Does the Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme ensure heat resistance?
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2016
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Hatvani Kovacs, G.
Belusko, M.
Pockett, J.
Boland, J.
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Heatwaves are Australia’s most deadly natural hazard and the principle driver of peak electricity demand, resulting from the dramatic increase in air-conditioning use. Increased peak demand has been causing occasional blackouts and a substantial increase in electricity prices to the community over the last decade. The escalating prices constrict the ability of energy poor population to adequately cool their homes during heatwaves. Meanwhile, the desire for more energy efficient homes will decrease overall electricity consumption but may not reduce peak demand. As a result, the heat stress resistance of buildings may not be enhanced by the current regulation. This paper investigates whether the current Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme encourages heat stress resistance. Cooling energy consumption, peak demand and the risk of indoor overheating were assessed for a typical single-storey home in Adelaide, South Australia, and Sydney, New South Wales. Design scenarios between 6 and 8 stars, plus a traditional, uninsulated double brick and an uninsulated brick veneer building structures were simulated with the AccuRate building thermal simulation program. The results showed that a higher star rating does not necessarily coincide with a decrease in either cooling energy consumption, demand or overheating. The traditional uninsulated, double brick scenario required significantly more heating, however was able to outperform many high star rated homes during summer. Consequently, the integration of heat stress resistance in the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme would be a valued addition to the existing regulations to avoid building new homes with potentially lower coping capacity and increased dependence on air-conditioning. To address the problem, a new overheating analysis is proposed that can be implemented in the AccuRate.
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Copyright 2016 Australian Building Codes Board and the authors