6 Star Ratings or meeting the 2012 Elemental provisions of the Building Code are now a requirement to get a building license.
At 6 Star Solutions we recommend the 6 Star Rating route as it allows for more flexibility in achieving compliance. For more information Contact Us.
As an example The Elemental provisions now require R2.8 wall insulation. As most new homes in Perth are of cavity brick construction achieving this can be quite difficult. The flexibility of the Star Rating system can allow the use of a lower value wall insulation and still get compliance by offsetting against other items if needed?
Passive Solar Design is the optimal strategy for gaining compliance with the 6 Star Ratings requirement. A home designed with Passive Solar principles should cost no more to get 6 Stars than the previous requirement for 5 Stars.
Unfortunately there can be many reasons as to why it is not always possible to use passive solar design principles.
Most commonly the block will be orientated the wrong way, or R codes do not allow you use an optimal design.In these case it is best to incorporate as many Passive Design features as you can, and then use Energy Efficient construction, & perhaps Low E or tinted glazing, to make up the extra Stars.
There are other factors also included in the NCC 2016 such as adding extra insulation to compensate for loss of ceiling insulation, due to such things as down light penetrations.There are also Lighting Power Density requirements. These are on top of the 6 Star rating requirement so we also calculate these items so that you do not have to worry about them. If any changes or adjustments are needed we will advise you.