers experienced and the inter-relatedness between barriers and
their effects on each other. These identified barriers are also compared with comparable countries, including the
UK, China, Italy and the US. New insight and knowledge acquired provide a basis for assessing potential solutions
to the main barriers. Findings show that a lack of knowledge, climate issues, and cost issues, in addition to
government policy factors, are considered primary barriers encountered by the industry, hindering the
achievement of NZEBs. It is imperative that future studies and initiatives counteract these impacts to realise a
better implementation of NZEB in the Australian context.

1. Introduction that the successful implementation and penetration of NZEB will require
enhanced public awareness, enlightened behavioural shifts, innovative
Building accounts for approximately 40% of world’s annual con­ business models and contextual capacity building among stakeholders.
sumption and 55% of electrical consumption (IEA, 2022). Consequently, NZEBs have been defined as buildings that generate or procure their
Net-Zero Energy buildings (NZEBs) are gaining popularity globally as a own energy wholly through renewable sources to meet their annual
solution to reduce operational energy usage and limit greenhouse gas energy requirements (Too et al., 2022). Wells et al. (2018) espoused that
(GHG) emissions. Furthermore, many country-level commitments fail to NZEBs provide a goal for the world’s building stock to address multiple
provide clarity regarding the scope of emission reductions, barriers issues such as global warming, resource management, energy security
inherent and tangible actions required to achieve NZEB (Masood, 2021). and resilience. Singh and Verma (2014) estimated that over 200 ex­
In Australia specifically, building operations use 45% of the total energy amples of successful NZEB projects exist worldwide and thousands have
consumed, and NZEBs have been recognised as important in achieving been studied through simulation. The recent exponential growth in
net-zero emissions by 2050 (Sabour et al., 2023). Adopting NZEBs and net-zero projects has been fuelled by better availability of
technologies require the collective effort of all stakeholders (including energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies and increased
clients, architects, builders and contractors) (Falana et al., 2023) awareness among stakeholders involved in sustainable construction
because there are many technical, economic and political barriers that (Sabour et al., 2023). According to Singh and Verma (2014), those
influence NZEB and the interrelationships between these disparate professionals interested in NZEBs stem from a research or design back­
considerations are unclear. Vats and Mathur (2022) therefore concluded ground, or individuals or organisations seeking to decrease their energy

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (D. Brown), [email protected] (O. Tokede), [email protected] (H.X. Li), drdavidedwards@aol.
com (D. Edwards).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142910
Received 17 December 2023; Received in revised form 12 June 2024; Accepted 13 June 2024
Available online 15 June 2024
0959-6526/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

