Anyone have experience with the Energy Star Program and Home Energy Rating (HERS)? How easy or hard are they to get? How much work? I’ve not done anything with them before, but 3 clients in a row just mentioned them, and each talked about state incentives that seemed pretty serious.
The programs worthwhile? waste of time? indifferent?
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Here is some simple research on Hers Ratings, The ratings are not free and you would have to see what they plan to do with their rating
What is a energy rating?
The US has a Government certified Building Energy efficiency rating system. Nothing can be called an energy rating unless it is from a certified HERS rater. A HERS rating is an evaluation of the energy efficiency of a home, compared to a computer-simulated reference house of identical size and shape as the rated home that meets minimum requirements of the Model Energy Code (MEC). The HERS rating results in a score between 0 and 100, with the reference house assigned a score of 80. From this point, each 5% reduction in energy usage (compared to the reference house) results in a one point increase in the HERS score. Thus, an ENERGY STAR qualified new home, required to be significantly more energy-efficient than the reference house, must achieve a HERS score of at least 86.*
The two types of ratings are.
HERS ratings involve the analysis of a home's construction plans and at least one on-site inspection of the home. The construction plan review allows the home energy rater to attain technical information such as orientation, shading area, proposed SEER rating, insulation levels, etc. The on-site inspection includes a blower door test (to test the leakiness of the house) and a duct test (to test the leakiness of the ducts). Results of these tests, along with inputs derived from the construction plan review, are entered into a computer simulation program that generates the HERS score and the home's estimated annual energy costs
A Builder Option Package (BOP) is the other manner through which a home can be qualified as an ENERGY STAR qualified new home. BOPs represent a set of construction specifications for a specific climate zone. BOPs specify performance levels for the thermal envelope, insulation, windows, orientation, HVAC system and water heating efficiency for a specific climate zone that meet the standard. (For the purposes of using BOPs, the U.S. has been divided in 19 separate climate zones)
Where would I find this information so I can put it to use? Thanks
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.pt_HowRaterHERShttp://www.natresnet.org/about/default.htmand here is some worthwhile info
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.pt_consumer_fact_sheets_index
All of the affordable housing work we do in Boston is Energy Star rated. There are different degrees to which you can participate, but essentially their basic program is not much different than what our state building code requires for energy conservation.
They have tons of technical resources and the personnel are extremely helpful. They conduct seminars all the time and will come to the job site to review details with the builder and installers. They have rebate programs that differ from time to time based on partnerships with local utilities. We've received free light fixtures for 4 houses, energy-saving bulbs for incandescent fixtures, credits on boilers, indirect fired hot water heaters, bath fans, set back thermostats.......a few years back we could get a free Weil-McClain boiler by switching from oil to natural gas.
It would be well worth a phone call to hear about the program.
The clients are doing the legwork...filling out the forms, sharing what they learn. Good deal for me!Here's what he passed on:"You must get a Certified Energy Rater (CER) to rate your home. Lists of these raters are on the Energy Star website. I was charged $200 to do the analysis. There will be an additional charge of between $300 and $500 to do the final on site evaluation. The HERS score is the number output from the Home Energy Rating Software, which I assume is some standard software package, and is a number from 0 to 100. The CER enters in the relevent parameters of the house into the software and it generates the HERS score. The entered parameters fill 8 full pages for our project. The HERS score corresponds to the Energy Star rating as follows: 1 Star = 0-19
1 Star Plus = 20-39
2 Stars = 40-49
2 Stars Plus - 50-59
3 Stars = 60-69
3 Stars Plus = 70-79 The following Energy Star ratings are considered Energy Efficient: 4 Stars = 80-82
4 Stars Plus = 83-85
5 Stars = 86-89
5 Stars Plus = 90-100 The rating we received is based on design plans only. We will have the CER out to the site to do functional testing for the final Energy Star Rating and HERS score when the construction is complete."The one who did it first just heard back. He got 5+ stars on the Energy Star and 94.3 as a HERS score. He expects it could be even higher, but they included the garage space as part of the conditioned space (???) for some reason. There's a money-back potential via taxes of up to $25K. Not bad.
I'd also like to hear more about the tax incentives. Our house now has a HERS rating in excess of 90, and I could use a big tax deduction! :-)But seriously, I found the money I invested into the Energystar program more than repaid. For $75, we got a blower-door test, a comprehensive review re: what materials we were using vs. what they were recommending, etc. With several large holes in the envelope, we were at 0.41 ACH, I'm itching for another test now that they're closed.We got $1000 for the AC system and the intial application fee back as well. I hope more consumers will take up these offers before they build or renovate as it'll open their eyes to the possibilities that are out there.
That's not bad at all, get what you can when you can. I spoke with our Energy Star rep this morning and it seems that due to high participation rates in the program, the rebate levels will be lower and the standards a bit higher this year. After doing this for several projects I honestly don't think the requirements of the program are very hard to achieve.
The Energy Star folks usually run the HERS numbers for us, but I seem to remember getting fairly high results. The Mass code requires us to use REScheck from the Department of Energy. Most all building inspectors will accept HERS, but there are a few that want REScheck, so we wind up showing that anyways.
