An early part of our project has been a legislative review of different systems around Australia and a national and international search on audit protocols for energy compliance.
It is clear that we have differences in each state and that we use different language. We will be posting the results of the review on this site once it is in a more final state. In this post, we will take some time to clarify some of the terms that we have been using across the site.
Auditing: This is not to be confused with energy auditing of the 'tell-me-where-I-can-save-energy variety'. The auditing that we are piloting will mostly focus on checking compliance with the relevant energy efficiency provisions of the NCC. We propose two building inspections at key points during the construction process to assess compliance with the NCC requirements and the relevant energy efficiency features approved in the design. Auditing can also involve a desktop check of information provided and in our pilots we will be seeking to identify all the elements that need to be checked or inspected.
Energy efficiency compliance: The National Construction Code (NCC) defines the energy performance requirements for residential buildings (and this project focuses only on Class 1 residential buildings). States and Territories have adopted the NCC in slightly different ways so we often talk about the "relevant energy efficiency provisions of the NCC" to refer to the compliance expectations in your jurisdiction.
Rated standard and design standard: Within the NCC there are options for a design to meet the energy performance requirement through "deemed to satisfy" methods or through NATHERS modelling (or Basix in NSW). In the final report of Phase 1 NEEBP it was highlighted that often the design complies with the NCC but the building construction varies from the design and these variations lead to poorer energy efficiency performance. We have used the terms rated standard and design standard to refer loosely to the design and equipment energy performance that led to a design being considered "energy efficiency compliant" and hence approved for construction.
Council or building authority: The staff responsible for confirming compliance with the NCC differs from state to state. In some jurisdictions local government's have responsibility, in other places state governments are involved. Some jurisdictions use private certifiers in parts of the building compliance process. We have indicated that we will be working with pilot "Councils or building authorities" as a general term for the different organisations that will be involved in this trial.