costs to generate a competitive advantage. framework to deliver consistency in how building energy-efficiency is
Previous literature by Wells et al. (2018) indicates a notable pro­ assessed and rated (Bond, 2011). Although these existing technology
pensity to define NZEBs, and the US Department of Energy (2015) implementations work towards more sustainable buildings overall, a
provides the most internationally agreed definition within the Net Zero lack of government policy to support successful NZEBs is apparent (Vora
Energy research field. In addition to establishing a singular definition for et al., 2016). Furthermore, it is recognised that there is a lack of research
NZEBs, the US Department of Energy (DoE) also harmonised existing awareness in specific geographical contexts leading to a lag in innova­
definitions to accommodate the heterogeneous mix of buildings where tive approaches (Saini et al., 2022; Too et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2020).
renewable energy resources were shared. To meet this need, the US DoE In recent publications, it has been espoused that barrier to implementing
provided variations on the NZEB definitions, such as Zero Energy NZEB also pertains to limited understanding of the carbon emissions of
Community and Zero Energy Resource, both of which have specific buildings in the life cycle and the role of insulation in buildings (Su et al.,
applications to building typologies and scenarios. Wells et al. (2018) 2023), in addition to the incomplete considerations such as exclusive use
proffer that an NZEB is characterised by a building whereby for every of electrical energy in use phase, and inexact allocation of waste heat
unit of energy consumed, the building must also generate a commen­ (Maierhofer et al., 2022). Reconciling the differences between carbon
surate unit of energy; where the energy is consumed and generated at emissions in embodied stage and operational stage of NZEB will,
the site, regardless of its origin. This definition is practical for buildings therefore, require concerted efforts from all stakeholders (Falana et al.,
connected to an electricity grid because it accounts for each unit of 2023).
energy regardless of its source. Inherently, Australia has reached a This research presents a systematic literature review and biblio­
pivotal point in terms of its sustainable construction quest, with the next metric analysis to examine the primary barriers encountered by the
stage of evolution for energy-efficient buildings being the implementa­ building industry that hinder the implementation of NZEB con­
tion of these NZEB concepts. textualised within Australia. This study fills this research gap by
Given the significant increase in current NZEB research over the past examining concomitant benefits of exploring the inter-relatedness of
decade, a greater understanding of this concept is being developed (Li barriers include contributing heavily to knowledge creation and the
et al., 2016; Li et al., 2017). Although a large body of knowledge con­ development of future initiatives that can support the optimal imple­
cerning NZEBs is currently available, there is a notable dearth of liter­ mentation of NZEBs in Australia. With Australia currently lagging in
ature that directly relates significant barriers to its successful adoption terms of Net Zero Energy implementation, this research provides a
and implementation (Too et al., 2022). Furthermore, even less literature timely reflection on the opportunities and barriers for national imple­
relates to the Australian building industry. Although countries like mentation of NZEBs. The paper’s novelty resides in the contextualisation
Australia and New Zealand show limited support for NZEB initiatives, of barriers to NZEB thereby providing clear gaps that can be addressed to
the existence of related enabling policies demonstrates their potential enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia.
for adoption to accommodate NZEB goals (Bamdad et al., 2021). The
conjunction of these factors, engenders the research question: “what 2. Research Methodology
barriers may be encountered when NZEBs become the mainstream in
Australia?” It remains unclear how these barriers play a role in poten­ The systematic review of NZEB literature is crucial as the multi-facet
tially preventing a successful net zero energy building project (Miller scope and accelerated pace of research is necessitated to achieve a state-
et al., 2018). of-art of knowledge. There has been growing interest in NZEB reviews
NZEBs provide solutions to various problems affecting modern-day across the literature. With regards to barriers, Vats and Mathur (2022)
construction in Australia and key benefits include: (1) cost savings acknowledge that there are limited resources, infrastructure, cost, policy
over building life-cycle: Although the capital cost of NZEBs is higher and behavioural initiatives to support practical implementation of
than conventional buildings, the overall cost saving across the life cycle NZEB. Furthermore, many country-level commitments fail to provide
of NZEBs has been proven (Hu, 2019; Vats and Mathur, 2022); (2) en­ clarity regarding the scope of emission reductions, barriers inherent and
ergy savings and enhanced indoor environment for the end-users: tangible actions required to achieved NZEB (Masood, 2021).
NEZBs have various other benefits for end-users, including The research adopts an interpretivist philosophical stance and
energy-savings, increased energy-security and enhanced indoor envi­ inductive reasoning to develop a new theory on the phenomenon under
ronment (Mavrigiannaki et al., 2021; Too et al., 2022); and (3) envi­ investigation (Posillico et al., 2022). In terms of approach, Fig. 1 illus­
ronmental benefits: the introduction of NZEB to the building industry trates that a combination of systematic literature review using a PRISMA
has drastically lowered the total GHG produced in both residential and (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)
commercial buildings (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019; Too et al., protocol and quantitative analyses via bibliometric analysis (Newman
2022). However, almost 80% of Australia’s 9.1 million dwellings were et al., 2021) used to achieve the research aim. The PRISMA statement
constructed before the introduction of energy-efficiency regulations in and its extensions are defined as an evidence-based, minimum set of
2003 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003), and hence, it can be recommendations designed primarily to encourage transparent and
inferred that the net zero energy concept was largely unknown prior to complete reporting of systematic reviews (Sarkis-Onofre et al., 2021). A
this date. Although there are limited existing NZEBs, a dramatic increase systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis is a contemporary
in renewable technologies applicable to them has been witnessed over research framework that has been previously adopted in contemporary
the past few years (Miller et al., 2018). For example, most Australians research (Sabour et al., 2023). This will allow the concepts and key
have embraced rooftop photovoltaics (PV), as evidenced by the 1.6 themes surrounding NZEBs and the barriers which inhibit their
million small-scale (1.5–5 kW) rooftop PV systems and becoming the achievement to be further understood. Additionally, based on the
world’s highest proportion of households with these systems (16.5%) analysis in the Australian context, it will be beneficial to compare the
(Roberts et al., 2019). Regards recent Australian Government initiatives barriers and concepts experienced in other relevant countries.
towards achieving net zero, there has only been one landmark agree­ Google Scholar and ScienceDirect databases were selected as the
ment which sought to transform the energy-efficiency of residential, largest proprietary databases for searching extant literature and are
commercial and industrial buildings – namely, the National Strategy on specifically useful for retrieving literature based on construction and
Energy Efficiency 2009 (Bond, 20111). For the residential sector, key building disciplines. As of 2018, it was estimated that Google Scholar
measures to drive growth in the number of highly energy-efficient comprised over 389 million articles (Gusenbauer and Haddaway, 2020)
homes across Australia include: increasing energy-efficiency re­ and ScienceDirect comprises over one-quarter of the world’s technical
quirements for new residential buildings; providing relevant informa­ and scientific literature, containing 13.9 million publications. Both of
tion to the housing market; and developing a national building these databases were highly efficient in proceeding with a systematic

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D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

Fig. 1. PRISMA Protocol screening process and Research Methodology.

literature review due to the ability to outsource data utilising keywords, bibliometric and descriptive techniques were applied to the data found
journal types, authors and disciplinary areas. This study utilised three through the PRISMA protocol to highlight common themes within the
phases of PRISMA, namely: (1) in the identification phase, relevant literature.
peer-reviewed journal articles were collected by utilising the data The PRISMA meta-analyses flow diagram by Page et al. (2021) was
search; (2) in the screen phase, the range of the search was narrowed adopted due to its many advantages. These include the identification of
down to produce specific data results; and (3) in the analysis phase, the scientific articles in large literature databases through the use of

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D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

keywords, search strategies, exclusion screening and an eligibility pro­ complementing the results derived from the PRISMA protocol. Using a
cess used to perform analysis. PRISMA is a consistent meta-analysis descriptive analysis was determined to be the most effective way to
technique because it follows a methodological process that can be uni­ analyse the data obtained from the retrieved journal articles. A
versally implemented into a literature review to produce an unbiased descriptive analysis, in conjunction with charts and visualisation, allows
and accurate range of data and findings. for a sensory evaluation of the data and for relationships between key
data to be connected and signified (Sabour et al., 2023). Descriptive
2.1. Selection criteria analyses undertaken followed the dissection of all retrieved articles to
sort data into several categories to identify data outliers and similar
A literature search commenced with the investigation of citation variables. The descriptive analyses of included papers consisted of the
databases using search strings. Underpinning the research aim, the numbers of papers per year, analysis of publication outlets, analysis of
keywords utilised within the search include the terms: “Net Zero Energy barriers examined within the papers, and the number of building types
buildings”, “Australia”, “barriers” and “case study.” The period of and structures that were studied within the articles.
literature review included journal publications in English from 2012 to Descriptive analysis with graphs gives a snapshot of the data which
2022, considering the origins of NZEB dates back to 1977 and NZEB was retrieved from the PRISMA protocol. Bibliometric analysis, on the
research has been on the rise since 2011 (Sabour et al., 2023). The first other hand, was formed from the eligibility phase of the PRISMA pro­
retrieval of articles identified a total of 153 publications – 93 were ob­ tocol and provides a network visualisation map that highlights the co-
tained through the Google Scholar, while 60 were retrieved from Sci­ occurrence of keywords and emergent research themes uncovered
ence Direct. Duplicate records were removed in the identification phase within the literature. VOSviewer was used for the generation of visual
and 19 publications were excluded. The screening phase of the PRISMA scientific landscapes of the screened papers (Van Eck and Waltman,
process involved filtering the articles to exclude: (1) publications that 2010). Unlike descriptive analysis, bibliometric analysis used all the
were derived from an unrelated disciplinary area, such as manufacturing records that were identified in the PRISMA protocol to form an analysis
or production; and (2) publications that were not in the English lan­ with the aim of finding unbiased data linkage within the entire research
guage or did not have the full text available for access. A total of 44 were topic (Hirsch et al., 2019).
excluded using these criteria delineated and 90 publications continued Bibliometrics is an effective approach to analysing the structure and
to be screened through title and abstract analysis. The next set of criteria content of narrative, to identify the trends, gaps, authorship and in­
involved excluding articles that did not relate to the Australian building terests using publication data (Camarasa et al., 2019). The bibliometric
industry or lacked focus on NZEBs. From this screening section, a further network map allows for a visualisation of key themes and aspects of the
39 reports were excluded (constituting 102 journal articles in total), research that was undertaken (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010). Further­
leaving a total of 49 publications to advance to the final phase of more, it also used to measure the significance of certain journals, key­
PRISMA. words, authors and keywords, which ultimately provides valuable
The inclusion phase of the systematic literature review provided a analysis while removing the subjectivity issues among the literature
final additional criterion as the articles’ focus on the research topic was retrieved. Utilising VOSviewer allowed for the generation of visual sci­
further analysed. Although all articles were relevant, a further two entific landscapes about authors, keywords, journal organisations and
publications were excluded because they did not encompass the same countries of origin based on co-authorship, co-occurrence, co-citation or
relation to the research topic as the remaining publications. The final bibliographic coupling (Hirsch et al., 2019). It can count the number of
exclusions were made to ensure that all articles gathered remained in links and the total strength of those links that are found throughout a set
line with the research question and will provide the best possible dis­ of literature and prepare a graphical network visualisation.
cussion and analyses of the secondary data acquired. At the completion To further examine the barriers to NZEBs, further bibliometric
of the inclusion phase, a total of 49 journal articles remained at the end analysis was completed to determine the similarities between barriers
of the PRISMA protocol. found in Australia and other comparable countries. These comparable
A meta-analysis of the secondary data set (where each publication countries were determined using a co-authorship network map, which
constituted a unit of analysis) provided a basis for research articles that analysed the articles’ country of origin and provided a visualisation of
were credible and relevant to the issue. This led to the dissection of data the total link strength between Australia’s barriers to NZEB and other
through Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and the co-occurrence of words countries. A combination of bibliometric analysis and further research
via the scientometric software tool VOSviewer. Adopting this approach on comparable countries provides the context of the research under­
allowed for a more conclusive interpretation of the literature reviewed taken and assists in the determination of the relevance of data on a world
to address the research aim. A final step in the methodological flow chart scale. The comparable countries were then cross-analysed with the
determined how the data was interpreted to form a cohesive discussion barriers identified to determine if the same barriers are experienced in
on the future research direction. When used in conjunction, the com­ the Australian NZEB field as in other parts of the world.
bination of all these methodological steps provided un-bias and well-
interpreted data from the most relevant journal articles available. 2.3. Content analysis of comparable countries

2.2. Literature analysis Since the advent of NZEB, researchers from 88 countries have
contributed to NZEB, with Italy being the most prominent (Sabour et al.,
The established techniques of descriptive and bibliometric analyses 2023). An important discussion question within this research topic re­
are utilised in analysing the publication trends. In combination, these mains, and that is how barriers that impact NZEBs in Australia compare
two analyses provides both a statistical overview of the literature and a to barriers impacting NZEB in other countries. To determine the most
snapshot of key research topics through visuals and mapping (Vats and relevant comparable countries when discussing NZEBs and their bar­
Mathur, 2022). To effectively utilise a systematic literature review and riers, an additional bibliometric visual analysis is conducted. The com­
obtain valuable information on the research topic, the first stage of the parable country analysis shows the country of article origin, and all
quantitative analysis involves a descriptive analysis. Descriptive anal­ countries shown have a minimum of five articles that include the terms
ysis undertaken presented an overview of the included publications and “Net Zero Energy Building”, “Barriers” and “Australia.” By the specific
important relationships between the journal articles (Saini et al., 2022). selection of these keywords in the article search, the results that are
Descriptive analysis is conducted to establish the general patterns in the derived indicate that the countries shown have been linked through
sources, scope and of information on NZEBs. This approach allows the co-authorship. This therefore, identifies collaboration patterns on the
key research findings to be presented in an accessible manner while also topic of NZEB barriers that are relevant to Australia and other countries

