An atlas for rammed earth building thermal performance in Australia climates

Abstract

To understand whether the existing house energy star rating system in Australia discriminates against rammed earth houses, simulations were carried out for two sample houses each in 69 local climates at different heating and cooling thermostat temperatures with the original wall systems and with the walls replaced by rammed earth walls. Results showed that rammed earth houses may have been discriminated for climate regions with mean ambient winter temperature between 10.0 and 15.0 °C for the population group who operates heating thermostat temperature at around 15°C during winter. The findings of this study can provide useful information for building regulators on the potential impact of the existing as well as modified thermostat settings in house energy star rating software.