Library

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.

Research study estimating potential energy savings relative to conventional ducted air distribution, and identifying equipment requirements, costs, and barriers.

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

Brochure intended to provide readers with a working knowledge of residential heating and cooling duct systems.

Brochure with information about ducts in conditioned space.

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.

Information sheet about reservoir claddings.

Information sheet about sealing combustion appliances to ensure good indoor air quality.

Information sheet providing recommendations on the installation of vapor control layers.

Case study about Artistic Homes of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the first home builder in the United States to offer true net zero energy construction to the average home buyer on every home it builds.

Expert meeting focusing on identifying gaps and barriers in combustion safety that need to be addressed by future research, and to develop data-driven technical recommendations for code updates so that a common approach for combustion safety can be adopted by all members of the building energy...

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.

Document describing the Building America research benchmark for the residential building program.

Report on a simplified test procedure for combustion safety that is easier to implement and should produce fewer false positives than the previous procedure.

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...

Research report anayzing the results of a large retrofit project, turining an old school into near zero energy consumption apartments in Greenfield MA.

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

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...

This report evaluates the performance of variable-capacity comfort systems, with a focus on inverter-driven, variable-capacity systems, as well as proposed system enhancements.

Report describing the evaluation and selection of ventilation systems for homes retrofitted for energy aesthetic and health/safety improvements in Las Vegas.

Document reviewing four cold-climate northern Illinois energy efficiency retrofit programs to identify practices, tools, and approaches to streamline and reduce costs of comprehensive retrofits, and to improve the consistency of audit and retrofit delivery practices across different programs.

Case study on exhaust ventilation and corresponding outdoor air intake strategies implemented in high-performance new-construction multifamily buildings.

Research study documenting market-ready energy solutions to improve the efficiency of new affordable housing in the marine climate of Washington State.

Technical report describing the evaluation of four different ventilation strategies for providing make-up air in high-performance, new construction multifamily buildings in the Northeast, emphasizing the challenges posed by increasing airtightness standards and the variability of system performance...

Report describing research that helps inform best practices for air-sealing multifamily buildings in the Northeast.

Report about field testing that characterizes the uniformity of room-to-room ventilation air distribution under various operating conditions by examining multi-zone tracer gas decay curves and calculating local age-of-air.

Technical report on a field validation study that utilizes low-cost indoor air quality sensors to assess a smart ventilation system's effectiveness in maintaining acceptable indoor humidity in low-load homes in humid environments, revealing that while the smart ventilation algorithm demonstrated...

Research report assessing the moisture and cooling load impacts of airtightness and mechanical ventilation in homes in hot-humid climates.

Research study outlining savings from reducing air infiltration, with and without the addition of mechanical ventilation, using two identical laboratory homes designed to model existing Florida building stock.

Report explaining the issues and concerns with conventional ventilated crawlspaces and to outline prescriptive measures for improvements that will create healthier and more durable spaces.

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

Website providing information on low-energy and standard cooling systems, with a focus on saving energy.

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.”

The study described in this white paper is based on building energy modeling with an important focus on the indoor humidity impacts of ventilation.

Fact sheet describing the newly developed Ventilation-Integrated Comfort System (VICS) that reduces space requirements and eliminates costly ductwork for separate heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, all while enhancing performance, addressing the demand for energy-efficient homes, and...

Report targeting the growing number of homes utilizing deep retrofit measures and new construction practices to realize sufficiently lower infiltration levels that require mechanical ventilation as prescribed by ASHRAE Standard 62.2.

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

Report focusing on managing the driving forces that move air and water vapor across the building envelope.

Report describing the use of passive vents as a source of outdoor air in multifamily buildings.

This document addresses adding—or improving—mechanical ventilation systems to existing homes. The purpose of ventilation is to remove contaminants from homes either directly or by dilution. This report discusses where, when, and how much ventilation is appropriate in a home, including some...

Guide describing proper application, design, and installation of mechanical ventilation cooling systems for homes located in hot-dry and cold-dry climates, as well as a means of understanding the benefits, costs, and tradeoffs of these systems.

Report describing the most cost-effective ventilation and indoor air quality solutions for multifamily homes that meet ASHRAE 62.2-2016.

Document describing a hygrothermal modeling study, including all of the US climate zones, a range of interior humidity levels and numerous arrangements and types of insulation.

Research study examining the performance of existing multifamily ventilation central systems and explored alternative solutions in retrofit situations.

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

Information sheet providing guidance about the placement of ventilation approaches.

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

Report reviewing the design and the first four months of energy performance of a near zero energy project home in Callaway, Florida during the second half of 2008.