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of authorship and the total link strength between them. A content weight in the network. The distance between the circles also represents
analysis of comparable countries was completed to indicate the barriers the relatedness among the keywords, emphasising the co-occurrence
that impact NZEB in countries other than Australia. 20 articles from the linkage. Therefore, if two keywords are positioned close together, the
initial PRISMA protocol phase were sourced based on the research connection between them is stronger. Keywords within the map have
question relevance and barriers were identified for these countries. This clusters that surround them, which shows the interdependencies among
provided a basis for comparison between Australia and the relevant them (Jin et al., 2018). Additionally, this visualisation helps to identify
countries chosen for evaluation. The frequency of barriers, direction and the clusters and frequency of keywords addressed.
intensity of direction relating to barriers were analysed to form the Since ‘energy building’, ‘construction’ and ‘climate’ and ‘cost’ have
comparison to the assessment of barriers to NZEB in Australia. the largest circles on the network map, they have the highest weight in
Content analysis was undertaken by coding the data derived from the the literature. ‘Energy building’, which was mostly used in the literature
20 articles. Detailed interpretation and sense-making of the information as ‘Net Zero Energy Building’, has by far the largest circle, meaning that
gathered was done in the following manner: (1) becoming thoroughly it is the most connected keywords in the literature, followed along with
familiar with the case studies in the articles by critically reading and re- the other keywords of ‘construction’ and ‘climate’ and ‘cost.’ This in­
reading all the transcripts and documents gathered; and (2) synthesising dicates that these keywords are research hotspots within the research
the barriers found across the literature (Sabour et al., 2023). domain. The links between ‘net zero energy building’ and the other
clusters emphasise its powerful relationship with other topics of
3. Results and analysis construction.
Key barriers such as climate and cost had a significant weighting,
3.1. Results from bibliometric analysis while the keyword ‘definition’ also had a strong connection to the bar­
rier cluster, indicating that it was often discussed due to the lack of a
Co-occurrence of keywords bibliometric analysis: the mapping of co- universally agreed upon definition of NZEBs. Residential building was
occurrence of keywords indicates the frequency of appearance of study also a frequently occurring keyword, and it also demonstrated strong
topics in one paper and the inter-relatedness of the study topics across all links to the barriers mentioned above, which indicates that the barriers
the literature (Jin et al., 2018). Through the screening of titles, abstracts are mostly linked to residential construction within Australia.
and keywords in the literature, VOSviewer was able to generate a The last notable point derived from the network map is the range of
network map (refer to Fig. 2) to provide insight into the selected data keywords that relate to the potential solutions for the barriers. Keywords
from the eligibility phase of the PRISMA protocol and demonstrate the such as ‘approach’, ‘application’, ‘integration’ and ‘implementation’ are
important keywords in the data. The differentiation in the colour all weighted significantly and interconnected to the barrier cluster,
brightness and transparency of keywords shown in the visualisation which suggests that solutions to these potential barriers are often dis­
denotes the interconnections of keywords, while the size of the nodes cussed and are a popular research topic within this field. The linkage
highlights the weight of the keyword in terms of their prominence between these words and the keywords ‘scenario’ and ‘simulation’ also
within the literature. The larger the node of an item, the higher the highlights the point that the solutions to these barriers are mostly in trial

Fig. 2. Bibliometric Analysis Network Map – Keywords by co-occurrence.

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D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

and have not been extensively assessed in practice to become effective strength to Australia in this analysis are the UK and China. Australia is
solutions. noted as being the highest weighted node in the network map and was
included in the analysis to primarily highlight the total link strength
3.2. Results from descriptive analyses between the nations. Despite this, other comparable countries, including
Italy and the United States, are also considered important when deter­
Fig. 3 presents the barriers cited throughout the 49 retrieved articles mining comparability to Australian NZEB barriers - this was obtained by
analysed and also highlights the most impactful barriers that were utilising the term ‘Australia’ in the article search. In doing this, the
discovered in the content analysis. A total of 15 different categories of countries derived have a unique national origin, while subsequently
barriers were extracted from the content analysis. Issues revolving linking to Australia specifically through citations and total link strength.
around the lack of knowledge and legislative factors surrounding this Fig. 5 illustrates the frequency of detailed factors of the identified bar­
relatively new concept were the most discussed barriers to net zero riers of knowledge, climate and cost encountered in each comparable
energy achievement, accounting for 15/80 (18.8%) and 14/80 (17.5%) country.
of examined hindrances, respectively. Aside from these outliers at the
forefront of the topic, other barriers were also deemed to be significant. 3.3.1. Comparable countries – knowledge barriers
For example, a lack of government policies and climate issue were the Lack of knowledge remained a re-occurring barrier within the com­
next most reviewed barriers, accounting for 7/80 (8.8%) and 6/80 parable countries NZEB collected data. Though not specifically and
(7.5%), respectively, and this was closely followed by cost factors (5/80 formally identified as a ‘lack of knowledge,’ many of the frequent re-
or 6.3%). Therefore, in addition to government policy factors, lack of occurring themes found in the data collection had similar implications
knowledge, climate issue and cost factors are the primary issued and have been interpreted within the umbrella category of ‘knowledge
encountered by the industry when implementing NZEBs. barriers’ as the principle of these have a similar impact on hindering
Despite several examples of successful NZEBs being prevalent in NZEB adoption. Based on the papers reviewed, the terms which
obtained research data, the number of barriers experienced in achieving appeared frequently have similar connotations to lack of knowledge (f =
NZEB success is substantial. Table 1 highlights Australian NZEB case 21/80 or 26.3%) and include ‘lack of awareness’ (f = 21/80 or 26.3%),
studies in particular that were derived from the research articles as well ‘limited government policy’ (16 f = 16/80 or 20.0%) and ‘limited NZEB
as their respective location and construction compositions. Table 1 also understanding’ (f = 22/80 or 27.5%). Vats and Mathur (2022), for
provides detailed information related to the identified barriers of instance, corroborated that many NZEB scenarios assume that technol­
knowledge, climate and cost encountered in these NZEB case studies. ogies are operable if they are available, leading to unrealistic expecta­
tions of energy performance due to various constraints, including
3.3. Comparability of barriers to other countries high-energy efficient HVAC system settings systems (Eto et al., 2012).
It is also notable that PV and battery systems could be challenging to
The comparable country analysis provides the visualisation of the align with the net-zero agenda due to its design scale requirements in
linkage between countries on this research topic. Countries of closest buildings (Franco et al., 2021). The inclusion of innovative architectural
relatedness to Australian NZEB barriers are shown in Fig. 4 as the largest designs has potential to enhance space allowance and utilisation in
nodes with the heaviest weighted links. In completing this additional installation of PV arrays (Li et al., 2020).
analysis, Australian NZEBs can be contrasted against the most compa­ A comparison between Figs. 3 and 5 indicated that lack of knowledge
rable countries identified. is more prevalent in Australia than it is in the comparable countries of
As highlighted in Fig. 4, the countries which have the highest link China, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States. The data

Fig. 3. Barriers to achieving NZEB.