The first of our houses to go through the tests just completed the whole process. We'll use his words to tell the results, with my only addition to it being that I'm as thrilled as can be and totally psyched to have the numbers reflect all that we believe to be true about the sculpted insulated concrete high-mass buildings:
"We had a blower test done on the house yesterday to confirm the Energy Star rating done previously to plans only. The testers said that the house was the tightest house of any size that they have tested in over twenty years. They confirmed the Energy Star 5 Plus rating, which means that the house exceeds the requirements for the highest possible 5 rating. I will be getting a written report with the actual measurement data, and the Energy Star certificate in about a week.
The leaky parts of the house were the three places where we have exterior stud walls, the wall separating the garage from the rest of the house, the porch window wall, and the balcony deck wall. Even though all of these walls were sprayed with polyurethane foam, there were measurable leaks through the electrical boxes. The testers suggested further sealing around those boxes with spray can foam. They were kinda apologetic offering suggestions to improve the tightness, as they kept saying that the house was so incredibly tight.
The other cool thing that they did was do a differential pressure test between the house and the garage, and also the house and the inside of the wood stove to measure the potential for toxic fume leakage between those two places and the inside of the house. The wood stove, including chimney and outside air duct was totally leak free. The wall between the garage and the house had very small leakage through the electrical boxes as noted above.
They also had a thermal imaging device that they used to look at all of the exterior walls for thermal leaks from inside the house. The tester commented that he had never seen a house with such uniform temperature distribution in the exterior walls.
The tester also will be giving me some additional certificates that may qualify the house for up to a maximum possible $10K in federal tax credits.
All in all, the rating to plans, plus the actual testing cost me $700. Not a bad investment if I can get the full $10K in tax credits. "
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Owner got the final report today. Got enough tax credits to buy his kitchen appliances! Here's the results I liked: "The effective leak area was 31.6 square inches, a roughly 5 X 6 inch hole in an 8000 sq. ft. shell. The calculated natural air changes per hour was 0.03."0.03 ACH! Of course we're providing ventilation for the house, but it's under our terms, and not random leaks. Still, I never guessed it'd be that low.
That is really awesome. People take note... that is how to save energy, control the leaks. Congrats in validation of your designs. Stu
Thanks. Of interest to you might be that the few framed portions of the house--in the openings for some windows and doors--were insulated with spray polyurethane foam. The only air infiltration came from not detailing the electric outlets as thoroughly as possible. Credit to the builder, Ray Ansel of R&S Lifeline Domes for his obvious competence. He was a treat to work with, and the good news is that his next two jobs are also my projects.
Right Cloud- I did take note of that. Are those 2x4 walls with the deep electrical boxes?
Please let us know.
Good for you to find a great team to work with.
Stu
>Are those 2x4 walls with the deep electrical boxes?I got the full Energy Star report, but have yet to read it. Here's the owner's answer to the questions:"The window wall framing is 2 X 6 metal studs. The wall between the
living space and the garage is 2 X 4 metal studs. The tester guys said
that the foam will sometimes pull away from around the studs and
electrical boxes leaving a small gap. The leaks were still really
small. The electrical boxes on the garage side of the wall, for the
garage light switches, garage door openers, and outlets couldn't get any
foam behind them, as it was sprayed from the garage side. There would
be a direct air path there through the electrical boxes. They suggested
a little spray can foam around the boxes. The other thing that I
noticed was where the exterior framed walls met at a 120 degree angle,
like the porch and the loft walls, the wedge between the two studs there
didn't get foamed because the space was so small. Also where the
framing meets the shell at the top, for the same reason. I used a spray
foam can to seal between the top of the living/garage wall studs and the
shell.As to vents, we have 3 bathroom vents, the kitchen stove vent, and the
dryer vent, plus the two ERV ducts. The ERV has 2 electric dampers,
normally closed, with gasket seals. No special treatment was done to
the other vents. The testers suggested a Heartland dryer vent cap for
outside, as it seals extremely well, and is the only one they've seen
that works. There was also the usual leakage around the door weather
stripping.I will be getting the Heartland dryer vent (they say available at Home
Depot, Lowes, and about everywhere else), and will foam around the
electrical boxes."
A hearty congratulations. All homes shoulf be built this tight.
Here's where the clients have progressed to next--pretty cool looking, huh? His explanation: "Our solar electric array has been installed. Some additional trees still need to be dropped to eliminate this shading at about 4:00 pm. We are near the worst case time of the year, which is the winter solstice on Dec 21, when the sun is the lowest in the sky. Our array is rated at 3120 watts, generating around 36.5 amps at 85.5 volts DC. The panels have been wired to the equipment room but we do not have the batteries yet, so we are not yet generating any power. Our electric utility is installing an electric meter that will run backwards when we sell them our excess generated power, if any."
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Edited 11/22/2006 9:45 pm ET by CloudHidden
Anything special you did for the clothes dryer vent, bathroom vent, or kitchen vent to get that kind of ACH?
I will ask the owner or builder and get back to you.