Green Star Homes Energy Guide
All-electric design is central to the Positive outcome within Green Star Homes, but replacing gas appliances is only one part of the required residential energy and certification strategy.
An all-electric home uses electricity rather than gas or another onsite fossil fuel for major household services such as cooking, hot water, space heating and cooling. These systems can then be supported by onsite solar generation and renewable electricity.
Within Green Star Homes, this is not treated as a collection of unrelated appliance choices. The Positive outcome connects electrification with thermal performance, airtightness, efficient household systems, renewable energy and information that helps the resident operate the home as intended.
This guide focuses on how all-electric design is coordinated across an eligible volume builder’s product range and carried into individual completed homes. For the complete framework context, visit the Green Star Homes Knowledge Hub.
In Brief
All-Electric Design Is a Coordinated Positive Outcome
Remove Onsite Gas
Cooking, hot water, heating and cooling are provided through appropriately selected electric systems rather than gas services or appliances.
Reduce Energy Demand
Thermal performance, glazing, shading, air leakage and efficient equipment influence the amount of electricity the home requires.
Verify Delivery
Specifications, customer selections, substitutions and construction records must support the all-electric strategy delivered in each completed home.
An all-electric home is therefore not automatically an efficient, renewable-powered or Green Star certified home. The services strategy must work with the building design and satisfy the applicable framework evidence requirements.
Positive Outcome
Where Does All-Electric Design Sit Within Green Star Homes?
Green Star Homes is organised around Positive, Healthy and Resilient outcomes. All-electric design sits most directly within the Positive outcome, which brings energy efficiency, renewable energy and fossil-fuel-free household operation together.
The applicable Positive requirements extend beyond the absence of gas. They connect thermal performance, window systems, airtightness, hot water, energy-efficient appliances, renewable energy and resident guidance.
This prevents electrification from becoming an isolated product exercise. The framework considers whether the home has controlled energy demand, appropriate electric systems and a credible renewable-energy response.
All-electric design may also support Healthy outcomes by removing onsite gas combustion. It does not, however, replace the separate ventilation, moisture, material and indoor-environment requirements of the framework.
Household Services
What Does a Fully Electric Home Include?
Cooking
Induction and Electric Appliances
Induction or another electric cooking system replaces the gas cooktop and should be coordinated with electrical capacity, kitchen design and effective extraction.
Hot Water
Efficient Electric Hot Water
A heat-pump or other eligible electric system should respond to household demand, climate, location, noise, controls and the wider residential energy assessment.
Space Conditioning
Electric Heating and Cooling
Reverse-cycle or other efficient electric systems should be sized and zoned in response to the home’s underlying thermal loads.
Renewable Generation
Rooftop Solar
Onsite generation can support the renewable-energy strategy where roof area, orientation, shading, system size and household demand are properly coordinated.
Energy Storage
Battery Integration
Battery storage may alter when onsite generation is used, but its relevance and treatment should follow the applicable project and assessment requirements.
Electrical Infrastructure
Capacity and Future Loads
Switchboards, circuits, equipment locations and potential future loads should be considered before the design and standard specifications are fixed.
Energy-Demand Boundary
Does All-Electric Automatically Mean Energy Efficient?
No. A home can use only electric appliances and still have high energy demand because of excessive exposed glazing, weak shading, poor insulation, uncontrolled air leakage or inefficient equipment.
The building should first reduce avoidable heating and cooling demand through an appropriate climate response. Efficient electric systems can then meet the remaining loads more effectively.
The detailed thermal-design work remains the territory of NatHERS and related building-performance assessments. Within this Green Star Homes guide, the important point is that the services specification must remain connected to the assessed building fabric.
For a focused discussion of this relationship, see Why Thermal Comfort Matters in Green Star Homes.
Renewable-Power Strategy
Why Must Solar Be Coordinated Early?