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Table 1
Australian NZEB Case Studies and barriers experienced.
Case Image of Case study Location Climate Building Type/ Building Knowledge Climate Barriers Cost Barriers
Zone Size Composition Barriers Experienced Experienced
Experienced

Case 1 – Melbourne, 6 (Mild 26 Storey Concrete core Limited existing Low Increased
Medium Victoria temperate) Multi-level structure with data to draw upon temperatures capital cost
Density High residential glass curtain during (Climate zone Limited
Rise Building apartment wall façade construction. 6). government
– Alawode, A building exterior. Overshading from Limited sunlight incentives for
& consisting of other buildings access due to implementing
Rajagopalan, 396 individual was not considered overshading. NZEB strategies.
P 2022 apartments. and affected the Unpredictable
efficiency. weather events.
Case 2 – SJD Melbourne, 6 Mild 255 square Timber frame Construction Low Increased
Net Zero Victoria temperate) metre single construction, required by temperatures capital cost.
Energy Home storey 4- with external specialised trades (Climate zone Creation of net
(Z Range bedroom brick cladding and consultants. 6). zero energy
Homes) residential and colourbond Limited buyer Surrounding features while
dwelling. sheeting roof interest due to lack areas prone to maintaining
composition. of knowledge of weather events affordability for
NZEB benefits. and natural buyers.
disasters such as
bushfires.
Case 3 – Net Maleny, 2 (Warm, 530 square Timber frame Construction Area prone to Increased
Zero Energy Queensland humid metre Single construction, required by storms and capital cost.
Retrofit in summer, storey with external specialised trades significant Increased
Sub Tropical mild residential brick cladding and consultants. rainfall/floods. material
Australia winter) dwelling. and metal roof Owners are The dwelling transportation
Miller et al., sheeting required to be was not costs due to
2018 composition. trained and constructed to location.
understand NZEB maximise solar Increased
systems in their energy planning costs
own homes to absorption. due to retrofit
maximise Warm climate rather than new
efficiency. requires build.
increased HVAC
capabilities.
Case 4 – CSIRO Newcastle, 5 (Warm Multi-level Brick external/ Limited knowledge Warmer Expenditure for
Energy New South temperate) solar field and aluminium of integrating temperatures additional
Research Wales energy cladding façade future renewable require an energy storage.
Centre research with integrated energy methods. increase HVAC Lack of
facility, solar Lack of knowledge system capacity. government
Wells et al.
including photovoltaic of occupant Unpredictable incentives.
(2018) energy storage panels. behaviour and weather events High initial
unit. energy Incorporating capital costs.
consumption. minimisation of
emissions into
design while
maintaining
business
productivity.
Case 5 – Brisbane, 2 (Warm, 272 square brick external Required to be Area prone to Additional 8.9%
Brisbane Zero Queensland humid metre single- construction designed by storms and capital outlay
Energy House summer, storey with a concrete experts in the field. significant required
(Kwan and mild residential ceiling, single Lack of knowledge rainfall. compared to
Guan, 2015) winter) dwelling, glazed windows, by occupants on Warm temperate traditional
selected as a insulated walls utilising NZEB requires higher construction.
sample by the with gyprock systems. capacity HVAC No government
Australian plasterboard Additional system usage. incentive.
Building Codes internal research required High price of
Board. cladding. to determine the Photovoltaic
feasibility of the panels at the
same design in time of
other regions of construction.
Australia.
Case 6 – Wollongong, 5 (Warm 900 square Brick and timber Lack of knowledge High humidity Increased
University of New South temperate) metre multi- construction. surrounding the during warmer capital cost
Wollongong Wales disciplinary Heavy use of use of unique months. Material
Sustainable research recycled construction Varying building sourcing issues
Buildings facility split materials, materials and occupancy and
Research between 2 including NZEB systems requiring requirements to
Centre buildings railway tracks, requiring additional solar refurbish
(SBRC) (North and bridge timber additional expert PV absorption. recycled
Robati et al., South) with and telephone trades. materials.
2019 landscape poles. Lack of Lack of
government
(continued on next page)

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Table 1 (continued )
Case Image of Case study Location Climate Building Type/ Building Knowledge Climate Barriers Cost Barriers
Zone Size Composition Barriers Experienced Experienced
Experienced

corridor government policy incentive.

divider. implementation. Difficulty
obtaining
funding.

Fig. 4. Bibliometric network map – Australian barriers to NZEB – Total link strength between countries.

highlighted that overall, a lack of skilled labour with adequate knowl­ comparable countries that was evident throughout the conducting of the
edge was the most consistently re-occurring theme within the knowl­ content analysis was the lack of understanding of NZEB methods and
edge barrier umbrella, with the US experiencing the highest frequency of materials which prevented the adoption of NZEB builds. In a 2005 study
this barrier with seven references. One article by Godin et al. (2021) of the United Kingdom building industry, Godin et al. (2021) identified
dissected this barrier in relation to some of the comparable countries. that 78% of builders surveyed indicated that a lack of information
They explained that since NZEB differs from conventional buildings in regarding the cost of constructing an NZEB was a major barrier to pur­
that additional energy and resource-saving measures are utilised, the chasing the relevant materials. Alternative approaches to NZEB, for
advanced knowledge in various aspects of NZEB construction required instance, using NZEB cluster suggests that NZEB cluster enables
by project teams is often the reason not to undertake NZEB projects in improvement in energy generation by 45%, grid interaction by 82% and
the US. cost-effectiveness by 55% (Saini et al., 2022). In addition, life-cycle
The content analysis highlighted similar comparisons in terms of based approaches will achieve a more resilient framework for NZEB
government incentives and policies. Fig. 5 highlighted that the US ex­ implementation (Too et al., 2022). These findings further re-enforce that
periences the highest level of this barrier (f = 26/80 or 32.5%), followed lack of knowledge surrounding NZEB should become a priority to
by China (f = 22/80 or 27.5%) and the UK (f = 19/80 or 23.8%). The progress towards increased Net Zero adoption and success.
significant frequency of this barrier in the comparable countries’ data
could be attributed to a range of factors. It is understood that the level of 3.3.2. Comparable countries – climate barriers
government policy implementation presents a recurrent challenge Climate issues based on the frequency in the reviewed papers include
across Australia (Lee et al., 2023; Falana et al., 2023). There is currently temperature variances (f = 12/52 or 23.1%), level of precipitation (f =
limited evidence of a high level of government policy support towards 13/52 or 25.0%), level of available photovoltaic energy (f = 13/52 or
NZEB development in Australia, whereas in comparable countries, the 25.0%) and unprecedented weather events (f = 14/52 or 26.9%. Data
amount of government support, policy and incentives is notably higher. collected on the comparable countries saw these terms appear in mod­
Alawode and Rajagopalan (2022) noted that the European Union erate frequency and appeared in similar frequencies to that of the
currently has the most advanced policies relating to NZEBs and conse­ Australian research. Fig. 5 indicated that despite climatic variations in
quently, is the most advanced continent in terms of net zero energy all the comparable countries, there was consistency with the frequency
progress and technology. The content analysis data also indicated that of barriers highlighted in the derived articles. Level of precipitation data
the Chinese government policy implementation in support of NZEB was indicated that the frequency of this barrier across all nations is moder­
drastically higher than Australia’s due to the low frequency of these ate, while PV availability was only considered a low-impact barrier for
themes shown in the data. all countries while it can be considered a high-level barrier in US studies.
Although lack of knowledge had less representation in the compa­ The figures derived on climate issues reinforced that within this cate­
rable country analysis, a key similarity between Australia and the gory, it was evident that some countries experience very specific climate

