Perceived and prescribed environmental performance of award winning houses

Abstract

This paper investigates the thermal performance of three RAIA award-winning houses. It compares the occupants’ assessment of the thermal environment with thermal comfort defined in ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-1992. Actual household energy used in compared with AGO figures for standard houses in that location and the house compliance with the recently introduced energy efficiency provisions of the Building Code of Australia is also assessed. The study found that all three houses do not conform to the above Standard and Code. It was predicted that unacceptable amounts of heating and cooling energy would be required to achieve thermal comfort. Despite this, the actual energy consumption of these houses was lower than standard houses in the same regions. The occupants were largely satisfied with the houses’ thermal performance and indicated they had no plans to modify the building or install air-conditioning or other systems to achieve the prescribed thermal comfort. This paper poses some ethical questions to be discussed, and proposes a number of suggestions.