What a difference a number makes.
The transition from Homestar V4 to Homestar V5 is so much more than a simple progression of one integer. The upgraded residential rating tool has been described as the most ambitious yet, and for good reason. Homestar V5 is the culmination of a huge amount of work from our own team as well as extensive input from industry experts. It’s also a reflection of the rapidly increasing demand for carbon accountability.
For operational energy use and carbon emission calculations, Homestar V5 includes a completely new Energy and Carbon Calculator for Homes (ECCHO). ECCHO will bring some of the robust methodology and science of the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) calculator to designers and assessors across Aotearoa. The ECCHO calculator is not only new for Homestar and New Zealand, it’s a first for the world.
We are also responding to increasing market demand for embodied carbon accounting. Calculating the amount of carbon pollution resulting from the production, assembly and transportation of building components can be quite tricky and we’re at the forefront of helping New Zealand standardise how this should be done. Thanks to the great work of our friends at BRANZ, Homestar V5 will also include an embodied carbon calculator.
These new calculators are just two examples of how NZGBC, through ratings tools such as Homestar, is not only responding to market demands, we’re also driving change and shaping the way our industry can make better decisions about better buildings.
We appreciate there will be a lot to learn going from Homestar V4 to V5. We’re all on the journey together. We’ll be providing lots of training and resources to assist our existing and new practitioners, designers and assessors.
In the meantime, if you have a feedback or questions about any of our Homestar calculators, please get in touch with our Residential Business Development Manager Matthew Cutler-Welsh on 09 951 0732 or our Homestar team homestar@nzgbc.org.nz.
Update February 2022: ECCHO has now been referenced in the latest 2021 Building Code changes as a modelling software accepted under H1/VM1.