For your home to be deemed to meet 6-star rating requirements, it must have the least amount of thermal protection. To achieve this, you need to think of double-glazed windows, insulations, awnings and other physical inclusions that take into account the orientation of the house to maximize solar warming during the winter and air conditioning in summer. Here are more design ideas to help you achieve a 6-star rating.
Replace kitchen and bathroom fixtures.
Lighting fixtures and kitchen and bathroom appliances are notorious energy hogs. This is because these two rooms are the most frequently used places in the home. Optimizing energy in these areas can translate to significant savings on your electricity bill. One option is to ditch your current kitchen appliances and have them replaced with Energy Star alternatives. Changes you can make include the following:
Consider installing a cooling roof
Not only does a cool roof design helps to deflect sunlight, but also reduces the temperature of your roof. This, in turn, lowers your home’s temperature. Roofing installers often use certain materials in installing a cool roof. This includes materials made from metals and asphalt shingles.
Add a skylight
Skylights play an important role in increasing your home’s efficiency, something that results in improving your heating, air ventilation, and interior lighting. Depending on your home’s design, however, incorporating a skylight may not be easy. It is advisable to talk to a professional before you cut a piece out of your ceiling and put in a window.
Install new flooring
The advantage of installing new flooring is that it helps to maintain the temperature of your home and also cut energy costs. Rugs and carpeting, for instance, trap heat and ensure that your home stays warm in the winter. Talk to a flooring professional to help you to choose options that will enable you to cut your energy bill. This is a cheaper way of reducing your electricity bill compared to gutting the siding and having it replaced with a more energy-efficient one.
Use your window treatments.
Although you may have installed your window treatments primarily for décor, they can also help in lowering energy costs in the home. Based on the type of window treatments that you have, they may be used for reducing the amount of air you lose or keep cool air in your home. Also, window treatments protect your rooms from being heated by the sun, meaning you use the AC unit less on hot days. Some choices available to you include shutters, blinds, and curtains.
Landscape to save energy
Another way to save energy and attain a 6-star rating is by incorporating smart landscaping into your building design. For instance, through planting trees on your part of your home facing the sun, it can help you cut costs come summertime. It is best to ensure that your landscaping is always maintained so that it doesn’t turn into a liability during the winter season. Also, planting low-maintenance native trees that do not require too much watering is smart landscaping.
Contact PassivEnergy for Accurate Section J Reports
At Passivenergy.com.au, we provide accurate and straightforward energy-efficient and competitively-priced section j reports. After furnishing us with your building plans, we will hook you up with one of our experts who will then carry out a thermal assessment of the home you are putting up or a new renovation using the latest software.
If your building fails to meet a 6-star energy rating, we will not hesitate to offer you some cost-effective options that you can do to make it up to the required level. We are the go-to ESD consultants serving several parts of Australia including Melbourne, Sydney, and Victoria. Call us today to talk to us about how we can help you.
