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Guide to: Energy Efficient Renting Rowan Hearne
Are you looking to rent? Then it may be worth your while finding a rental that’s cheap and easy to heat in winter and cool in summer. Sounds simple right? However, the cost of heating and cooling is often not foremost in renters’ minds, and it is often difficult to get useful information about the cost of heating and cooling from the agent. Fear not, this guide will clearly explain what to look out for in a rental so that makes it easy to heat and cool so you’re comfortable all year-round. How to find the cost of heating and cooling your rental Before you look for your rental, know that the cost of energy to heat and cool depends on: · Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) of the property; · The floor area of the living space; · Cost of energy; · The energy efficiency of appliances used for heating/ cooling. Here’s an explanation of each of these terms and what to consider when you choose your rental. Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) The Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) reflects the energy efficiency of the property. It indicates the energy performance of the property on a scale between zero and 10. Zero represents poor performance and 10 represents excellent performance. A rating of zero indicates a property that is very inefficient and requires a lot of extra heating/cooling to maintain a comfortable temperature, so energy costs will be higher. To minimise energy costs, find a property with an EER of at least 6.
Not all rentals will have an advertised EER. Better Renting (2018) analysed the energy performance of rentals in Canberra, they found that only a quarter (26%) of rentals had an advertised EER, and of those that did have an EER, two in five (43%) had the lowest EER of zero.
Figure 1- A large proportion of rental properties in Canberra has a very low EER. (Better Renting, 2018) A couple of tips to find a good EER when rental hunting. A rental with a low EER may have gaps around the doors and windows which cause draughts, and the windows might only be single glazed, or there might be large windows facing south and west. By contrast, a property with a high EER may have tight-fitting doors and windows with no gaps, double glazed windows, and large windows facing north and east. The direction of windows is important because westerly windows will gain heat in the summer, southerly windows will lose heat in the winter, while north and east-facing windows will gain heat in winter, and lose heat in summer. As a rule of thumb, older houses will have a lower EER, while newer houses tend to have a higher EER.
