People here in New Zealand are required to have a WOF(Warrant of Fitness) on any vehicle they own if it is to be used on NZ roads.
The idea of a WOF on a house as proposed, really raises my hackles.
A story from Stuff.co.nz OK, there are a lot of new houses in NZ here, however there are also a lot of older places lived in by either elderly or those that could not afford to have the walls of their houses ripped out and filled with Pink Batts (Fibre-glass) Insulation.
The other two aspects of this plan have me rather worried.
The first being water heating, most houses that this thing applies to, will have old in-efficient electric hot-water cylinders, seen the price of a new cylinder these days?.
Secondly and fore-most, lighting.
OK, them Dichroic lamps they fit into new houses look pretty, but if they are supplied by wirewound ballasts, should that place be down-graded?.
I think it should.
What are we supposed to do with our lighting in our houses?, live under the bland light from a compact fluorescent lamp?.
The reason the Incandesent lamp is still so popular, is because of it's colour-rendering qualities.
IMHO, sure, if we are going to go down this track, lets look at what caused this in the first place, lack of direction from Government.
While not trying to make this thread a political thing at ALL, who should pay for all of these ideas?.
It's all very well to say "Oh, you'll get the money back in a few years and have better health".
It just seems to me to be a "Jobs for the Boys" scheme, after all someone has to inspect these houses.
Being the owner of a pre-1970's house myself, I find it rather rich that someone in authority could simply say that my house is not as good thier's, so I have to bring it up to the same standard as thiers.
Your thoughts folks?.
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[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 12-15-2006).]
