Project overview
In April 2023, the Australian Government announced funding to expand the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) to enable energy assessments and ratings for existing homes. Currently, the scheme offers design ratings for new homes and major renovations. The expansion of NatHERS to existing homes will involve modelling of homes through the CSIRO developed AccuRate Enterprise – Existing (AccuRate Enterprise) software to obtain an energy star rating.
One of the challenges of modelling existing homes is measuring the required dimensions of a house. Unlike new homes, existing homes often don’t have building plans with those details. Traditionally it’s been very time-consuming to take all the measurements onsite.
CSIRO have been exploring ways to streamline the data collection process for AccuRate Enterprise. One method is using LiDAR scanning technology built into mobile devices to collect and record spatial dimensions, along with survey questions to capture construction information. This can then be exported directly into AccuRate Enterprise to simplify the process of creating a NatHERS energy rating.
This project will trial the tools and processes used to rate the energy performance of existing homes before the scheme launches from mid-2025.
What does participation involve?
Participating in this trial would involve you granting us permission to access your home to perform a LiDAR scan and collect information about how your home was built.
The scan and data collection will be undertaken by a trained energy rating assessor with full liability insurance. This process will take approximately half an hour to complete but may take longer in large or complicated homes.
This is a free process for you, and following the assessment, you will receive a copy of the energy rating trial certificate and scan report.
The energy rating trial certificate will be a reliable guide to estimating your home’s energy performance and will help identify opportunities to lower energy use and save on energy bills.
Your involvement, and those of other participants, will help us to shape a nationwide energy rating system to help all Australians improve their homes.
Would you like to be involved?
If you would like to be involved, then please download and read through this Research Participant Information Sheet. It outlines all the information you need and also has contact details of the research leads if you would like to ask further questions. It also covers the important issue of your privacy and how we will use the data we collect.
After you have read this information and are happy to be involved, then please complete the consent form below.
Eligibility
Households must meet some eligibility criteria to be chosen to participate in the trial.
- Location: Houses will be chosen based on their closeness to an assessor. This trial has a limited number of energy assessors, and so we can only include homes in areas where assessors are available, which includes most metropolitan centres.
- Dwelling type: All residential properties, including houses, townhouses, and apartments, are eligible for this trial.
- Occupant: This trial is open to tenants and owner-occupiers only. Unfortunately, landlords are not eligible to participate. Landlords can engage with their tenants about participating on the trials.
Consent Form
- I have agreed to participate in the above project being conducted by CSIRO.
- I have been provided with information about the project and had any questions regarding my participation and any associated risks and benefits answered to my satisfaction. I understand my participation in the research will allow a fully qualified energy rating assessor to undertake an energy assessment of my house. This will include a LiDAR scan of my house.
- I have been provided with contact details of the investigating officers and understand that I can contact them at any point during the study. I have also been provided with the contact details of an independent ethics officer at CSIRO should I wish to raise any concerns or complaints about the conduct of the research.
- I understand that my participation in the project is entirely voluntary and that I am free to withdraw from the study at any time and without having to provide a reason for my withdrawal.
- I understand that up until my identification has been removed from the data I may ask for part or all of the information provided by me to be removed from the study without penalty or explanation.
- I understand that the information I provide for this research will be used for the following purposes: for scholarly publications, conference presentations and reports, media releases, public datasets and government policy and program development, and will be treated confidentially. I will not be identified in any publications resulting from the study except where I have given my written permission for this to occur.
- Information provided by me will only be accessed by members of the research team and used for the purposes outlined above and will be stored securely by CSIRO.
What happens next?
Once we receive your completed consent form, we will review your eligibility to participate and if successful, we will then endeavour to allocate your dwelling to an available energy assessor.
Please Note: Participation in this trial is not guaranteed. We appreciate your understanding if your home cannot be included and may contact you about future opportunities to participate in similar trials.
