JV3 Reports for Commercial Energy Efficiency
What is a JV3 report?
A JV3 Report is an assessment report used to demonstrate compliance with the Energy Efficiency requirements of the National Construction Code. A JV3 assessment is one of the most flexible and powerful methods for ensuring your building is compliant.
A JV3 report is based on a complete 3D thermal model of the building being assessed. Using building modelling software, your Energy Efficiency consultant will build up a detailed model of the building, incorporating all relevant construction and design details. The thermal performance of the building is calculated from this model and forms the basis for the JV3 assessment and report.
A JV3 report can be used for compliance for all commercial building classes. This includes:
- Class 3 – Motels, hotels, boarding houses and so on
- Class 5 – Offices and buildings used for professional/commercial purposes
- Class 6 – Shops, restaurants and cafes
- Class 7 – Carparks, warehouses, storage buildings
- Class 8 – Factories, workshops, abattoirs
- Class 9a – Hospitals
- Class 9b – Childcare centres, schools, theatres, town halls, churches, sports facilities and so on
- Class 9c – Residential aged care buildings
A JV3 report is especially useful when you would like to ease some of the Deemed to Satisfy (DTS) requirements from the National Construction Code. Here are some things that can’t be done using DTS but can be achieved with a JV3 assessment:
- Ease glazing requirements for the building (i.e. increase the maximum allowable U-Value and SHGC)
- Remove underfloor insulation
- Allow a darker roof colour
- Remove the requirement for ceiling insulation so that just 60mm anticon can be used
- Allow a larger skylight or atrium
- and many others
More than just compliance, a JV3 model and a JV3 report can also help you understand the thermal performance of your building. Are there hot spots in the building? Where is more insulation most needed? Will better glazing really improve the energy efficiency of the building, and by how much? These and many other questions can be answered using a JV3 model.
What’s inside a JV3 report?
A JV3 report will provide you with all the information you need to make your building design compliant with the National Construction Code. The report will contain:
- A summary of changes required in the building plans to make them compliant. This can include things like insulation, colours and construction details.
- Details of how the JV3 model was built in accordance with the requirements of the National Construction Code.
- Some key numeric outputs from the JV3 model, specifically:
- The calculated energy consumption (in kWh) of the proposed building design
- A calculation of the thermal comfort of the building occupants
When is a JV3 assessment required?
Every new building and most alterations in Australia must demonstrate compliance with the Section J Energy Efficiency provisions of the National Construction Code (NCC, formerly the BCA).
However, the NCC allows for a range of methods to demonstrate compliance, and it is not always necessary to use the JV3 assessment method. Very often, the alternative Deemed to Satisfy (DTS) Section J report is perfectly suited for demonstrating compliance – and it is much quicker and lower cost than a JV3. Check out our helpful article here on comparing the two main Section J compliance methods: https://www.bera.com.au/should-i-use-jv3-or-dts-for-section-j-compliance/
There are, however two situations where a JV3, rather than DTS, is definitely the way to go:
- The DTS requirements are too inflexible for your building. For example, if you need a dark roof, want to remove underfloor insulation, or have a large skylight, DTS won’t allow this – so JV3 is your best option.
- If you are interested in more than just compliance, and want to understand the detailed thermal performance of your building, a JV3 model is an excellent tool. Using the JV3 thermal model, it is possible to understand the thermal performance of every area/room of the building in every hour of every day of the year. Problematic areas can be identified. The impact of every change of insulation or construction material can be quantified. A JV3 model is a powerful tool for understanding and designing energy efficient buildings!
How much does a JV3 cost?
A JV3 assessment can often cost 4 to 6 times as much as a DTS assessment – so it’s definitely worth at least considering whether the DTS option is viable for your project.
For a simple design, a JV3 report can cost from $2,500. Larger single buildings can cost $4,000-$8,000. Very large buildings, hospitals, complexes and so on can cost more. We will always provide you with a quote based on your specific building design.
