The BERS (Building Energy Rating Scheme) computer program is a powerful tool that is used to simulate and analyse the thermal performance of Australian houses in climates ranging from Alpine to tropical. BERS can be used to assign a star rating to a house within a particular climate type.

The user interface of the program is graphics based. Information about the building, the climate type and the conditions of use is selected from pictures displayed on the screen. Floor plans can be imported and traced with a mouse. This eliminates the need for time consuming data entry of dimensions, orientations, adjacent zones etc. making data entry fast and accurate. Calculated data is displayed in graphic form as well as being written to files.