Settings and data

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) defines the minimum set of information that must be used by all software tools, including:

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Building material performance characteristics

All materials have inherent characteristics that impact on the transmission and storage of heat energy. NatHERS defines a process to ensure that the material characteristics used by accredited software tools represent those characteristics determined by carefully conducted scientific measurements performed according to the relevant Australian or internationally recognised standard.

Design interpretation guidelines

To enable consistent interpretation of building plans and specification sheets, the NatHERS Scheme defines how spaces or rooms can be designated by accredited software tools, and therefore assigned comfort parameters and internal heat loads.

Weather files

Each region of similar climate includes one location (city or town) where the Bureau of Meteorology has compiled a record of the weather, including data over many years for air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed and direction.

For the purpose of rating a house within a single climate zone, the impact of the weather on the building design is calculated every hour for a full twelve month period.

This twelve month weather file for each climate zone, called the Reference Meteorological Year (RMY), is compiled from no less than 25 years of Bureau records, and is the assembly of the most representative individual months of real weather data using a protocol documented by ASHRAE.