Solar panels will become an even more common inclusion on new Australian homes from next year as a result of the re-jiggered National Construction Code (NCC).
The Code sets the minimum required level of performance for the safety, health, amenity, accessibility and sustainability of certain buildings. When NCC 2022 fully kicks in, new residential dwellings will need to achieve the equivalent of 7-stars Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) thermal performance.
Across much of Australia, 6-star equivalence is the current minimum requirement – and it’s been that way for more than a decade. 6-stars indicates good, but not outstanding, performance. And “good” is in the eye of the beholder, with some still describing Australian homes built to this requirement as glorified tents. The 7-star requirement will be a step up.
Developed over 3 years by the Australian Building Codes Board, ABCB worked with State/Territory building ministers and other stakeholders to get the new 7-star requirement over the line – for the most part.
“These reforms will deliver cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades that will improve the comfort and health of occupants throughout the year,” said Glenys Beauchamp, Chair of the ABCB. “With lower energy use, we’ll also see lower new household energy bills and lower emissions.”
Solar Panels And Whole Of Home Rating
As well as the minimum 7-star requirement for new houses and apartments, a new annual energy use budget will apply contributing to a new Whole of Home rating.
This will take into account energy used for heating and cooling, and major appliances used in the home; minus energy generated by a solar power system. This could be considered both a good and not-so-good thing – with solar panels covering up for other energy efficiency issues perhaps easily and cheaply avoided.
Timeline For Implementation
- A preview of the new requirements will be published on 1 September 2022 and available for download from the National Construction Code web site.
- The full NCC 2022 will be published on 1 October 2022.
- States and Territories will bring the majority of NCC 2022 into full effect from 1 May 2023.
- Energy efficiency requirement to commence on 1 October 2023.
From what I can tell at this point, most states/territories appear to be on-board with the timeline. However, Tasmania is baulking at the final implementation date.
“We will be deferring consideration of the compulsory 7-star energy efficiency rating until the next iteration of the NCC in 2025, which will give us the time we need to ensure any changes do not negatively impact our State and the supply of new homes,” said Elise Archer, Tasmanian Minister for Workplace Safety and Consumer Affairs.
… and not everyone is happy with the changes, given the extra costs involved.
NatHERS Not Perfect
The NatHERS system also certainly isn’t infallible to stupid and easily avoided design mistakes.
I had a house built in 2017 (so, under 6-star requirements), with a large window in a room where it really shouldn’t have been. It’s been a real “doh” feature of the house during summer mornings that both the builder and I should have realised at design stage. I’ve been regretting it ever since. It was other features of the house such as low-E glass and beefed up insulation that saw it achieve a 6-star NatHERS rating.
Hopefully there will be less of this sort of thing possible under NCC 2022.
Next NCC To Have Special EV Focus
The ABCB already has its sights set on the next iteration of the NCC, which includes provisions to make installing Distributed Energy Resources (DER) such as solar panel systems, battery storage and bi-directional charging for electric vehicles easier.
“We’ll have a special focus on ensuring our buildings are ready to make EV charging safe and easy,” said ABCB CEO Gary Rake. “We know the demand for electric vehicles is going to continue to increase, especially as households and businesses prioritise use of electricity and renewables.”
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A great start, but the standards need to be improved further.
Heavy insulation was requested when building a house here. The builder’s eventual response? Oh sorry you can’t have that because the standard battens are too narrow to fit it in. Instead you’ll have to make do with R1.5 or so. It was too late to make changes by that time.
And ceiling fans are factored in to reduce what’s required to meet star standards, except there’s no ceiling fans in the entire house! (Pretty sure there were significant differences between the plans approved, and the actual house plans).
Glass options are important too. Should it be Low E, tinted, double\triple glazed, something else, or some combination thereof? Uh dunno. Neither builders nor glass people seem to be able to provide any advice.
Australia needs to adopt standards more akin to those seen in the UK on programs like Grand Designs – yes this means construction will cost more.
The minimum acceptable standards should be based on zero energy considerations i.e. no fans, no AC, no solar, just passive heating\cooling and shading. If you have solar, or wind, or home nuclear, great – you’re self sufficient and merit bonus stars.
You’re the second person to mention “Grand Designs” to me lately. Is it better than “Air Crash Investigation”?
Not familiar with Air Crash Investigation so can’t comment on the comparison. Also depends on your taste. I’d say it’s well worth looking at if you haven’t already done so. And while I don’t recall solar being a major element in most designs, many do design around energy considerations so some episodes could be considered professional edutainment. 😉
Here’s the Wikipedia overview page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Designs
In addition to the main UK series (up to Season 22 and Season 23 likely starting next month), there’s also Australia and NZ based series.
It looks like the series might be primarily via Foxtel\The LifeStyle Channel. If you have an ABC account you might also be able to watch it via https://iview.abc.net.au/show/grand-designs. Alternatively you could try hunting around on YouTube, your favourite torrenting site, streaming service, or your local public library – it is, or was, available on DVD e.g. https://onecard.network/client/en_AU/adelaide/search/results?qu=grand+designs&qf=FORMAT%09Format%09VIDEODISC%09DVD&lm=ADELAIDE.
Thank you.
George Kaplan.
“Glass options are important too.”
Yep. It can be a major weakness in the thermal efficiency of the building, with up to 40% of a home’s energy for cooling or heating being lost or gained through windows.
“Should it be Low E, tinted, double\triple glazed, something else, or some combination thereof?”
It depends on the building location & orientation, sizes & locations of apertures, window frame material (aluminium, timber, plastic, aluminium/timber hybrid, thermally-broken aluminium) & type (fixed, horizontal sliding, double-sash, awning, bifold, etc.), & glazing (glass thickness, standard/laminated/tempered glass, single/double/triple glazing, coatings/tintings), cyclonic or bushfire rating, and (for most people) how big a budget you can afford.
“Neither builders nor glass people seem to be able to provide any advice.”
I’d suggest you haven’t looked far enough.
I’d suggest starting with becoming familiar with the Windows Energy Rating Scheme (WERS).
https://awa.associationonline.com.au/werscontent/energy-efficient-windows
Look for window (and door) suppliers that offer more energy efficient options with suitable WERS ratings. Check with a building thermal efficiency expert to optimize the selections. Then find a builder in your area who is familiar with installing the selected window (& door) products.
Geoff,
most builders only give you a very limited selection of house choices and there are no building thermal efficiency experts involved. Actually a quick Duck suggests there are no thermal efficiency experts in the state. (It’s not a sufficiently important point to research and conform this).
If you design your own place you have more choice over the end product but it’s still not the same as having expert advice ala the model typically seen on Grand Designs – to be fair those folk often spend far more than the average Australian, and seem to access experts far more readily.
Of course there’s always the issue of knowing when to break the rules e.g. when to have a glass west wall. 🙂
Thanks for the link by the way – may have been useful back when planning everything.