The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, commonly known as NatHERS, which is applied through so... more The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, commonly known as NatHERS, which is applied through software tools such as AccuRate Sustainability, has become the predominant pathway for complying with energy efficiency requirements within the National Construction Code of Australia. Current energy efficiency regulations have remained unchanged for a decade and there is an intention to increase these requirements, through mandating a higher minimum star rating for buildings. Furthermore, existing energy efficiency regulations only cover the building envelope, through the energy needed for space heating and cooling, and not the energy efficiency of major appliances. In addition, current regulations do not incorporate sufficient quality assurance processes, in relation to compliance. Finally, the current regime is inconsistent with international best practice. This project aimed to review, analyse and recommend changes, in light of these issues.Examination of measured energy for heating an...
Multiple market failures have historically delivered housing that is environmentally and economic... more Multiple market failures have historically delivered housing that is environmentally and economically sub-optimal. Minimum energy standards are a popular policy tool for lowering energy use and anthropogenic carbon emissions in the built environment, but evidence shows they fail to drive performance beyond that minimum. Mandating the disclosure of energy performance on sale or lease of property has been introduced in some jurisdictions to transform the building stock and encourage energy and carbon saving improvements. These policy instruments address different market failures and have the potential to act as complementary regulation, but to date there has been little evidence that the combination may deliver greater benefits than each individual policy measure. The analysis of 342,674 housing energy assessments in Australia from May 2016–June 2021 highlights the impact of complementary vs. single policy instruments. We find that the building regulatory process alone delivers certai...
Authors Disclaimer The Client makes use of this Report or any information provided by the Coopera... more Authors Disclaimer The Client makes use of this Report or any information provided by the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation in relation to the Consultancy Services at its own risk. Construction Innovation will not be responsible for the results of any actions taken by the Client or third parties on the basis of the information in this Report or other information provided by Construction Innovation nor for any errors or omissions that may be contained in this Report. Construction Innovation expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility to any person in respect of any thing done or omitted to be done by any person in reliance on this
The ability to assess a commercial building for its impact on the environment at the earliest sta... more The ability to assess a commercial building for its impact on the environment at the earliest stage of design is a goal which is achievable by integrating several approaches into a single procedure directly from the 3D CAD representation. Such an approach enables building design professionals to make informed decisions on the environmental impact of building and its alternatives during the design development stage instead of at the post-design stage where options become limited. The indicators of interest are those which relate to consumption of resources and energy, contributions to pollution of air, water and soil, and impacts on the health and well- being of people in the built environment as a result of constructing and operating buildings. 3D object-oriented CAD files contain a wealth of building information which can be interrogated for details required for analysis of the performance of a design. The quantities of all components in the building can be automatically obtained f...
Water authorities around the world are faced with the problem of ageing distribution networks and... more Water authorities around the world are faced with the problem of ageing distribution networks and often only limited historical data on which to base a sound long term, cost efficient replacement policy. The LICAN approach to whole of life costing is introduced and a hypothetical case study is used to demonstrate the importance of such an approach. A selection of pipe networks utilizing different pipe materials (PVC, DI and PE) are modeled to determine their whole of life cost, taking into account installation, maintenance and repair costs.
Australia has had minimum energy efficiency regulations for new residential buildings for over a ... more Australia has had minimum energy efficiency regulations for new residential buildings for over a decade. Assessment is undertaken using thermal modelling software that determines the thermal efficiency of the building envelope and awards a star rating out of ten. Despite being in place for many years it is only recently that data has been captured and analysed. This has allowed the ability to assess the effectiveness of the regulations and determine strengths and weaknesses in the assessment process. This paper discusses the initial insights that have been achieved through analysis of the data. Almost 200,000 assessments are in the HStar database, providing insight into how well dwellings are achieving the requirements based on location, dwelling type and dwelling size. Data on construction systems utilised allows analysis of approaches that designers and architects have used to achieve the requirements. This includes building material choices for walls, floors and roofs and insulat...
... has been shown, voluntary schemes have little overall impact and for sustainability measures ... more ... has been shown, voluntary schemes have little overall impact and for sustainability measures to ... For example, the 5 star energy rating requirement for Victorian homes was considered too ... as such LICHEE employs Industry Foundation Classes or IFC's as its input file standard. ...
