We talk a lot about the importance of quality insulation installation, especially for batts. If the home is getting a HERS rating, Grade III installation means 5% of your insulated area is modeled as uninsulated. For those in California, failing to meet their definition of quality, a Quality Insulation Installation (QII), means wall cavity R-value...
While solar homes have reached a milestone, superior envelope efficiency must be primary
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that the number of U.S. homes with solar panels has reached 1 million. As the primary on-site renewable power generation source, the expansion of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) means a much more distributed...
Research shows that consumers want energy efficiency, but they’re motivated by comfort. As builders pursue energy efficient homes, they may need to shift how they promote the benefits of high performance homes to potential buyers, so that their messages resonate on an emotional level in an area that consumers really care about: comfort.
Comfort callbacks are both timely and cost consuming, so here’s what you can do to reduce them.
The single largest financial investment that consumers will make in their lifetime is their home and a wealth of research finds that homeowners want their abodes to be energy efficient and comfortable. Both comfort and energy efficiency rely heavily on...
With a goal of reducing energy use while increasing efficiency and cutting carbon emissions, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in June proposed the first new energy efficiency standards update for manufactured homes in more than 20 years. The changes would cumulatively cut energy use by an estimated 30 percent over a 30 year period compared to...
As fall approaches it’s time to consider options to weatherize your home. This means making improvements that can help improve comfort and lower energy bills, in the winter months and beyond. For homeowners trying to prioritize their home improvement dollars, and time, the question of what to focus on first often comes up. We’re going to make the...
Addison Homes, a green builder in Greenville, South Carolina, certainly didn’t set out to cause trade partners to grumble, murmur or gripe. They set out to build DOE certified Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERH) to provide their customers with the energy savings, comfort and indoor air quality such homes deliver. To do that, Addison Homes had to get...
HERS ratings are fast becoming a norm for residential new construction. In 2008, 100,000 homes received a HERS rating. In 2016, we passed the 100,000 market in just the first half of the year. The growth in HERS ratings has in turn elevated HERS raters into an increasingly important advisory role for many builders. More than just providing a...
Over the years, there has been significant discussion about batt insulation slumping and loose fill insulation settling. Manufacturers often discount these claims as inaccurate or the result of rumors spread by competitors. They do this because they have test data they believe proves these defects are not real issues. But the perspective of...
As both a green and custom home builder, Eddie Fort of PD & M Contractors has a client base that is affluent and knowledgeable about energy efficiency. Fort, winner of the 2015 EarthCraft “Home of the Year,” award, builds shorefront properties in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, near the geographic center of the state and adjacent to Lynchburg. At a...