Removing gas allows more of the home’s operational demand to be supplied by renewable electricity. The value of rooftop solar, however, depends on whether the design provides a practical location and sufficient generation capacity for the applicable strategy.
Protect usable roof area. Roof forms, setbacks, plant, vents and architectural features should not unnecessarily displace the proposed array.
Review orientation and shading. The nominated location should respond to the home design, neighbouring development and other foreseeable obstructions.
Coordinate electrical infrastructure. Inverter locations, switchboard capacity, metering and cable routes should be resolved as part of the standard design.
Align system size with the assessment. The documented generation capacity should remain consistent with the relevant energy modelling and completed-home evidence.
Technical Energy Assessment
How Does All-Electric Design Relate to Whole of Home?
NatHERS Whole of Home measures the energy performance of the complete dwelling, including major household appliances, onsite solar generation and battery storage where applicable.
It is therefore highly relevant to an all-electric services strategy. The selection of hot water, heating, cooling, cooking, pool equipment, solar and batteries can materially affect the Whole of Home result.
Whole of Home does not certify the broader Green Star Homes outcomes. It provides a defined energy assessment that may support the Positive pathway and other residential compliance requirements.
The systems used in the Whole of Home assessment should match the controlled specifications and the equipment intended for the completed dwelling. Explore the separate pathway in the Whole of Home Knowledge Hub.
Volume-Builder Delivery
How Is an All-Electric Product Range Controlled?
Standard Specifications
Define the accepted cooking, hot-water, heating, cooling and renewable-energy systems forming the assessed baseline.
Customer Selections
Selection schedules should prevent gas options or inefficient alternatives from being introduced into an all-electric design pathway.
Approved Alternatives
Equivalent products should be checked against fuel type, energy performance, electrical requirements and assessment assumptions before approval.
Design Variations
Alternative plans, elevations and roof forms should not undermine the thermal, solar or electrical basis of the assessed product range.
Procurement Controls
Estimating, purchasing and site delivery systems should identify the equipment relied upon by the applicable assessment.
Construction Records
Installed systems should remain identifiable through schedules, invoices, certificates, photographs or other accepted records.
Certification Evidence
How Is the All-Electric Strategy Carried Through Certification?
During the design or product-range assessment, the builder’s strategy may be represented through standard specifications, energy assessments, drawings, electrical information, renewable-energy schedules and documented delivery procedures.
The submission should define the systems and options that form the assessed basis. This can include the cooking appliance, hot-water plant, space-conditioning equipment, solar system and other relevant household energy assumptions.
The individual completed home then requires evidence appropriate to the certification pathway. The records should support that the dwelling was delivered without the excluded gas services and with the electric and renewable-energy systems relied upon by the assessment.
Design intent alone is not completed-home evidence. Certification depends on the relationship between the assessed product range and the systems actually installed in the dwelling.
Document Control
Why Do Service Substitutions Need Review?
Household equipment is frequently changed because of availability, pricing, customer preference or procurement arrangements. A replacement may use the same fuel while having different efficiency, capacity, controls or installation requirements.
Confirm the fuel source. An alternative should not introduce gas or another onsite fossil-fuel service into the assessed home.
Check energy performance. The replacement should remain consistent with the Whole of Home or other energy assumptions relied upon by the project.
Review capacity and location. Hot-water and conditioning equipment must still suit the dwelling and the available installation area.
Update the evidence. Schedules, modelling and completed-home records should identify the accepted replacement where required.
Healthy Outcome Boundary
Does Removing Gas Automatically Create a Healthy Home?
Removing onsite gas combustion can support the indoor-environment strategy, particularly where gas cooking or unflued combustion would otherwise occur inside the dwelling.
It does not eliminate all indoor pollutants. Cooking still produces heat, moisture, particles and odours, so an induction kitchen continues to require appropriately designed extraction.
Bathrooms and laundries still require moisture management, while occupied rooms need an appropriate ventilation response. Product emissions and material-related requirements also remain separate parts of the Healthy outcome.