The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, commonly known as NatHERS, which is applied through so... more The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, commonly known as NatHERS, which is applied through software tools such as AccuRate Sustainability, has become the predominant pathway for complying with energy efficiency requirements within the National Construction Code of Australia. Current energy efficiency regulations have remained unchanged for a decade and there is an intention to increase these requirements, through mandating a higher minimum star rating for buildings. Furthermore, existing energy efficiency regulations only cover the building envelope, through the energy needed for space heating and cooling, and not the energy efficiency of major appliances. In addition, current regulations do not incorporate sufficient quality assurance processes, in relation to compliance. Finally, the current regime is inconsistent with international best practice. This project aimed to review, analyse and recommend changes, in light of these issues.Examination of measured energy for heating an...
Multiple market failures have historically delivered housing that is environmentally and economic... more Multiple market failures have historically delivered housing that is environmentally and economically sub-optimal. Minimum energy standards are a popular policy tool for lowering energy use and anthropogenic carbon emissions in the built environment, but evidence shows they fail to drive performance beyond that minimum. Mandating the disclosure of energy performance on sale or lease of property has been introduced in some jurisdictions to transform the building stock and encourage energy and carbon saving improvements. These policy instruments address different market failures and have the potential to act as complementary regulation, but to date there has been little evidence that the combination may deliver greater benefits than each individual policy measure. The analysis of 342,674 housing energy assessments in Australia from May 2016–June 2021 highlights the impact of complementary vs. single policy instruments. We find that the building regulatory process alone delivers certai...
Authors Disclaimer The Client makes use of this Report or any information provided by the Coopera... more Authors Disclaimer The Client makes use of this Report or any information provided by the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation in relation to the Consultancy Services at its own risk. Construction Innovation will not be responsible for the results of any actions taken by the Client or third parties on the basis of the information in this Report or other information provided by Construction Innovation nor for any errors or omissions that may be contained in this Report. Construction Innovation expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility to any person in respect of any thing done or omitted to be done by any person in reliance on this
The ability to assess a commercial building for its impact on the environment at the earliest sta... more The ability to assess a commercial building for its impact on the environment at the earliest stage of design is a goal which is achievable by integrating several approaches into a single procedure directly from the 3D CAD representation. Such an approach enables building design professionals to make informed decisions on the environmental impact of building and its alternatives during the design development stage instead of at the post-design stage where options become limited. The indicators of interest are those which relate to consumption of resources and energy, contributions to pollution of air, water and soil, and impacts on the health and well- being of people in the built environment as a result of constructing and operating buildings. 3D object-oriented CAD files contain a wealth of building information which can be interrogated for details required for analysis of the performance of a design. The quantities of all components in the building can be automatically obtained f...
Water authorities around the world are faced with the problem of ageing distribution networks and... more Water authorities around the world are faced with the problem of ageing distribution networks and often only limited historical data on which to base a sound long term, cost efficient replacement policy. The LICAN approach to whole of life costing is introduced and a hypothetical case study is used to demonstrate the importance of such an approach. A selection of pipe networks utilizing different pipe materials (PVC, DI and PE) are modeled to determine their whole of life cost, taking into account installation, maintenance and repair costs.
Australia has had minimum energy efficiency regulations for new residential buildings for over a ... more Australia has had minimum energy efficiency regulations for new residential buildings for over a decade. Assessment is undertaken using thermal modelling software that determines the thermal efficiency of the building envelope and awards a star rating out of ten. Despite being in place for many years it is only recently that data has been captured and analysed. This has allowed the ability to assess the effectiveness of the regulations and determine strengths and weaknesses in the assessment process. This paper discusses the initial insights that have been achieved through analysis of the data. Almost 200,000 assessments are in the HStar database, providing insight into how well dwellings are achieving the requirements based on location, dwelling type and dwelling size. Data on construction systems utilised allows analysis of approaches that designers and architects have used to achieve the requirements. This includes building material choices for walls, floors and roofs and insulat...
... has been shown, voluntary schemes have little overall impact and for sustainability measures ... more ... has been shown, voluntary schemes have little overall impact and for sustainability measures to ... For example, the 5 star energy rating requirement for Victorian homes was considered too ... as such LICHEE employs Industry Foundation Classes or IFC's as its input file standard. ...
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