A Group of mudbrick house owners has offered to vacate their homes for a week to allow scientists to test the bricks energy efficiency.
 

Nillumbik councillor Michael Young, who is also the president of the Nillumbik Mudbrick Association, said that a dozen owners had volunteered their houses for the testing, which is scheduled to begin in June.
 

But he said that only one of the houses offered would be selected for the tests.
 

The science people will then get in there and test for a week in winter conditions," Cr Young said.
 

He said the program was a major step forward for the future of the shire mudbrick industry that had been fighting to prove the State government energy efficiency computer tests were flawed.
 

From July, all new houses will have to achieve a five-star energy rating. but under the Government's present testing regime mud bricks have scored poorly, despite their occupant's experience to the contrary. Cr Young said that unless the testing program was altered to rate mud bricks more fairly, mudbrick businesses could fold and, with them, workers' jobs. In November Last year, the Government finally agreed to pay for a research project into the energy performance of mudbricks. Cr Young, who designs and builds mud brick houses, is convinced the scientists will support the association's arguments.