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D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

Fig. 5. Barriers to NZEB in comparable countries.

issues that are unique to that country. Research by Kingery (2022) individual barrier among countries, with Italy having the highest fre­
indicated that China experienced a significantly low level of PV energy quency (f = 8/33 or 24.2%), and the UK followed closely with f = 12/59
availability in Eastern areas due to the increased amounts of air pollu­ or 20.3%. China and the US have the frequency of f = 12/65 or 18.5%
tion which prevents the system from functioning correctly. Additionally, and f = 9/69 or 13.0%, respectively. When compared to the same data in
the same study estimated that there are energy losses of 17%–35% in Fig. 3, the data on comparable countries shown in Fig. 5 emphasises the
parts of eastern China, depending on how often PV panels are cleaned. consistency of these barriers’ impact on NZEB development worldwide.
The UK also saw the most significant and consistent frequency of climate These findings were supported throughout the content analysis, with
barriers effect NZEB development (f = 19/52 or 36.5%). This may be multiple articles indicating the high-level impact of this barrier and how
due to the inclement weather patterns and low comparative tempera­ it inhibits NZEB adoption. A study across many developed countries by
tures, which engender the need for increased energy usage and decrease Dadzie et al. (2018) identified the high costs of an NZEB home as a
the ability of PV panels to operate at maximum capacity. Overall, significant barrier affecting widespread adoption. Furthermore, ac­
climate barriers that hinder the success of NZEB in other countries cording to Karji et al. (2020), building industry professionals studied
remained consistent with the data collected in the Australian context. were deterred from changing their construction methods from conven­
Evidently, these barriers are dependent on location and time of year but tional styles since obtaining NZEB training can be costly and requires
must be recognised as a hindrance to NZEB adoption due to its wide­ taking teams off other projects to attend training sessions. Moreover,
spread impact across the world. adopting new technologies and building methods can require significant
changes to design and build processes, thus contributing to the possi­
3.3.3. Comparable countries – cost barriers bility of risk and economic losses of projects and therefore decreasing
NZEB barriers relating to cost have also been categorised in this data the level of adoption (Hakkinen and Belloni, 2011). In fact, Darko et al.
collection to determine comparability levels to Australian barriers. (2017) identified resistance to change due to cost implications within
Frequently re-occurring themes that were found in the papers and cat­ the industry as the most important barrier to widespread NZEB adoption
egorised under cost barriers included: the costs associated with NZEB in the United States.
materials and technologies (41); the lack of stakeholder investment (19); In summary, the combination of the descriptive, content and bib­
the lack of government funding (27); economic instability and uncer­ liometric analyses provided key quantitative information regarding the
tainty (7) in the categorisation. Evidence from the data collected indi­ literature that was retrieved from the PRISMA protocol. Evidently, the
cated that cost is the single most significant barrier to NZEB in countries findings from both analyses indicated that certain barriers to achieving
around the world outside of Australia. Fig. 5 demonstrates the compa­ NZEBs in Australia are more prevalent than others. The argument that
rable country results in relation to cost barriers to NZEBs. Costs associ­ climate, cost and lack of knowledge were heavily focused research topics
ated with NZEB materials and technologies were ranked the highest throughout the gathered literature and this key point was supported