Most of the cost of a JV3 is the time taken to construct the detailed thermal model and run the required thermal simulations. It is important not to cut corners in JV3s, as ‘rushed’ JV3 models rarely produce reliable results and can significantly impact compliance and/or the build cost of your project.
How long does a JV3 take?
A JV3 report for simple designs can be completed within 3-5 working days. A JV3 for most larger or complex buildings can be completed within 10-15 working days. If your project is urgent let us know and we can often arrange our workload to suit your requirements.
What do I need for a JV3?
All you need to provide is your current set of plans. It’s rare that plans have all the inputs required for a JV3, so we will be in touch with you for a list of additional inputs.
It is also useful to know if you are considering solar panels for the site – solar panels can be used to offset building changes and make a JV3 much more flexible, so it’s good to know about them before we start.
How is Section J compliance calculated using JV3?
The first step in compliance using JV3 is to build a 3D thermal model of the building that complies with the benchmark Section J DTS Energy Efficiency requirements. This is called the Reference building. The reference building must also meet a basic level of energy efficiency – its air conditioning system must achieve target set points for 98% of the hours of its operation. Once this first model is built, the modelling software will calculate the annual energy consumption (in kWh or MWh) of the reference building.
The second step is then to update the model with the proposed design and construction details – called the PROPOSED building. Each change that is made that might increase energy consumption is offset by a corresponding change that can decrease energy consumption. For example, easing glazing requirements in the proposed building will increase energy consumption, so extra wall insulation might be introduced to offset that. Some elements of the proposed building can’t be changed and must match the reference building – things like its basic floorplan, location and orientation, adjacent buildings and so on.
Once all the details of the proposed building are complete, the modelling software will calculate the annual energy consumption (in kWh or MWh) for the proposed building.
The final step in demonstrating compliance is comparing the two buildings. The legislation specifies two criteria that must be met before the proposed building is said to be compliant:
- The PROPOSED building must use the same or less energy than the REFERENCE building (whether it’s using its own a/c system or using the reference building a/c system)
- The PROPOSED building must be comfortable for its occupants. Specifically, 95% of the occupied floor area must be comfortable for at least 98% of the annual hours of operation of the building.
How does JV3 modelling work?
A JV3 model contains all the details of a building that have an impact on its thermal performance. There are a surprising number of details that this covers. Here’s a few of them:
- Building location and local annual weather conditions
- Nearby buildings that might shade the building
- Orientation
- Typical use and occupancy of the building, including number of occupants, schedules and equipment.
- Design and configuration of the air conditioning system
- Shading systems and configuration
- Construction details for every surface in the building – walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors and so on – including construction materials (thermal properties and colours), insulation and their arrangement.
- And many others!
Once the model is built, the software carries out an annual thermal performance simulation in accordance with well-established international standards (ASHRAE Standard 140) to calculate an estimate of the energy consumption of the building. A single annual energy consumption figure is reported from each simulation – but that single figure is built up from as small as 1-minute blocks for every day of the year for every room in the entire building.
Care is needed to ensure that the model is constructed without errors so that the results can be relied on. It is important to work with an Energy Efficiency consultant who is experienced in model construction to ensure the results you get can be trusted. At BERA, we have decades of experience building models of many kinds!
FAQs
Why is it called JV3?
JV3 is the paragraph number in the National Construction Code. “J” because it is in Section J of the NCC; “V” because it is one of the verification methods available in the code (i.e. method of verifying compliance with the NCC Performance Requirement); and “3” because it’s the third listed verification method (after NABERS and Green Star).
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What happens from here:
- We’ll review your plans and get back to you with a quote – usually within 24 hours.
- Confirm you’re happy with the quote and we’ll get started.
- We might ask for additional information if the plans are incomplete.
- We’ll send you the report typically within 1-3 days (DTS) or 1-2 weeks (JV3) – but let us know if you need it quicker.
- Once you’ve reviewed the report we can incorporate any feedback, or discuss alternative solutions with you. Options analysis is included in our fee.
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