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LATEST ARTICLES
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What is an Energy Assessor?
With terms like energy efficiency, sustainable living, green homes etc. becoming frequent words in our vocabulary, most of our readers rarely understand how easy it is for their buildings to achieve these. The face behind these words is that of an energy assessor. An energy assessor is a professional who assesses residences and commercial buildings against a criteria of energy efficiency requirements from the BCA requirements, ensures that it is compliant and provides recommendation if it is not. There are many different kinds of energy assessors and the kind of energy assessor you will be dealing with is dependent on the type of development you are proposing and in turn the king of energy assessment that is being conducted. For instance, if you are proposing a new home, you will have to comply with the requirements of a 6 Star Energy Rating Assessment or 5 Star in case of a commercial development. For such an assessment, you will have to employ either a NatHERS qualified energy assessor or one that is well versed with the NatHERS scheme. However, for a smaller development, the development
The balance of orientation, siting and shading before you build means lifelong savings!
The 6-star energy rating assessment is usually the last step in the building process when the building designs have been finalised. As energy assessors at Energy Rating Perth, we urge our clients to think about energy efficiency as an investment for future savings and incorporate it into their building long before the layout has been devised. The very first step in building design should be aiming to create a building that strikes a perfect balance between orientation, siting and shading for achieving an efficient passive solar design as well as good thermal performance of a building. The driving factor of this balance is always the climate and the impacts of it on the building i.e. does the building require a year cooling, a warming effect through passive solar design or both. The orientation however will aim to be the same in all climates, i.e. a north facing building. Being north facing means that the longer sides of the building are oriented north and south while the shorter are oriented east and west. Most glazing will be on the North-South axis while it will
What do the energy rating labels mean?
Majority of household electrical appliances on the market today have an energy rating label to help compare what’s best. High star rated appliances can help you save on your electricity bill and are also better for the environment. Manufacturers also use this as an incentive to improve their energy performance and provide better energy efficient products in return. A Gas Rating Label is found on gas water heaters, gas space heaters and ducted heating. Although lower star rated appliances may cost less, long term they aren’t as efficient and therefore the overall cost of purchase and operation over time will in fact cost dramatically more. So opting for a little more on the price tag for a higher star will in fact benefit you long term. There are 2 types of labels, 6 star and 10 star; the 10 star label is for appliances rated as 7 stars or higher. The labels are mandatory on all televisions, air conditioners, computer monitors, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, washing machines and clothes dryers. Swimming pool pumps offer a recommended but voluntary energy rating label. Basically, the more stars
Water rating for appliances!
Long term, using water efficient equipment and appliances can save you dramatically. Washing machines, dishwashers, toilets and showers use the most water within the standard home. Industry professionals state that by using water-efficient methods, Australians could save more than $1 billion on water and energy bills by 2021. About 25% of this saving will be the result of replacing shower heads with water-efficient models, washing machines about 50% and another 20% from water-efficient toilets. The annual savings on household water bills related to a simple change to a water-efficient shower head can be around $135-$200. You can also save further when you take in to account the reduction of hot water therefore savings on your energy bills also! Other methods to increase water-efficiency are simple: Installing low flow taps can reduce your tap water use from around 18 litres to 2 litres per minute. Replacing an older model washing machine to a water-efficient model can save 65% on water. Replacing a shower head to a water-efficient model can save 19 litres of water per minute. You can save up to 40,000 litres by installing
Thermal Mass and its Interaction with Glazing to Impact Thermal Comfort
A lot of our clients at Energy Rating Perth prefer a large amount of glazing and usually do not understand the implications of having a large glazing area out of the wall area. Since glass has virtually no thermal resistance, glazing or windows are essentially holes in the building envelope that allow heat gain and losses to occur easily and rapidly. Our energy assessors always aim to find a middle ground between the client’s preference and the optimum thermal performance in the building. We urge building designers to balance this glazing area along with ensuring the optimum orientation in order to benefit from solar radiation. In certain climates and times of the day, the building needs to allow solar radiation to enter into the homes and heat the interior space. However, by night time, in the absence of solar radiation, there needs to be a way to store that heat. This can be achieved by having building materials of high thermal mass capable of storing the heat for a long period of time and re-radiating it back into the environment once the
Top Tips to Save Energy
As energy assessors, we are able to understand the implications of building design and construction practices in determining the energy rating of a home and how efficient it may be in conserving energy. However, the general public may find it hard to grasp the complexities and may be confused by the conflicting reviews they might read about saving energy. At Energy Rating Perth, we take the complexity out and compiled a simple list of top tips that help the average home owner in saving on energy for your home. They are as follows: The most heat exchange occurs through our roof and eventually our ceilings. Your biggest saviour against harsh exterior temperatures can be your ceiling insulation. Get it insulated today and it will make a big difference to reduce your heating/cooling loads. Using energy efficient globes can save up to 75% of your lighting costs. Lighting makes up about 10% of your home energy bills and the use of LED lighting can dramatically reduce the annual cost of lighting your home. Ensure rooms can be separated by doors and windows. Keep openings shut
QUALITY GUARANTEE
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At Energy Rating Perth, we aim to provide clients with every probable solution to help improve the thermal performance of their homes. A large number of clients at Energy Rating Perth might not recognise the importance of landscaping and the ability of your home to achieve thermal comfort. Trees can provide shading on the walls and windows, which can greatly improve the interior thermal comfort. However, just like the concept of eaves, we may not require shading on all sides all around the year. For this reason, deciduous trees can be planted towards the northern side so in the winters, they can allow full sunlight penetration while evergreen trees are preferable for the eastern and western facades. This can help in keeping your home cool in the hot summers by providing shade and avoid unnecessary solar heat gain. In colder climates, trees can also limit the harsh cold air from penetrating into the building by acting as a barrier. In hot/humid or even moderate climates, this may be a limiting factor therefore, when choosing trees, they should be ones that allow air movement through the foliage.
Other than trees, there are smaller shrubs that are strategically placed can also cool the breeze before it enters into the building through evapotranspiration. Other landscape features water bodies also help in creating a cooling effect due to evaporation. The process can be speeded up by using a water spray in a fountain particularly into a summer breeze path. This is not recommended for climates with high humidity throughout the air as it may actually increase the humidity thus affecting the overall thermal comfort of the home.
Our energy assessors take into account a range of information when they are completing a 6 star energy rating assessment and may at times give recommendations that seem trivial but can add greatly to the energy efficiency of your home. Strategic selection as well as plantation of vegetation should be considered as a solution and site featured trees should be preserved rather than removed.
Call our team at Energy Rating Perth for more information today!
OFFICE LINE
1.800.555.6789
EMERGENCY
1.800.555.0000
WORKING HOURS
9:00am – 6:00pm
OFFICE LINE
1.800.555.6789
EMERGENCY
1.800.555.0000
WORKING HOURS