TASRate Energy Efficiency Consulting

24/06/2025

🧮NatHERS Certificate Fee change is coming ⬇️

At the end of every NatHERS energy compliance assessment, we submit the energy modelling file to an accredited platform to generate the final certificate and report. There’s a cost associated with the process, and now the fee will be increased.

Below are some key details about the change:

➡️ New certificate price: $45.00 + GST
➡️ Effective date: August 1st 2025
➡️ Applicable building types: Class 1 dwellings and Class 2 apartments

We will apply the increased certificate cost to projects to be certified after July 31st 2025.

20/10/2024

🤩EXCITING NEWS: Our commercial building energy compliance assessment and optimisation capacity has increased!

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Section J Compliance and Beyond

TASRate has increased its capacity to help our commercial clients receive the required energy report more efficiently. We can also conduct simulations to analyse daylight, moisture, and upfront carbon, empowering your efforts for sustainable designs.

From renovation and conversion to new buildings, including apartments, retail space, cafes and restaurants, community facilities, schools, offices, showrooms, and more, with advanced optimisation service up to 30,000 SQM. We have them all covered for you.

Let's work together to make your building process more smoothly. Your project is in good hands! 🙌

06/06/2024

03/05/2024

We are a Tasmania-based building energy assessment service. We assist homeowners, designers, builders, and developers with energy compliance assessments and reports required for building applications.

Our services cover:
👉Energy rating & certification and Section J compliance reports
👉Residential and commercial projects in Tasmania
👉New and alterations/additions
👉Compliance certificate & report and Form 55

The assessment includes:
🏠For residential
✅Energy modelling
✅Building plan analysis
✅Building performance optimisation
✅Window systems and insulation options
✅Future performance predictions
✅Passive design solutions

🏢For commercial
✅Building plan analysis
✅Window systems and insulation options
✅Performance solutions
✅JV 3 modelling

If you require an energy assessment for your building application or want to improve energy efficiency in the future, we can help!

📲 0401469250
🌐 www.tasrate.com.au

You can also scan the QR code below to request a non-obligation quote.
We are excited to help with your building process. 🙌

10/04/2024

Are you curious about how much you will spend on an energy assessment service? We created a blog post to explain the fee in detail. Send us a message if you'd like to discuss your next project.

Are you curious about how much you will spend on an energy assessment service?

14/11/2023

Hello. We've added a Project Information Form to assist with your energy assessment quote. Please feel free to use the form if you need an energy assessment done for your project.
We look forward to assisting with your building process.

We will provide you with our service fee based on the below information provided.

24/10/2023

Wow! TASRate has just turned two years old! We can't believe it and are also so excited about more years to come.

Since receiving our very first commission in October 2021, we have worked on various energy assessment projects across commercial and residential developments in Tasmania. These assessments include two cat facilities (cute) in the north and south, a community centre, dozens of social housing units, apartments, hundreds of custom-designed homes, and so on.

In 2022, we received our first quality assurance result with a 91% assessment accuracy for residential projects (NatHERS minimum pass score is 80%) from our accrediting organisation - Design Matters National (DMN), and we have been pushing to higher standards on every job.

All these can only happen with the continuous trust and support from our friends, clients, designers, and other building professionals. You are amazing! Thank you!

02/10/2023

UPDATES: Commercial Energy Efficiency has moved onto NCC 2022.

Some new requirements have been implemented, such as J1P4 Renewable energy and electric vehicle charging, while other changes are not too significant apart from the new numbering code.

A Section J Report will cover most of the code requirements for your commercial projects, including J4 Building fabric, J5 Building sealing, J7 Artificial light and power, etc.

On that note, TASRate has increased its capacity for commercial energy assessments and reports. So, if you need help, please feel free to contact us.

24/08/2023

Our new blog post highlights the impressive thermal performance analysis capacity through energy modelling.

Hello! We are switching back to talk about residential energy assessment today. It's something about performance analysis in the early stage of a design. Do you know the energy assessment can test your sketch idea on energy efficiency in under a few hours? For example, we can take your sketch drawin...

22/08/2023

Today, we’d like to discuss energy assessments for commercial projects, including part of Class 2 to Class 9 buildings. They can be offices, community centres, and so on. One of the pathways is to assess the building elements using the DTS Provisions of Section J in the National Construction Code (NCC) Volume 1.

The method is to calculate the proposed elemental performance values and compare them with the requirements in each part of Section J. Calculations can be done differently depending on the elements.

Take floors, for example, will need to satisfy every applicable part of the requirements in J1.6. One is that in Tasmania (Climate Zone 7), a floor without an in-slab heating or cooling system must achieve a Total R-Value with a downward heat flow of 2. The sub-floor and soil R-Value will also be calculated in the Total R-Value calculation. Specification J1.6 will be the reference for the R-Value of sub-floor spaces and soil in contact with a floor. (Yawning yet? Very close to the end now!)

