Energy Star for New Homes

Revising Building Codes to Transform US Buildings

According to conservative estimates, the United States could save up to 0.70 quads by 2010 by implementing simple energy efficiency measures in buildings.

And forty billion pounds of CO2 could be prevented from entering the atmosphere if only 10 percent of US homes were able to meet Energy Star's latest guidelines for new construction. Inefficiency, increasing home size, and urban sprawl are three factors that led to an unsustainable situation.

NRGmagnet's President Lisa Surprenant worked with United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) New Homes team for training and technical support services to builders, architects, and broader stakeholders to train them in designing buildings via an "integrated building design approach" to comply with EPA criteria.

In 2006, the EPA decided to undertake the first revisions to the Energy Star for New Homes guidelines to align with US Dept. of Energy revisions to the national building codes. To achieve this, cooperation and feedback from all stakeholders was needed.

Analysis and modeling of various impacts and scenarios were undertaken. The result was a transparent, actionable, and cohesive set of guidelines that included innovations such as the "Thermal Bypass Checklist" which aimed at preventing a major cause of inefficiency in new buildings.

The Energy Star for New Homes program continues today as a voluntary program under the EPA's suite of programs aimed at environmental preservation through market transformation.

What began as a modest initiative in 1995, today has support in every state in the US through a network of more than utility partners, builders, and providers and rater (verification) organizations.

Through a host of support mechanisms to stakeholders, more than 500,000 homes across the US are more energy efficient.

 

NRGmagnet llc is a certified SWaM (small minority- or woman-owned business) with offices in the US and Holland. We provide a full range of energy efficiency, greening, and renewable energy program services. We have a unique set of core capabilities including: Policy and Program Design, