Most Darwin households rely upon air-conditioning to maintain thermal comfort during the build-up and wet season, which results in increased energy demand and related costs and emissions. Energy star ratings assess energy use when air conditioners are on. The new ‘for information’ Home Comfort Ratings assess the comfort of Darwin living room and bedroom designs when no air conditioning is being used.
Elevated lightweight home with largely unenclosed understorey
Slab-on-ground single storey home with skillion roof
Slab-on-ground single storey home
Project duration: March 2022 – March 2023
How is the project improving understanding of thermal comfort in Darwin homes?
This project was led by CSIRO’s Building Energy team and the NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics to develop best practice comfort ratings for Darwin’s unique climate. The Home Comfort Ratings will be:
Built into CSIRO’s accredited Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) software, AccuRate
For voluntary use for design optimisation
Complement the current energy ratings used to demonstrate compliance with National Construction Code energy efficiency requirements.
Design choices are important to make houses as comfortable as possible when air conditioning is not used because:
Not everyone can afford to rely on air conditioning for comfort
Over-heating in housing can affect people’s health, quality of life and willingness to live and work in the Territory
Houses should be as comfortable as possible during black outs
Energy use from air conditioning is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
The outcomes seek to give consumers, designers and builders better evidence for house design/selection decision making. The project aims to demonstrate a methodology transferable to other NT and Australian climate zones.
Associate Professor Wendy Miller (Queensland University of Technology) led a comprehensive analysis that provides the evidence to support the development of a comfort rating tool with ‘for information’ living room and bedroom comfort ratings for Darwin dwellings (final report available here).
The CSIRO Building Energy team has developed a version of AccuRate that provides living room and bedroom comfort ratings for Darwin residential buildings.
Panel discussion
Keynote presentation by Adj Professor Terence Williamson
Session chair Johanna Kieboom
Darwin home comfort rating session at Darwin Living Lab 2022 Symposium
What’s next?
The project hosted a community and industry forum to launch a new Home Comfort Rating system for Darwin residential building designs . This forum included presentations, a live Home Comfort Rating demonstration and a ‘where to from here?’ discussion opportunity. Presentations included:
University of Adelaide presentation on the field validation of the house energy and comfort rating software in Darwin
A presentation on the development of comfort ratings by Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Project leaders
Johanna Kieboom
Project Leader, Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics
