The NatHERS software is the benchmark tool developed under the NatHERS project. There are three suitable rating tools available in Australia, although only NatHERS is accepted in NSW.

WHO NEEDS THIS PACKAGE?

For the Architect or Designer: A software package such as this will be of benefit to all who are working on residential buildings in NSW, as it will enable them to "fine tune" their designs and instill confidence in their clients about their ability to design energy efficient, thermally comfortable houses. Don't wait for another building professional to tell you how to design; get it right yourself!

The Builder of Residential work: Be able to meet the local government requirements in the State of NSW. Save unnecessary trips back and forth to get advice; find it yourself with an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use software package. Become knowledgeable in the field of energy efficient houses; offer your client added value and take the marketing edge in a climate of growing concern for environmental issues.

The Building Assessor or Certifier: One of the services to your client is to provide energy ratings and determine the energy heating and cooling figures as part of the new BASIX assessment required by the government. BASIX is being developed to address the environmental rating of all dwellings in NSW. The assessment of detached dwellings (Class 1 buildings) was introduced on the 1st July 2004. Other areas and classes of buildings will be included progressively over the coming year (refer to the Basix web site at http://www.basix.nsw.gov.au/information/index.jsp)

The House Energy Rating Scheme in your state or territory should be part of your company's quality assurance program. Without it you cannot offer quality assurance in terms of thermal comfort or energy efficiency!

NatHERS is a computer simulation tool for House Energy Rating,
The Australian designed software from the CSIRO designed for Australian conditions.

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FAST EASY DATA ENTRY!
With NatHERS you can analyse any house design whether it's a detached cottage, terrace house or even an individual apartment. Choose the location for the simulation by just entering the post code! No fussing about with looking up longitude and latitude information or average temperatures etc; just the post code of the site is all you need.
All the house data is entered by a simple template system that speeds up the process. To simulate your house design, all you need are the wall lengths, window dimensions, floor areas and what materials are planned for the construction.

A POWERFUL COMPREHENSIVE ENGINE!
The simulation engine of NatHERS was upgraded from the original CSIRO CHEETAH engine to include commonly available window systems on the market in Australia, a new air conditioning model that accounts for both latent and sensible cooling, a revised floor model for concrete slabs on ground that takes into account the perimeter of exposed floor as well as the area and the conditions underneath. Upgrades have been implemented from time to time since, and now, we have an extensive range of windows by particular manufacturers, an ever growing range of external walls and a number of new constructions within the program.

A CLEAR, SIMPLE-TO-UNDERSTAND REPORT
After each simulation, you can obtain a simple report without all the complicated details. It tells you just how much energy is needed for summer cooling and winter heating in MJ per square metre of conditioned space (for the standard set of user conditions, and other assumptions). If you want more information there is another report with full details of the building data. These reports can be saved and retrieved at a later date without running the simulation again. Each report form can be viewed on screen or sent to your printer.

RUNNING TIME IS FAST!
On a Pentium 4 for example, the running time for a single simulation is less than 5 seconds (this varies of course from one machine to another).
NatHERS runs best on a PC computer, although many are using it on the MAC platform. The current issue of the software is designed to operate on the latest releases of Windows 2000 and Windows XP.