Need a Thermal Performance Assessor?

Thermal Performance Assessor FAQ's

• How can a Thermal Performance Assessor help you?

  A Thermal Performance Assessor can help you to reduce your environmental footprint by providing solutions for efficient and sustainable building design which ensures your home maintains a comfortable temperature throughout the entire year. Our Thermal Performance Assessors will help you save money with reduced energy use, and you will find ease when attempting to meet NCC energy efficiency requirements.

  Wondering which service is best suited for your project? Ask us the question, we will be happy to assist.

• Why do you need a Thermal Performance Assessor?

  A Thermal Performance Assessor is a crucial component of your next project. Not only will they assist you by providing design solutions for your home to maintain thermal comfort throughout the entire year whilst reducing your energy consumption, but they can also:

  • Assist you in gaining green building certification.

  • Assist you in meeting government rules and regulations.

  • Help you deliver a passive building which is comfortable all year-round.

  • Provide building design and energy solutions which will reduce your energy costs in both the short and long-term.

  Click here to get in touch and let us help you in your design project.

   

• What is a Thermal Performance Assessment?

  A Thermal Performance Assessment examines your home's ability to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the entire year, whilst minimising energy consumption. By completing a Thermal Performance Assessment, not only will you save money with reduced energy use, but you will find ease when attempting to meet NCC energy efficiency requirements.

• What are ways to avoid double glazing?

  One of our most frequent requests from our clients is to reduce or remove the requirements of double glazing on their projects. Double Glazing can cost up to twice the amount of single glazing and on some projects it can tip the feasibility scales. Every year it seems the ever improving Energy Efficiency - Section J of the National Construction Code and the National Thermal Comfort (NatHERS) regulations are making it increasingly difficult to avoid specifying double glazing. However, at Certified Energy we have 5 tried and true tips that will go a long way to avoid specifying double glazing on your next project.

   

  1. Keep your Glass to Floor ratios down

  Perhaps the only, yet most important variable that we as Thermal Comfort Assessors don't have direct control over on this list is the Glass to Floor Ratio on a project. A Glass to Floor (GtF) ratio is the total glazed area added together on a project divided by the total floor area of a project to give an overall percentage. Coming from an Architectural background I can understand that this dynamic glass to floor relationship on a project can be at the heart of the overall aesthetic appeal, but if it is not taken into account at the early design phases of a project an overly high Glass to Floor Ratio can have devastating effects to the heat loss of your project, as heat loss is generally twice high in glazed sections of your project compared to insulated walls.

  From our experience and as a general rule of thumb, here are our recommended glazing types that are required based on a projects overall % of glass to floor area (applying to the majority of climate zones).

  • 0 - 25%     Requires Single Glazed Clear Glass
  • 25 - 35%   Requires Single Low -e Glazed Clear Glass
  • 35 - 45%   Requires Double Glazed Clear Glass.
  • >45%        Requires Double Glazed with Low -e Clear Glass which generally requires improved aluminium Argon gas filled frames.

  To further illustrate this point, a typical project home will have approximately 18-20% of glass to floor ratio, this can be compared to an Architecturally designed 2 story 'glass box' type house which we previously assessed that had an unusually high glass to floor ratio of over 55%.

   

  2. Use higher performing wall insulation

  Standard bulk wall insulation with reflective foil to fit within a 90mm frame for typical Brick Veneer construction has a highest R value of R2.5. It is possible however to use rigid foam insulation which comes in thickness of up to 40mm which can then provide a total Rt of up to R5.6 for Brick Veneer construction. Providing two layers of this rigid insulation product in the 90mm brick veneer frame effectively doubles the insulation in the external walls. This method is often much more cost effective than having to specify double glazing on a project.

   

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• What is a 6 Star Rating?

  The National Construction Code (NCC formally known as the BCA) requires all new residential dwellings in Australia (Except NSW)* to achieve a minimum of a 6 Star Rating using the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS), approved software.

  This NatHERS software estimates the internal temperature in each room of a dwelling for each hour of the year based on assumptions about occupant behaviour, information about the structure and specification of the dwelling and standard weather data for the dwelling's location.

  The internal temperature is compared against a comfortable temperature range and occupancy pattern to estimate the annual heating and cooling loads per square metre of floor area to keep the temperature within the comfort range. The loads are adjusted and converted into a star rating between 0 and 10. A 10 star home is unlikely to need any artificial cooling or heating to maintain comfortable internal conditions, whereas a 0 star home would offer virtually no protection from the external temperature.

   

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