The ‘Whole of Home’ Rating Scheme is a big change in how your home will need to achieve its 7 star rating.

Want to know what’s involved?

Jeremy Spencer from Positive Footprints takes us through the details of exactly how to achieve this as you design and build your home.

This episode is part of a special series on the National Construction Code, and NCC 2022.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is episode 294, and in it, I’m continuing my conversation with Jeremy Spencer, builder, thermal performance assessor and co-owner at Positive Footprints. 

This is Part 2 of my interview with Jeremy. If you haven’t listened to Part 1, head back to Episode 293, and have a listen to it, or download the free PDF transcript. 

In this episode, Jeremy takes us through, in amazing detail, what you need to understand and work with to achieve the seven star Whole of Home house rating. He literally steps us through, sharing an incredible wealth of information that will be super helpful for you.

We also discuss how these NCC2022 upgrades can best be achieved when working with your professional team, and how this may change from what’s been done in the past. Having your team working together the right way will be essential for achieving compliance in the most simple and streamlined way.

And, Jeremy also talks about the risks for builders, who are then responsible for ensuring this gets built in a compliant way, and they don’t make problems for themselves and their clients through a lack of knowledge or poor execution.

Working collaboratively together really will be key to use the modelling information to inform your design, and help you streamline the process of achieving your seven star home rating.

If you’d like to see visuals of the pie charts Jeremy was describing in this episode, keep scrolling as they’re included below.

Jeremy Spencer is a long time builder, thermal performance assessor, and co-director with his wife Chi Lu at Design & Building company Positive Footprints. 

Positive Footprints is a multi award winning construction company, dedicated to making high performance sustainable homes and renovations easy to achieve and affordable. 

As an educator, and in his many roles in industry organisations such as Design Matters and the Sustainable Builders Alliance, he is passionate about making low carbon, sustainable housing a mainstream reality in the residential sector

This is from a great post Jeremy did on Builders Declare’s Instagram about the Whole of Home (WOH) Rating Scheme, and illustrates the pie chart he discusses in this episode.

“With news just coming through that the Building Ministers have signed off on proposals to adopt 7 Star Whole of Home into the NCC, it seemed a good time for a visual reminder of why this is a big step in the right direction.”

This is the pie graph of the energy usage in the average Aussie home, and shows the effect star ratings have on Space Conditioning (Heating & Cooling) needs. As you can see, good design does have a major impact on reducing energy use.

Assuming quality construction of course – as we bang on about!

If you are in a colder southern state the Space Conditioning wedge is bigger than the average you see in the slide, so designing for climate is even more beneficial!

And for those nervous about meeting 7 stars – don’t be!

See Builders Declare Youtube Webinar – Acing 7 Stars! (check resources)

7 Star is easy if you know how; represents a good jumping off point to shoot for a Net Zero Whole of Home outcome…

Beyond good design, this slide shows the potential energy savings of including fixed appliances into a Whole of Home approach. While owners are of course free to choose alternative less efficient options than the recommended ones pictured, the indicative savings shown in each wedge of the pie gives a sense of what is possible when working with a Whole of Home rating system. After all, it’s the appliances that use the energy and create the greenhouse gases, so it only makes sense they are in the equation.

(Note: At the moment under the NCC proposal only Space Conditioning, Hot Water, Lighting and Pool pumps will be assessed, with the software putting in average values for cooking and appliance use.)

And lastly, including PV is the secret to a Net Zero Energy Home.

Happy to say, the 7 star Whole of Home proposal includes adding PV systems in the calculation. 

Giving owners who want to achieve a Net Zero build, a pathway to achieve it.

In summary: This is an important move whose time has come – embrace it!”

[Source: Jeremy Spencer, Sustainable Builders Alliance Instagram]

Let’s jump into Part 2 of my conversation with Jeremy.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

RESOURCES:

Please note, the links to some of these pages may be out of date or superseded as the NCC2022 adoption occurs, or (later) the NCC2022 is superseded by newer legislation.

National Construction Code 2022 >>> https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/editions/ncc-2022

NCC2022 state and territory adoption dates >>> https://abcb.gov.au/ncc-2022-state-and-territory-adoption-dates

NCC 2022 overview of key changes: articles >>> https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/ncc-2022-overview-key-changes-articles

Find out more about Jeremy and Positive Footprints here >>> https://www.positivefootprints.com.au/

This is a general guide to ratings:

• a 0-star rated home is quite uncomfortable – too hot in summer and too cold in winter. It will require a lot of energy to heat and cool.
• a home reaching a 7-star rating will need some mechanical heating and cooling to keep it comfortable to live in.
• a 10-star home is very energy efficient. It will remain comfortable year-round, with limited, or no mechanical cooling or heating.

A great PDF produced by the ABCB on the Residential Energy Efficiency Upgrades >>> https://abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2022/NCC-2022-Residential-Energy-Efficiency-Overview-of-Provisions.pdf

Builders Declare Instagram (Now Sustainable Builders Alliance) >>> https://www.instagram.com/sustainablebuildersalliance/

The Sustainable Builders Alliance Website >>> www.theSBA.com.au

Free information session produced by Builders Declare called “Great, all houses now need to reach 7 stars……but what now?”

>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKEdBE4FJ2I

Free information on the Builders Declare YouTube called “Acing 7 Stars” 

>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XhW8T1KjoM

Top Tips for Building for 7 Stars (Australian Government) >>> https://www.nathers.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-09/22726_Nathers_Newsletter.pdf

Listen to Jeremy’s previous episodes on the podcast:

>>> Episode 292 ‘Building Carbon Zero Homes’ https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-carbon-zero-homes-jeremy-spencer-positive-footprints/

>>> Episode 293 ‘Choosing a Sustainable Builder’ https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-choosing-a-sustainable-builder-jeremy-spencer-positive-footprints/

Hear more about Jeremy’s story on the Sustainable Builders Yak podcast here >>> https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ZYzh5BScMtLH1tEIuEqCV?si=Qyl5FSwSRXGl–uGZoS2qg

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan