NEWS / BLOG
Sed interdum massa lacus, a porttitor risus gravida sed. Nulla ultricies ex non sagittis vulputate. Integer fringilla convallis risus, id semper est interdum non.
LATEST ARTICLES
Quisque molestie tristique nisi et luctus. Proin eget velit quis lorem euismod pulvinar. Phasellus lobortis tellus dignissim metus varius volutpat. Integer a lacus mauris.
The constraints on selection of building materials.
At Energy Rating Perth, our main interest is improving the thermal performance of a home so it may not only gain a 6 star energy rating but continue to provide the residents with savings throughout the life of the building. At times, our clients are not the home owners but the builders or the building designers. They usually require us to give recommendations and specify building materials and assemblies that will help the home achieve better thermal performance. Our energy assessors at Energy Rating Perth feel that there several constraints when recommending and specifying building assemblies to such clients, as they cannot be done in isolation of the following factors: Site Context: Although we may be precarious of factors like cooling or warming climate when specifying materials, but building locations and their surroundings play a vital role. For instance, for coastal areas, materials that might erode or corrode with exposure to moisture and the sea salt spray will not be recommended even if a house within a 2 km radius of that is using the same materials. Climate: The thermal properties of materials
Common Sources of Energy Leakage
No matter how old or new your home may be, energy inefficiency can be a problem. You’re spending all this money to keep your home temperature at a comfortable level but what if you’re leaking all this energy out and it’s showing up on your electricity bills. If you want to make sure you’re not losing precious money, then examine these following areas as recommended by Energy Rating Perth: Ensuring that your windows are properly sealed can make a big difference. You could be running your air conditioning or heating all day and it’s just pouring out of the seals and cracks provided from your windows. If it’s leaking out, it also can mean it’s seeping in too! We run appliances in our homes 24/7, so to ensure we are using them to their full advantage make sure you update older models to new energy efficient models. Air can leak through the seals in your plumbing and outlets. Make sure they are adequately sealed to prevent this from happening. If you have an attic or basement in your home this can be one of
Air Infiltration and How to Detect it!
At Energy Rating Perth, we have often found our client’s with a misconception that double glazing and insulation means that they have the best possible building envelope. Our energy assessors when conducting a 6 Star Energy Rating for their home often advise to ensure they check for hidden factors like air infiltration inside their homes. Infiltration is the unwanted entry of air into the building envelope due to leakages/improper sealing of the envelope at openings such as window/door frames, recessed down-lights, vents, weep holes or the porosity of the building materials being used. Due to these leakages in winter conditioned warm internal air escapes from the building and cold, external air seeps in. While in summer the cooler internal air is replaced with the hot air from outside as these gaps in the building envelope allow heat exchange. For efficient thermal performance of a building, these leakages must be avoided by ensuring the building is sealed correctly. When a building is being constructed, the seals and caulks used in all of these air gaps must be of optimum quality and installed properly by a
Can additions/alterations to your existing home adversely affect the energy efficiency of your building?
The energy efficiency requirements of the NCC are becoming more stringent each passing year. During the 90’s most houses would average a 1-star energy rating and as of May 2012, it became mandatory for all proposed developments to comply with a minimum 6-Star housing energy rating. Most of our clients at Energy Rating Perth who are extending or altering their buildings are worried they would have to make changes to their existing homes as well. The energy assessors at Energy Rating Perth would like to pacify our readers that this is not the case, there are two energy ratings taken i.e. one for the existing and one for the existing plus proposed and the overall energy rating is a ratio of the two achieving an overall 6-Star energy rating home. In theory, most building designers might include energy efficiency through an appropriately designed thermal performance on their buildings. However, in practice, when these designs are received by the energy assessors at Energy Rating Perth, we can see the potential design issues as well as problems that may arise during construction which would eventually lead
Nullam neque sapien pharetra
Fusce nec erat sed nisl lobortis eleifend. In eu fringilla leo. Curabitur dignissim efficitur lorem nec fermentum. Etiam laoreet est facilisis consequat aliquam. Nullam sollicitudin pulvinar arcu, porttitor dictum orci luctus sagittis. Fusce vestibulum nibh augue, ut luctus urna feugiat eu. Mauris aliquet dictum sem, vel pellentesque nisi cursus eget. "Quisque eleifend ac magna eu sodales. Sed ullamcorper bibendum lectus sed scelerisque. Quisque non consequat orci. Vivamus eu ex id erat luctus congue ac et libero" Morbi nec orci diam. Nullam pretium turpis et elit dapibus, nec rutrum odio tristique. Donec consectetur cursus nunc eget mattis. Nam at finibus erat. Mauris convallis venenatis tristique. Aenean sit amet nibh mollis risus tincidunt commodo. In pulvinar velit justo, quis dapibus tortor dignissim eu. Aenean tincidunt suscipit pellentesque. Donec vehicula dui quis sapien Ut vitae lobortis magna, id viverra orci. In eget scelerisque nibh, nec suscipit lacus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Aliquam pulvinar ipsum augue, tempor luctus felis malesuada venenatis. Vestibulum sit amet imperdiet risus. Etiam eget vehicula metus, ac vehicula
Aliquam congue semper metus
Aliquam commodo nulla ligula. Curabitur ut nunc id nisl scelerisque egestas. Nulla vulputate mauris eget nisl rhoncus viverra vel eu mi. Integer iaculis tortor eget lectus laoreet congue. Pellentesque eget convallis leo. Proin porttitor tincidunt eros. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. "Quisque eleifend ac magna eu sodales. Sed ullamcorper bibendum lectus sed scelerisque. Quisque non consequat orci. Vivamus eu ex id erat luctus congue ac et libero" Morbi nec orci diam. Nullam pretium turpis et elit dapibus, nec rutrum odio tristique. Donec consectetur cursus nunc eget mattis. Nam at finibus erat. Mauris convallis venenatis tristique. Aenean sit amet nibh mollis risus tincidunt commodo. In pulvinar velit justo, quis dapibus tortor dignissim eu. Aenean tincidunt suscipit pellentesque. Donec vehicula dui quis sapien Ut vitae lobortis magna, id viverra orci. In eget scelerisque nibh, nec suscipit lacus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Aliquam pulvinar ipsum augue, tempor luctus felis malesuada venenatis. Vestibulum sit amet imperdiet risus. Etiam eget vehicula metus, ac vehicula libero.
QUALITY GUARANTEE
Sed venenatis urna sit amet vulputate lobortis. Nullam dolor sem, varius eu luctus vitae, mattis id dolor. Proin ultricies feugiat ipsum. Quisque lobortis risus sapien, quis pulvinar turpis placerat ut. Vivamus eu egestas est, commodo ultricies turpis. Donec a consequat nisi, non pellentesque risus. Fusce lacinia sem a mollis tempus. Etiam in sapien non odio ornare iaculis vel vel enim. Sed velit urna, pharetra non quam nec, consequat hendrerit ex. Phasellus ac rutrum diam.
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