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BEAM P
LUS FOR
N
EW
B
UILDINGS
F
RAMEWORK
V
ERSION
1.2
Copyright © 2012 BEAM Society Limited. All rights reserved.
Page 8
E
NERGY
U
SE
(E
U
)
Assessment of energy use in a building containing a variety of uses,
energy sources and building services systems and equipment is a
complex process given the number of influencing variables. For the most
part, BEAM Plus for New Buildings adopts a computational approach to
determining the dominant energy uses, plus additional features known to
have impact on overall performance. There is however, an alternative
route to assess the passive design of residential buildings. This provides
the practitioner with the option of assessing the development against a
series of prescriptive or performance targets which target passive
design. Energy Use includes:
annual CO
2
emissions or energy use;
energy efficient systems and equipment; and
energy management;
W
ATER
U
SE
(W
U
)
Assessments under Water Use include quality and features that improve
utilisation and reduce effluent, i.e.:
water quality;
water conservation and
effluent discharges.
I
NDOOR
E
NVIRONMENTAL
Q
UALITY
(I
EQ
)
Indoor issues included in BEAM are those aspects of building
performance that impact on the health, comfort or well-being of the
occupants, as well as aspects of performance that improve quality and
functionality. Not included are the technical performance aspects of
specialist premises, such as acoustic qualities of concert venues, stage
lighting, or air quality in clean rooms. Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)
includes:
safety;
hygiene;
indoor air quality and ventilation;
thermal comfort;
lighting;
acoustics and noise; and
building amenities.