The drive to reduce carbon emissions and energy utilisation, directly associated with dwellings and to achieve a zero carbon home, suggests that the assessment of energy ratings will have an increasingly prioritised role in the built environment. Created by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) is the UK Government’s recommended method of assessing the energy ratings of dwellings. This paper describes a new, simplified dynamic method (hence known as IDEAS – Inverse Dynamics based Energy Analysis and Simulation) of assessing the controllability of a building and its servicing systems. The IDEAS method produces results that are comparable to SAP. An Optimum Start algorithm is explored in this paper to allow heating systems of different responsiveness and size to be integrated into the IDEAS framework. Results suggest that this design approach could enhance the SAP Methodology by the addition of advanced systems controllability and dynamic values
