The report describes the results of four separate but related investigations into various aspects of residential building energy, and in particular, air-conditioner energy use and operation.

The first study describes the results of a series of building simulations across a range of Australian climates specifically to investigate the influence of different building envelope thermal parameters on air-conditioner energy use and occupant comfort. Note that the output dataset from these simulations is available within EUDM (see the Related Resources listing on this page).

The second study describes the results of a statistical analysis of two separate aggregate energy use data-sets for South-East Queensland and for the National Electricity Market (NEM). The main focus of this analysis is the relationship between observed energy consumption and coarse building characteristics, climate and demographics. Note that the work draws on both the ABS Household Energy Consumption Survey and the Energex Monthly Energy Consumption datasets. These datasets are documented in EUDM (see the Related Resources listing on this page).

The third study discusses analysis of the Residential Building Energy Efficiency (RBEE) dataset to determine a representative space heating air-conditioner usage model.

The final study describes initial work to develop a generic model for predicting indoor building temperature from a limited number of parameters such as the weather and basic building parameters.