Library

Report assessing the energy performance of the 2011 EVHA winners and to align the EVHA program with the BA program.

Report providing builders in the hot-dry and mixed-dry climates with guidance for building homes that have whole-house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark with no added overall costs for consumers.

A guidebook helping builders in hot-humid climates design and construct homes for energy efficiency, durability, health, safety, and comfort.

Report discussing opportunities and trends in the U.S. home performance contracting industry, along with market drivers such as consumer demand; federal, state, and local programs; and utility and non-governmental programs.

Specifications for water heating systems designed to advance higher performing electric and gas heat pump water heaters.

Report that collected field data from a whole-home program in Illinois are utilized to compare marketplace-installed measures to the energy saving optimal packages previously developed for 15 housing types.

Document highlighting federal accessibility laws which may apply to a housing development, and common mistakes made in the field which, if avoided, will help to ensure compliance.

Report assessing the accuracy of HEST as it was being developed and to provide information useful to DOE program managers and HEST development team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Webinar answering code-related questions on duct leakage tests, moisture levels in attics and crawlspaces, combustion equipment in conditioned attics, ventilation in multifamily buildings, and continuous insulation in residential construction.

Document providing guidance to U.S. home builders who want to accept the challenge.

Guidance document providing BA research teams and partners with specific information and approaches to identifying and overcoming potential barriers to Building America (BA) innovations arising in and/or stemming from codes, standards, and rating methods.

A website providing information on the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Solution Center, a source for innovations in residential building energy performance, energy efficiency, quality, affordability and comfort for more than 20 years.

Document with the Quality Control Checklist developed as both a guide to assist in the transition to high performance home building, and as a simplified tool to be used as part of any builder's on-site quality control procedures.

Report on improving passive design adoption rates.

Report documenting the results of an in-depth evaluation of thermal comfort for two potential net zero-energy homes (NZEHs) in Massachusetts.

Report about instrumentation and limited short-term testing completed on a retrofit unoccupied test house in Fresno, California.

Two hourly energy simulation software, BEopt and Energy Gauge USA, were compared to ensure accuracy and evaluate agreement on the impact of various energy efficiency improvements.

Part I of the Guide addresses walls constructed with 2x6 wood frame studs, wood structural panel (WSP) sheathing as exterior sheathing, gypsum board as interior sheathing, and a cladding system installed over WSP sheathing in low-rise residential buildings up to three stories in height. Walls with...

Report describing the analytical study of renewable energy retrofits to homes built before 1980 and whether it is cost efficient or not.

Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Lessons Learned chapter focuses on successful deep energy retrofit projects throughout the U.S.

Fact sheet poster describing benefits and qualification of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) certified Zero Energy Ready Homes and providing eight examples of certified homes.

Report identifying two barriers that limit the ability of builders to explore opportunities for higher levels of energy efficiency in housing: the use of duct system materials that inherently achieve airtightness and are right-sized for low-load houses, and, the ability to air seal fire separation...

Document providing an example procedure for establishing acceptance-range criteria to assess results from software undergoing BESTEST-EX.

Report describing a project focused on the use of home energy ratings as a tool to promote energy retrofits in existing homes.

Report detailing field walk-through evaluations, energy simulations for projected savings with exterior insulation upgrades, building envelope energy improvement cost estimates, and installation and maintenance of monitoring equipment and data.

Document providing supplemental information for code enforcement professionals about header hangers in bearing walls.

Fact sheet describing the function of housewrap, its attributes, and common problems associated with its use, including housewrap vs. building paper and housewrap installation; also published in FEMA P-499 “Home Builder’s Guide to Coastal Construction: Technical Fact Sheet Series.”

Report detailing an evaluation of Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) residential energy efficiency demand side management (DSM) programs to assess their impacts and relative measures of energy and economic performance.

Report on on lessons learned from building one multifamily home to the Zero Energy Ready Home program requirements.

Guide describing sound mitigation measures to lower building natural disaster vulnerability to assist local officials and community decision makers in coastal areas.

Report detailing the proposed point structure for the prescriptive approach of the energy efficiency chapter of the NGBS update.

Information sheet about the National Residential Efficiency Measures Database, a public database that characterizes the performance and costs of common residential energy efficiency measures.

Document providing supplemental information for code enforcement professionals about headers in nonbearing walls.

Research study conducted on new specifications that would improve on the energy requirements of a NEEM home.

Report documenting actual energy savings of a retrofit project in Boulder, CO.

Fact sheet poster describing an online tool offered within the Building America Solution Center which provides construction guidance for builders and contractors in building and renovating homes to be more resistant to natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and wildfires, etc.

Report designed to help a builder understand quality management and its role in transitioning from conventional to HPH building and remodeling.

Research project aimed to verify whether homes in the New Jersey HPwES program achieved 30% source energy savings, and if so, what measures were implemented to achieve them.

Report about a deep energy retrofit Cool Energy House.

Information sheet describing solar PV upgrade for an existing homes.

Report summarizing commissioning, short-term testing, and analysis that occurred before, during, and just after the actual retrofit of the Bay Ridge project.

Research study presenting a unique opportunity to both identify and evaluate deep retrofit measures that are practical and potentially cost effective for the retrofit market, as well as review the cost effectiveness of the Passive House design approach for achieving energy savings in deep retrofits.

Document serving as a starting point that features initial tools and resources for teams to start collaborating to continually improve the energy efficiency and durability of new houses.

Research study determining how well high performance envelope and innovative cooling system interact to cost effectively reduce cooling energy use in this hot-dry climate.

Research study making several recommendations to whole-home program designers and implementers for improving the cost effectiveness and reach of whole-home programs.

Report developed for Habitat for Humanity about lessons learned from demonstration retrofit projects undertaken by Habitat for Humanity affiliates in New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; with building systems consulting and technical assistance provided by Steven Winter Associates.

Fact sheet poster describing a DOE tool that walks homeowners through a series of simple questions to produce a list of retrofit recommendations to improve the energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and durability of the homeowners’ home, while also lowering their carbon footprint.

Report presenting results from whole-house monitoring efforts in hope that they may be useful for others moving towards zero energy homes.

Report discussing Building America whole house systems research within the broad effort to reduce or eliminate the environmental impact of building and provides specific recommendations for future Building America research based on Building Science Corporations experience with several recent...

Research study describing research underway to better understand building thermal energy modeling tools.