How Energy Efficient Is Your House?

Sustainable buildings also known as green buildings refer to structures where the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource efficient throughout the building's life-cycle, are prominent - right from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and demolition.

The green building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability and comfort. Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy consumption, both the embodied energy required to extract, process, transport and install building materials and operating energy to provide services such as heating and power for equipment.

As high-performance buildings use less operating power, embodied energy has assumed much greater importance and may make up as much as 30% of the overall life cycle energy consumption. To reduce operating energy usage, designers utilize details that reduce air leakage through the building envelope. They also specify high-performance windows and extra insulation in walls, ceilings, and floors.

Another strategy, which is passive solar building design, is often implemented in low-energy homes. On-site generation of renewable energy through solar power, wind power, hydro power, or biomass can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building. Power generation is generally the most expensive feature to add to a building.

Assessment is necessary

Assessing your building is important to figure out the constraints of your house. Energy usage is likely to increase due to faulty construction of the house. This is the reason why you should consider assessing the building to determine the sustainability. Depending on the location and the climatic conditions, the professionals can provide you with ideas and materials to increase the energy efficiency of your building.

from professionals can help you comply with energy-efficiency guidelines. Some services provided by the professionals are as follows :

• NatHERS assessment - The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme(NatHERS) provides homes with a star rating out of ten based on an estimate of a home's potential energy use. By providing a measurement for energy efficiency, NatHERS helps to make Australian homes more comfortable for their inhabitants and help residents to save on energy bills through smarter design choices.

• 6-star energy compliance - Complying with minimum 6-star energy performance is a requirement under The National Construction Code in some states of Australia. By taking assistance from energy assessor, you can stick to the guidelines.

  

Thus, if you are from Australia and have any energy efficiency related queries, you can get assistance from reputed professionals in the field of energy compliance.