Improved energy efficiency in new residential buildings is typically being sought across the developed
world through changing requirements in building and/or planning regulations. Stringency is set to
further increase significantly in attempts to meet climate change mitigation goals. However, new
regulation is usually met with reticence from sectors of the building industry, one reason being the
additional costs implied in meeting higher performance standards for more energy efficient buildings.
One low cost option, investigated in this paper, is to orient buildings in order to maximise their passive
solar benefits. Using a range of 81 different detached dwelling designs, a modelling experiment was
conducted in order to assess the implications of orientation on modelled thermal energy efficiency.
Design adaptability to orientation change was modelled across two scenarios; current building energy
efficiency standards and pending improved energy efficiency standards. The effect of size and overall
energy efficiency rating was included in consideration of variance across orientations. Results show that
higher standards are easier to apply to smaller dwellings, and costs are lower. Also, higher performing
designs are moreflexible across different orientations, producing lower standard deviations of mean
ratings. Thefindings indicate that passive solar design is a concept that can readily be incorporated into
house plans at the design stage. Recommendations for further empirical research are also made