All-electric design can therefore contribute to a healthier home without becoming proof of the complete indoor-environment pathway.
Compliance and Rating Boundaries
How Do BASIX and NatHERS Relate to the Strategy?
NatHERS thermal assessment addresses the modelled heating and cooling demand of the dwelling. It helps establish the building-fabric performance that sits beneath the electric heating and cooling strategy.
Whole of Home considers the major household energy systems, appliances, solar and batteries and can demonstrate a separate residential energy-performance outcome.
BASIX is a NSW residential planning and compliance pathway. Its energy commitments may include the hot-water, heating, cooling, cooking and solar assumptions relevant to an all-electric project.
Green Star Homes coordinates the applicable technical information within a wider voluntary certification pathway for eligible volume home builders.
These pathways can use related project information, but their certificates, ratings and evidence should not be treated as interchangeable.
Common Misunderstandings
What Should All-Electric Design Not Be Confused With?
All-electric does not automatically mean efficient. Energy demand and equipment performance still need to be addressed.
All-electric does not automatically mean renewable-powered. The source and quantity of renewable energy require a separate strategy.
Induction cooking does not remove the need for extraction. Cooking-related pollutants and moisture still need to be managed.
A Whole of Home result is not Green Star Homes certification. It remains a defined residential energy assessment.
A nominated electric appliance is not proof of installation. Completed-home records must support what was delivered.
Electrification does not replace local compliance. BASIX, NCC, electrical and other jurisdictional requirements remain separate.
Frequently Asked Questions
All-Electric Green Star Homes FAQs
What is an all-electric home?
An all-electric home uses electricity rather than gas or another onsite fossil fuel for major services such as cooking, hot water, heating and cooling.
Why is all-electric design important in Green Star Homes?
It supports the Positive outcome by connecting fossil-fuel-free household services with energy efficiency and renewable power.
Does fully electric mean there can be no gas connection?
The applicable Green Star Homes Positive strategy is based on a home that does not use gas. The project documentation and completed-home evidence should remain consistent with the current framework requirements.
Does an all-electric home need rooftop solar?
Green Star Homes connects fully electric operation with renewable energy. The required generation response should be established from the applicable framework, energy assessment and project circumstances.
Is a battery required for every all-electric home?
A battery should not be assumed to be universally required. Its role depends on the applicable Green Star Homes requirements, Whole of Home assessment and project energy strategy.
Does induction cooking remove the need for kitchen ventilation?
No. Induction avoids onsite gas combustion, but cooking still produces heat, moisture, particles and odours. Effective extraction remains necessary.
How does Whole of Home support an all-electric strategy?
Whole of Home assesses the energy performance of major household systems together with solar and batteries where applicable. It can provide technical evidence for the electric services strategy without replacing Green Star Homes certification.
What happens when an electric appliance is substituted?
The replacement should be checked against fuel type, efficiency, capacity, electrical requirements and the assessment assumptions relied upon by the project.
How is an all-electric completed home verified?
The completed-home submission may use product schedules, certificates, invoices, photographs and other records to confirm the relevant systems and renewable-energy measures installed.
When should the all-electric strategy be developed?
It should be established while the thermal design, roof layout, electrical capacity, equipment locations, standard specifications and customer-selection processes can still be coordinated.
Related Guidance
Explore the Connected Residential Pathways
Last reviewed: June 2026. Green Star Homes is administered by the Green Building Council of Australia. NatHERS and Whole of Home are administered by the Australian Government on behalf of the states and territories. Current eligibility, modelling, compliance and certification requirements should be confirmed against the applicable official framework guidance.
Green Star Homes Project Review
Does the All-Electric Strategy Need Coordination?
Send the available product-range information, plans, energy assessments, household-system schedules, solar strategy and certification objectives for an initial review. Certified Energy can help clarify how the all-electric evidence fits within the wider Green Star Homes pathway.
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