Now, it’s the tricky part. The ratio of the floor area to floor perimeter and wall thickness will determine the floor type and whether the proposed floor meets the minimum R2 requirement. Let’s assume the soil R-Value is 0.8 and the proposed slab with 300mm waffle pods, the Total R-Value of the floor will be: 0.16 (indoor still air) + 0.07 (100mm slab) + 0.63 (300mm pods) + 0.8 (soil) = 1.66. It clearly will not pass the required Total R-Value of 2. If it’s not too late, change the waffle pods slab to slab-on-ground with continuous under-slab insulation can make it to 2.03, and it is a pass. Sometimes it is just that close and maybe can cost a lot to change structural elements.

You must be tired of this blah, blah, boring stuff. Don’t worry! That’s why a professional energy assessor exists. They can work out the behind-the-scene calculations for you on the ‘dark side’ and help you bring your project to the light. The key is the old classic engage early! No matter a residential or commercial.

Speak with your regular assessor if you have one, or we can also help if they are busy. Just contact us and see how we can help. ☺️

31/03/2023

Maybe you have read about the benefit of a better orientation - 'Go North and Face the Sun' in our blog (It's ok if you missed it. The link is here bit.ly/3ZkFE6m if you are interested). To further explore the 'warmer' side of the building positioning, we use a typical Tasmanian home as an experiment subject to find the impact of four orientations on energy efficiency ( you can also see this on our blog here: http://bit.ly/42YFy7g ).

With the 7-star energy rating requirement mandate in 2025 for Tasmanian homes, it's time to prepare for the change. We've covered it in the latest experiment. Also, the new weather data is utilised for calculations to fit the new energy efficiency requirement in NCC 2023. Let's see what it can reveal!

To begin with, the house for the energy modelling is a typical brick veneer and slab-on-ground construction. This is the most common building method in Tasmania in the last 12 months, according to CSIRO's Australian Housing Data portal, which has over 3000 NatHERS energy assessments and their associated energy certificates.

For the consistency of the experiment, the model has the same level of thermal properties, including R2.5 insulation in external walls, R5.0 ceiling insulation, and no added under-slab insulation (e.g. XPS).

All windows are typical standard aluminium-framed, double-glazed units without argon fills. Their performance values are sliding door - U-Value = 4.0, SHGC=0.61 (+/- 5%); awning windows - U-Value = 4.3, SHGC=0.55 (+/- 5%); fixed windows - U-Value = 3.9, SHGC = 0.63 (+/- 5%). In addition, the ceiling height of the model is 2400mm, and the roof and window frame colours are in the dark range.

The result is here. The north-facing model was the only one meeting the 7-star energy rating requirement with the newest weather data. Other orientations, including East, West, and South, failed, although they looked ok as they were over 6-star. However, in 2025 it will be non-compliance.

Apart from ticking the box, a better orientation means reducing unnecessary costs. In the short term, building owners can save on building costs. The calculation shows if the house is facing north, it can avoid two major spendings: under-slab insulation and higher-performance window systems. That is because the house can receive the energy certificate with ease. In the long term, the occupant can reduce up to 9% and 8.3% of energy demand for the whole house in Hobart and Launceston compared to south-facing ones. If only counting on the living room, the energy reduction can go up to 28.2% and 35.1% in the two cities for this particular house we modelled.

As we've mentioned in our latest blog post, orientation is only one part of the pie. Sometimes the building site or an existing home doesn't have an ideal orientation. To taste the benefit of a higher energy efficient home, other building elements, including window systems, insulation materials, cladding materials and colours, ventilations, energy-efficient appliances, and so on, also need to be considered. These elements will be discussed in our future posts, too.

To wrap it up, we think a correct position should be one of the most crucial and foremost steps toward the best energy efficiency. It costs lower than materials and can help save on building elements and future energy usage. To help you decide how we have some tips for you to consider:

1. Ask a designer, such as a building designer or an architect, for help with the design of your project for the best outcome.
2. Engage an energy efficiency consultant in the early stage of your project. They can work with your designer and help your project meet the requirement with practical options.
3. Always prioritise the biggest and most used space of your home, such as the living area. Their orientation will significantly impact your energy consumption and meet the requirement.

That is it. We hope this can provide you with some directions for your project. We also encourage discussions around energy efficiency topics and their relationship to energy assessment. So, please feel free to share your thoughts with us through the comments below or direct messages. Let's work together to bring more quality homes to Tasmanian families!

27/03/2023

Hello! We are sharing some tips with you for energy efficiency and assessment after helping with hundreds of projects in the last 12 months. Some key areas we found that can be useful for improving building energy efficiency without interrupting the design or/and increasing the building cost.

Today is about orientation because we think it is where it all started. In Tassie, the sun is a precious source of energy. It's free! Once the project is positioned right, it will keep you cosy and warm.

Let's head to our blog by using the link below to read more, this can help you save thousands of dollars on the building cost and keep you stay warm. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments!'

https://www.tasrate.com.au/post/go-north-and-face-the-sun

How can you have free energy? If you're building a home in Tasmania, you might want to consider going north. I didn't mean going 'overseas' across Bass Strait kind of north, that would be too mean. What I'm going to talk about is the north-facing homes in Tasmania. Tasmania is known for its cooler c...