Library

The RERH specifications and checklists take a builder and a project design team through the steps of assessing a home’s solar resource potential and defining the minimum structural and system components needed to support a solar energy system.

Website tool intended to guide home builders in assessing whether a new home has the proper physical orientation to support a future installation of a solar energy system.

Website providing data on household energy usage collected from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), a nationally representative sample of more than 18,000 housing units, representing the 123.5 million housing units occupied as primary residences in the U.S.

Report discussing instrumentation methods and field operation characteristics of two GSHPs in test houses, including a comparison between the manufacturers listed COP values and the COPs calculated from field data.

Website with information and research about residential hot water distribution systems.

A fact sheet educating homeowners on the importance of residential safe rooms, including their cost and how to register a safe room with local officials.

Brochure with information on residential solar hot water systems.

Homepage for ENERGY STAR’s windows, skylights, and doors program providing information for consumers and links to product directories.

Website describing the USRC, which "brings an unparalleled level of capability to the mission of improving community resilience in the built environment."

Resource to help builders better understand the WaterSense requirements for labeled homes and assist them in meeting the criteria so they can receive the label for their new construction.

A retrofit sheet providing information on elevating and securing water heaters to protect against damage during a flood.

Report presenting results of a laboratory experiment studying combi systems as a mode to eliminate safety issues associated with natural draft appliances.

Report about a deep energy retrofit Cool Energy House.

Information sheet describing solar PV upgrade for an existing homes.

Information sheet describing tankless hot water heating systems in existing homes.

Document discussing changes in testing the annual performance ratings for solar water heaters.

A fact sheet providing homeowners with guidance on properly securing water heaters to prevent them from tipping in an earthquake.

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

Report comparing the performance of seven differing types of residential water heating systems in a side-by-side test configuration over a full year period.

Document about testing of seven water heating systems in the Hot Water Systems laboratory in central Florida.

Information sheet describing how to select a properly sized water heater based on household usage patterns, peak demand, and heater type—whether tankless, solar, or storage-based—to ensure efficiency and adequate hot water supply.

A website providing information on how to properly size a water heater based on tank size, volume, peak hour demand and other factors.

Website providing consumers with resources to find, select and install heat pump water heaters.

Report providing a synopsis of a project to evaluate the performance of a roof-integrated solar water heating system.

Website describing how solar water heaters -- also called solar domestic hot water systems -- can be a cost-effective way to generate hot water for your home.

The RERH specifications and checklists take a builder and a project design team through the steps of assessing a home’s solar resource potential and defining the minimum structural and system components needed to support a solar energy system.

Specifications to assist builders in designing and constructing homes equipped with a set of features that make the installation of solar energy systems after the completion of the home’s construction easier and less expensive.

Outlines the minimum criteria for a solar water heating system installed by a Solar Water Heating Program trade ally under Energy Trust of Oregon’s Solar Water Heating Program.

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.

ENERGY STAR webpage describing the benefits of storm windows and a link to a product list.

Webpage providing an ENERGY STAR climate zone map and criteria for ENERGY STAR storm windows per climate zone.

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.

Report about proper water heater selection developed to provide step-by-step procedures for evaluating preferred cost-effective options for energy efficient water heater alternatives based on local utility rates, climate, and anticipated loads.

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.

Information for properly sizing gas lines for use with tankless water heaters and other gas appliances.

Resource manual for builders, designers, architects, plumbers, and others interested in the WaterSense Labeled Homes Program providing an overview of the program, explains how to meet the program requirements, gives descriptions of water-saving technologies, and provides links to further resources.

Conference paper summarizing the relative performance of currently available Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWH) models, the energy implications of different installation locations (garage, basement, or conditioned space) and ducting configurations (exhaust ducting, full ducting, or no ducting), as well...

Case study of new home construction in the hot-humid climate.

Case study of new home construction in the hot-dry and mixed-dry climate zones.

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.

Even as the worst housing market correction in more than 60 years appeared to turn a corner in 2009, the fallout from sharply lower home prices and high unemployment continued.

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

Document providing an overview of the Thermal Bypass Checklist for the ENERGY STAR Qualified Homes program.

Guide describing details that serve as a visual reference for each of the line items in the Thermal Enclosure System Rater Checklist.

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...

Report about partnership to build three communities of net zero houses.

Report documenting the process and outcomes involved in achieving the U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program certification standards while helping homebuilders in Climate Zones 5 and 6 in the Upper Midwest achieve ZERH certification.

Presentation report detailing Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) interaction with space conditioning systems in real-life test scenarios that explains some of the problems arising from these interaction and information that can be used to make the system more efficient.

Report on investigating the effectiveness of using solar thermal water heaters to address heat losses from piping while recirculating water in multifamily buildings.