9
D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

further by the results derived from the bibliometric analysis. Heavily building’s occupants lack the requisite knowledge of energy systems
weighted keywords from co-occurrence within the journal articles, such within their home, it is very likely that incorrect use of energy-efficiency
as cost, climate and lack of knowledge, further reinforced that these technology will occur and consequently increase the costs associated
barriers are the most frequently occurring within the Australian resi­ with building energy consumption. Furthermore, this is likely to lead to
dential construction sector. a situation that makes achieving net zero energy in a building exceed­
ingly difficult.
4. Discussions The network map derived from the analysis also showed an observ­
able inter-relationship between the barriers of cost and climate, which
Emergent findings found that lack of knowledge of NZEBs in poses the question of how these two barriers are interrelated in the NZEB
Australia was a barrier that has been most frequently encountered in the topic: do climate issues affect the cost of NZEBs in Australia? The find­
industry. It was clear, based on the literature reviewed, that there is a ings from the bibliometric analysis also confirmed observable links be­
notable lack of research and knowledge about holistically accounting for tween climate and cost in the NZEB context. Alawode and Rajagopalan
embodied energy, particularly accounting for energy usage in (2022) are in congruence and suggest that increased capital cost due to
manufacturing building materials (Wells et al., 2018). Similarly, Belussi climate and weather has been identified as one of the significant barriers
et al. (2019) also supported the significance of this barrier by stating that to achieving NZEBs, indicating the correlation between cost and climate.
the greatest challenge in the near future is the capability to bridge the Identifying future initiatives that achieve a successful NZEB is the
existing knowledge gap between design and the completed building. least researched topic, as corroborated by Saini et al. (2022). There are
This barrier appeared most regularly among the screened literature, suggested strategies to mitigate against individual barriers. However,
while the results from the bibliometric analysis further supported its most strategies are isolated and fail to recognise the dynamic in­
significance. teractions between barriers influencing the implementation of NZEB.
The results that were determined by the analyses are relatively One approach to establish the interrelationship between barriers to
comparable to previous literature regarding some aspects of this NZEB can be through a system dynamics model. Such an approach will
research topic. Evidently, the results obtained from the descriptive and provide a more in-depth understanding of the barriers to NZEB.
bibliometric analysis were well supported by various literature, espe­ Nevertheless, it can be inferred that where cost is a barrier, the imple­
cially on certain barriers such as cost. Vats and Mathur (2022) stated mentation of government subsidies could incentivise clients to invest in
that the economic feasibility of an NZEB is strictly related to the avail­ NZEB. Governments are believed to be a crucial driver in creating pol­
ability of financial support able to minimise the payback time. Not only icies to encourage net zero energy targets and providing the public with
was this backed up by the descriptive analysis, which recognised it as the awareness of energy issues (Wells et al., 2018). Currently, there is
third-most cited barrier, but the bibliometric analysis also emphasised limited support from the Australian government in terms of policies and
its importance as it was one of the most heavily weighted co-occurring subsidies. In other countries internationally (e.g. Europe and US), such
keywords throughout the literature. incentives have been proven to be effective. The North American Union
It was also recognised that climate issues within Australia played a and European Union currently have the most advanced policies relating
major role in the feasibility of an NZEB. Climate naturally impacts the to NZEBs and consequently, are the most advanced continents in terms
most suitable technological choices for a ZEB (Belussi et al., 2019). The of net zero energy progress and technology (Alawode and Rajagopalan,
uniqueness of Australia’s climate is the main reason behind this barrier’s 2022). There is also the argument that cost cannot be deemed a barrier
prominence. To ensure an NZEB is feasible in Australia, the local climate to achieving NZEBs, since NZEB technologies have higher efficiencies,
must be considered to adjust individual design strategies accordingly and in turn, benefit from lower average energy consumption. This leads
(Wells et al., 2018). Climate issues is a broad term within the research to NZEBs having an overall lower operational expenditure than con­
which has been utilised to incorporate an array of issues that derive from ventional buildings (Sabour et al., 2022).
inclement weather or geographical location and the effects that these From what is considered the most important barrier towards the
things have on the successful application of NZEBs within Australia. achievement of NZEBs, a lack of knowledge is arguably the easiest
It was evident that barriers such as climate and cost were linked barrier to solve. Education on net zero energy concepts is limited
within the publications as they were often deliberated in the same ar­ because it resides in an emergent state (Alawode and Rajagopalan,
ticles (Matana-Junior et al., 2023). The bibliometric findings also 2022). Therefore, the ability to teach and implement techniques,
highlighted the point that NZEB is still a new concept within the topic of methods and materials is quite difficult, especially considering that new
sustainable construction and that barriers that were found were often technology in this field is still in the trial phase. With other nations are
discovered using simulations and scenarios rather than real-world ap­ leading the way with net zero energy technology developments, it is the
plications. The findings also indicated that Australia’s climate, as well as perfect time for Australia to better understand and learn which concepts
cost issues, played a major role in the feasibility of achieving NZEB. are feasible. Awareness should also be provided on the effective use of
Moreover, single-storey residential buildings were the most targeted Australia’s climatic conditions and the benefits that can be derived from
application of net-zero and that this type of dwelling also encountered implementing NZEBs.
many of the barriers which were discussed in the literature. The analysis results emphasised several key points. First, it was clear
The bibliometric analysis identified strong connections between the that a lack of knowledge and climate issues stood out as the barriers that
main barriers that were identified throughout the study. Across the most hinder the achievement of net zero residential buildings. Second, it
literature, it was observed that lack of knowledge and cost were recur­ was notable in analysing the results that issues associated with cost were
rent themes based on the link between weighted clusters within the pivotal in achieving net zero. These three barriers were clearly the most
VOSviewer map. The argument that a lack of knowledge affects the cost important among the research conducted in this study, although many
of achieving NZEBs in Australia is well supported. For example, Wells other barriers were considered to have an influence on NZEB feasibility.
et al. (2018) stated that there is a notable lack of knowledge about ho­ The bibliometric analysis concluded that there were strong links be­
listically accounting for embodied energy, particularly accounting for tween the three most evident barriers of lack of knowledge, climate and
the energy usage in manufacturing building materials and renewable cost. It was found that climate and knowledge barriers subsequently
energy technology apparatus. Without this knowledge, it is extremely increase the cost of net zero buildings. Through further discussion, it was
difficult to achieve a net-zero building without implementing technol­ found that there are future initiatives and solutions that can be imple­
ogy that has an increased cost. Additionally, the connection between mented to combat all three of the major barriers. Each requires different
cost and lack of knowledge as barriers to achieving net zero may also be methods of approach, but even the more uncontrollable factors such as
experienced during building occupancy. In situations where the climate can be used in a way that can promote the success of NZEBs.

