Library

Document describing issues of wind pressure resistance in walls with exterior rigid foam sheathing installed directly over framing members.

Research project evaluating the pre-and post-retrofit energy consumption of a marine climate retrofit, compare actual energy use to original predictions, and identify opportunities for cost savings in other similar retrofits in this climate.

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 providing performance results of a home's heat pump water heater and whole-house dehumidifier over a six-month period.

Report evaluating a test home built in Atlanta, GA in the mixed-humid climate zone. The report outlines the features of the house, discusses the implementation of the energy efficient design, and presents the results of short-term characterization testing.

Document about laboratory testing of five integrated heat pump water heaters (HPWH).

Document about NREL's repository of residential building characteristics and historical energy use data, used to improve accuracy of residential energy analysis tools.

Report using data from various sources to characterize the impact on human health and property damage from indoor environmental quality and other hazards.

Report outlining a case study about a building project in the hot-humid climate zone.

Article describing a research study exploring how effective interior insulation systems are at keeping basements dry and warm.

Fact sheet poster describing a series of fact sheets and checklists for homeowners to share with contractors to help achieve cost-effective, energy-efficient retrofits for dozens of common home renovation projects.

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 providing a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis inherent to different models as a way of thinking about the transition from traditional business models into a viable model for delivering deep energy retrofits.

Report about seeking a 30% source energy savings targets over a comparable 2009 International Energy Conservation Code-built home in the cold climate zone, using simple measures.

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.

Research study identifying barriers, industry status, critical obstacles to documenting added value from energy efficiency improvements, current opportunities to support reporting about energy efficiency, and next steps toward enabling energy efficiency financing market transformation.

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

Research study investigating the thermal efficiency of fasteners, namely drywall screws and siding nails, in high-performance wood-framed walls.

Report on a project conducted to better understand the current usage of thermostatic radiator valves by key market players in steam and hot water heating and to conduct limited experiments on the effectiveness of new and old thermostatic radiator valves as a means of controlling space temperatures...

Article describing the evolution of the IRC to permit class 3 vapor retarders (latex paint) in walls coupled with exterior continuous insulation to allow drying and reduce condensation risk.

Fact sheet poster describing the energy efficiency and comfort benefits of thin triple-pane windows as compared to standard triple-pane and double-pane windows.

Research study describing a detailed 3D computational fluid dynamics model that evaluates the thermal performance of uninsulated wall assemblies.

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...

Case study about a structural sheathing product composed of enhanced EPS rigid foam with OSB adhered on one side.

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

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

Information sheet about types and installation of insulation.

Website with consumer information about various types of lighting.

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 addressing the ever increasing percentage of whole house energy use that is attributable to miscellaneous electricity loads (MELs) and major appliances.

Presentation describing the challenges of insulating an existing basement, presented to the Building America residential energy-efficiency stakeholder meeting.

Document presenting analysis results, focusing on relative humidity (RH) excursions, which are defined as unique events of indoor RH above a threshold.

Document providing a case study of commissioned performance measures that justify costs for these demonstration and "live" show homes.

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

Report summarizing results from a study in Massachusetts that aimed to upgrade existing homes and incorporate solar thermal systems.

Research study comparing TRNSYS Type 604 pipe model against laboratory pipe heat loss test data and detailed field monitoring data.

Research report that validates Pinhole Insulation®, offering a cost-effective, minimally invasive solution for enhancing insulation and air sealing in enclosed roof cavities, improving R-value by 60% compared to traditional methods.

Report about a project with successful integration of numerous energy-conservation and renewable-energy features into a beautiful, comfortable, and very energy-efficient off-grid home.

Report discussing the measured variability in indoor space temperatures in a set of 60 homes located in Florida, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

Fact sheet describing the results of an analysis of humidity control and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system efficiency in three new multifamily buildings in New York, NY.

Preliminary results of two monitored lab homes constructed to represent the thermal characteristics of typical existing Florida homes are presented.

Information sheet about proper ventilation and air sealing.

This report examines indoor air quality in post-2013 homes across various climates, focusing on contaminant levels, ventilation equipment usage, and control measure impact, with regional data from Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

This report describes how twenty homes were tested and monitored in the Zone 2 climate of Houston, Texas, U.S.A., to evaluate the humidity control performance and operating cost of six different integrated dehumidification and ventilation systems that could be applied by production homebuilders.

Report summarizing NRELs efforts to develop diagnostic test cases to conduct accurate energy simulations when phase change materials (PCMs) are modeled in residential buildings.

Research study developed and verified a fuel oil flow field measurement protocol that is cost effective and can be performed with little training for use by the BB program as well as other weatherization programs and building science researchers.