Energy Ratings and Advice
Energy Ratings Perth. An Energy Rating is a legislative requirement for all new buildings. Your project has to pass energy efficiency standards in order to be given approval for construction. Energy Efficiency sections of the National Construction Code provide the criteria that need to be met. There are various ways to demonstrate compliance.
NatHERS
The NatHERS scheme provides a modeled star rating for your dwelling. This is our preferred method and will use it where practical. It uses software to model year round heating and cooling loads.
Deemed-to-Satisfy
“Elemental Provisions” is a Deemed-to-Satisfy solution. This method looks at every element in a building and has to pass the minimum requirement for each element. For example an R-rating for a wall or the insulation on the ceiling. All these elements have to pass the requirements. For certain types of construction, this is a fairly easy way to pass, for other’s it is more difficult. As an example, an external rammed earth wall will never pass an Elemental Provision requirement.
Protocol for Alterations and Additions
Additionally, there is a protocol for Alterations and Additions that need to be met, This protocol makes allowances for older parts of a building. At the time the original building was built, the requirements for energy efficiency were not as strict. This is taken into account when deriving a rating for the altered building Send us a copy of your plans and we will gladly provide you with a fee proposal on your current project.
Verification Method Using a Reference building
The VURB method targets a better heating and cooling load than that of a reference building that complies with the BCA requirements.
Assessing Existing Dwellings
We can provide a report for your existing dwelling recommending improvements in order to cut energy bills and provide a more comfortable dwelling year-round. Our reports focus on aspects of your house that can easily be improved, giving priority to changes that are either very easy to perform or changes that make an enormous difference to the comfort of your home.
What we will do
We pride ourselves on customer service and so we do not just churn out the energy rating report and send it off. We like to liaise with you to get you the desired outcome and explain in plain English what the issues are. By advising on the options available for improvement we seek to provide a best possible outcome. Often by the time the energy assessor gets involved the design has already been locked in. Contact us early so we can do some modelling around concepts so that great results are achieved while changes are still easily possible.