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D. Brown et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 467 (2024) 142910

5. Practical and Theoretical implications on barriers, future solutions, and the overall concept of net zero energy
as it emerges.
The NZEB concept presents an ambitious and promising aspiration With the effective use of previous literature on this research topic,
for the Australian built environment sector. The barriers and enablers this paper has allowed for both the primary aim and key research ob­
contextualised for Australia can address crucial gaps. For instance, jectives to be met. Progress within the primary objective meant that the
Australian committed to lower emissions by 28% from 2005 levels by paper should highlight the identification and discussion of barriers that
2030. The effectiveness in overcoming the barriers to NZEB are funda­ specifically affect achieving NZEBs in Australia (Sabour et al., 2023).
mental in realising the net-zero emission targets and in meeting the Paris Emerging from the systematic appraisal of the literature, the barriers
Climate Change Agreement. Furthermore, it is predicted that building affecting NZEBs in Australia were critically examined and compared to
energy demand will increase by 32% by 2050 because of the challenges those of other countries. In terms of the other key objectives (which
associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, wars, unanticipated natural included the identification of potential future solutions which could aid
disasters and population growth (Sabour et al., 2022). NZEB clusters the Australian building industry in the quest to successfully achieve net
have been proposed as a significant intervention in overcoming the zero), the paper also provides conclusive evidence of initiatives and
identified barriers of climate change, knowledge and costs (Saini et al., solutions to the barriers which have been successful. The information
2022). that has been gathered has an emphasis on solutions that have been
The plethora of approaches in advancing NZEB across the literature implemented in both other countries and Australian simulations to
includes: (1) enhanced adoption of renewable energy (mostly solar) (Lee provide the most useful data for future research. In a similar way to how
et al., 2023); (2) deployment of NZEB cluster – a block of interconnected publications based on this research topic have allowed for the
network that share interdependency of energy and have a common advancement of this identification of key barriers to NZEBs, it is hoped
off-grid system (Saini et al., 2022); and (3) integration of life cycle that this paper can assist future publicists in the ever-growing area of net
perspective into NZEB – considering life cycle cost, whole life cycle zero energy in Australia.
energy, exergetic life cycle and whole-life carbon emission (Too et al.,
2022). Each of these approaches aim to accomplish national priorities 6. Conclusions and recommendations
such as energy security, urban sustainability and sustainable develop­
ment (Vats and Mathur, 2022). NZEBs are effective solutions for achieving net zero emissions by
NZEB clusters enable improvement in energy generation by 45%, 2050 in Australia. Consequently, NZEBs are currently gathering signif­
grid interaction by 82% and cost-effectiveness by 55% (Saini et al., icant interest within the Australian building industry. This present paper
2022; Lee et al., 2023). Having NZEB clusters alone is not necessarily uncovered some key findings on net zero energy advantages through the
sufficient to enhance the penetration of NZEB concepts. There is a need systematic review of the literature but also provided the primary
to adopt a holistic life cycle perspective in appraising NZEB infrastruc­ research objective of identifying the key barriers which hinder the
ture. Four key variables from the life cycle approach will include: (1) life achievement of NZEBs in Australia. This was completed by following a
cycle costing; (2) whole life cycle energy use and consumption; (3) methodological PRISMA protocol, which effectively screened literature
exegetic life cycle analyses; and (4) whole life cycle carbon emissions on the research topic. During this first stage of research, it became clear
(Too et al., 2022). In addition, conducting life cycle sustainability that lack of knowledge, climate and cost remained the most significant
assessment would provide a balancing act in merging triple-bottom line barriers to net zero, but it was still unclear whether this was universally
considerations in the NZEB context (Tokede et al., 2021). Such advanced agreed upon and why these barriers stand out. With further examination
and holistic appraisal techniques can help in providing a gap analysis and analysis provided through a range of quantitative analysis tech­
and can then link NZEB aspirations with sustainable development goals niques, other research aims and objectives were met by determining
(SDGs) and support the effectiveness of government initiatives and how these barriers impact an NZEB and the interrelatedness between
strategies. Maierhofer et al. (2022) also suggested a top-down planetary barriers. Furthermore, an understanding of the concept of NZEBs in
boundaries approach will be useful in achieving region-wide quantifi­ Australia and the progress towards achieving a net zero future was also
cation of embodied emissions in the NZEB context. assessed. In the final stage of research, with discussion focused primarily
Finally, the need for stakeholder involvement and community on these main objectives, potential future initiatives and solutions to the
participation in driving NZEB penetration cannot be over-estimated. barriers that most hinder net zero achievements were identified. These
Falana et al. (2023) recognised that active partnerships among all potential solutions seem like enormous steps in the right direction of
stakeholders will be crucial in meeting NZEB targets. Nine major groups NZEB implementation, especially considering that they all obtain a
that have been suggested include construction professionals, proper­ similar ideology. That is, through the collective efforts of stakeholders
ty/facility users, policy makers, statutory bodies, manufacturer sup­ and the pooling of resources, greater energy efficiency and barrier
pliers, community representatives, financiers researchers, mitigation can be achieved. In summary, capability building and
Non-government organisations (NGOS), and media professionals. In bridging the existing knowledge gap between design and the completed
Australia, indigenous land rights groups and first-nations people will building is one of the effective solutions addressing the identified
also play a vital role and will inevitably become active partners in knowledge gaps. Financial support can be used as a vehicle to improve
achieving NZEB aspirations. the economic feasibility of an NZEB and minimise the payback time. To
As the concept of net zero energy within the Australian building ensure an NZEB is feasible in Australia, the local climate must be
industry continues to develop at a rapid rate, it is important to under­ considered to adjust individual design strategies accordingly. Govern­
stand the key barriers that inhibit its successful implementation. This ments and policy play crucial roles in driving net zero energy develop­
research paper not only builds upon previous literature on net zero ment and providing the public with awareness of energy issues.
energy but also contributes to filling the gap on this concept in an Awareness should also be provided on the effective use of Australia’s
Australian context and responds to previous research gaps delineated climatic conditions and the benefits that can be derived from imple­
(Zhang et al., 2020). Currently, the Australian building industry is at a menting NZEBs. These measures will increase the successful imple­
pivotal point where targets set towards net zero energy form the basis of mentation and penetration of NZEB, with enhanced public awareness,
new standards. The statistic-based discussion that has been completed in enlightened behavioural shifts, innovative business models and
this paper assists in the progression of understanding the net zero energy contextual capacity building.
concept in Australia by re-enforcing information that is specific to Contextualised barriers to NZEB are crucial for achieving NZEB goals
Australia’s unique building industry (Too et al., 2022). With the limited in regional settings, providing clear gaps that can be addressed to
information on NZEBs in Australia, it was important to provide analysis enhance the implementation of NZEB in Australia. The impact of various

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