NatHERS Profiles (2019 & 2022)

Chenath simulations when run in NatHERS Regulatory Mode run on a standard simulation profile for various properties such as:

• the heating and cooling setpoint temperatures for each zone-type based on climate-zone;
• the time of day of that heating and cooling which also differs on zone-type;
• the different internal heat gain amounts per zone-type, based on time of day;
• as well as several other settings such as those governing how windows are opened for natural ventilation, and when internal or external shading is drawn or opened etc.

For more information on these profiles see NatHERS Internal heat loads

NatHERS 2022

With the introduction of the NCC 2022, there have been significant changes to the NatHERS Protocol that effect how simulations are performed in regulatory mode.

You can watch the Hero v3.1 Webinar section on Thermal Comfort at the 3:32 timestamp below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GDotcnaY2c&t=212s

These changes include:

• New climate weather files for each of the 69 NatHERS Climate Zones, that include data from 1990 to the end of 2015 instead of 1970 to 2005 like the previous weather file set.  For further information see NatHERS 2022 Climate Files
• New star-bands for each climate zone (i.e. the total energy per m2 per year to what star-rating that achieves). For further information see NatHERS 2022 Starbands
• Slight minor changes to the cooling thermostat setpoints (+0.5 degree) for a small number of climate zones to presumably align with the new weather files (given cooling thermostat setpoints in NatHERS profiles are based on weather conditions).
• New heating & cooling load limits for each climate-zone and for both standard NatHERS & BASIX (NSW) projects. For further reference see the ABCB's NatHERS heating and cooling load limits

Setting the NatHERS Profile in Hero

The changes to the NatHERS simulations required for the NCC2022, along with the state by state specific implementation of the NCC2022 mean that assessments based on both NatHERS 2019 and NatHERS 2022 profiles will continue to be required by industry across Australia. You should confirm your requirements for your project based on your state or local building authorities, as well as your project's building certifier.

In Hero, we've integrated this requirement by allowing users to set the NatHERS Profile of a Project in the Project Data-Grid tab, in the "Regulatory" section.

To perform a NatHERS 2022 simulation in Hero, change the NatHERS Profile switch in the Project Data-grid Tab from 2019 to 2022 and you'll now be assessing in 2022.

When in NatHERS 2022 Profile your project will use the new weather-files, star-bands, heating & cooling load limits and if certified, will produce NatHERS 2022 Certificates on the Hero Web-Portal.

In 2019 Profile mode you'll continue to run using the 2019 versions of all the above.

Note due to these changes, simulation results are different in 2022 compared to 2019, so don't rely on your old results.

Note you must re-simulate your project upon change of profile setting for the results to be updated.