Library

Report providing builders in marine 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.

Report describing measures that builders in mixed-humid climates can use to build homes that have whole-house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark with no added overall costs for consumers.

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.

Technical report describing the SPS (Structural Panel System), an innovative implementation of the "perfect wall" concept, situating environmental control layers on the exterior side of structural components for improved constructability, cost-effectiveness, and performance, validated through the...

Standard providing a methodology for evaluating the installation quality of unitary HVAC systems.

Article by the Canadian Government on attic ventilation and considerations for moisture and ice dams.

Report covering interior energy retrofits of masonry buildings.

DOE report characterizing market and technical barriers impeding broader utilization of fault detection technology for residential HVAC energy efficiency applications.

Document focusing on the design and wall components that contribute to a pressure equalized rain screen wall, including the frequency of the weep holes and other brick masonry rain screen wall requirements.

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

Guide describing measures that builders in the cold and very cold climates can take to build homes that have whole-house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark with no added overall costs for consumers.

Web based tool providing decision-making guidance for selecting wall assembly components.

Report summarizing the guidelines for developing and reporting analytical results in a consistent and meaningful manner for all home energy uses.

Document illustrating some analysis concepts that are proven to be effective and reliable in analyzing the transient energy usage of advanced energy systems as well as of entire houses.

Website providing CAD files and drawings of advanced framing details.

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 describing a deep energy retrofit project for a two-family wood framed home located in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Article describing the principle of capillarity in construction materials.

Book describing Carpentry and Construction, Construction Materials, Hand Tools, Power Tools, Construction Equipment, Jobsite Safety, and Working Conditions, Building Design and Print reading, Inspections Survey Instruments and Operations, Foundation and Outdoor Slab Construction, Floor, Wall, and...

Report summarizing the key opportunities, gaps, and barriers identified by the national laboratory white papers discussing long-term 50% energy reduction goals.

Article describing how closed crawlspaces can do "double duty" by controlling moisture and providing energy savings.

Research study comparing various retrofit models in Wisconsin to evaluate performance in terms of savings per home and program cost per home to assess the relative cost effectiveness of each program design.

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.

Guidance from Zero Energy Project on construction techniques for warmer climates, such as home orientation, and insulation requirements.

Article about how mortar droppings during the installation of a brick veneer can clog the weep holes in the wall assembly causing moisture damage. The article also illustrates products that can be installed in the ventilated cavity to mitigate this problem.

The Guide addresses walls constructed with 2x4 wood frame studs, wood structural panel (WSP) sheathing as wall bracing and added backing for foam sheathing, a layer of rigid foam sheathing insulation up to 1.5 in. thick over the WSP, and a cladding system installed over the foam sheathing in low...

Website providing building science based guidance and training for residential construction.

Guidance document on deep energy retrofits.

Part of a larger LBNL report (Deep Energy Retrofit Guidance for the Building America Solutions Center), the Design and Construction Process chapter provides detailed guidance for each process phase: pre-planning, planning, construction, test-out and post-occupancy.

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.

Report describing the progress toward and issues related to developing a usable, standardized, empirical data-based software accuracy test suite.

Report covering exterior energy retrofits of masonry buildings.

Website for finding policies and incentives by state for renewables and efficiency.

Journal article presenting a discussion of the state-of-the- art in electricity management in smart homes, the various enabling technologies that will accelerate this concept, and topics around consumer behavior with respect to energy usage.

Document providing a resource to help contractors renovate historic houses, while addressing issues such as building durability, indoor air quality, and occupant health, safety, and comfort.

ENERGY STAR factsheet describing the HVAC Quality Installation Program

Section 608 establishes EPA’s National Recycling and Emission Reduction Program designed to reduce emissions related to maintaining, servicing, repairing, and disposing of air conditioning or refrigeration equipment.

Expert meeting describing meeting details for key innovations for adding energy efficiency upgrades to maintenance projects.

Report presenting the process of a residential retrofit project for houses in the states of Florida and Alabama, including findings at the time of reporting and highlights of the first home to meet the target HERS Index of 70.

Report that demonstrates the durability, constructability, and cost-effectiveness of the extended plate and beam (EP&B) wall system for new construction housing projects in compliance with the International Energy Conservation Code, addressing moisture risk management and high-performance envelope...

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

Report of a field evaluation of four novel roof designs to see how each design would reduce space-conditioned energy use so that the knowledge gained could be applied to the design of new manufactured homes.

Article describing five fundamental changes to building construction from the last 50 years and their modern construction consequences.

Report outlining the energy upgrade package implemented in Ft. Benning, GA, Indianhead Townhomes project and the findings of the Southface Energy Institute's post-renovation analysis.

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 guidance about building healthy homes using building science principles.

Research study investigating the factors influencing consumer adoption of HEDs and evaluating the resulting electricity consumption.

A starting point for ballparking and comparing the cost of different siding materials and a brief overview of the pros and cons of different siding materials.

Article describing how omission of two small but critical wall details, a kick-out flashing and a weep screed, lead to extensive water damage to a wall.

Book providing project management guidance in maintaining satisfactory indoor air quality (IAQ) of occupied buildings undergoing renovation or construction.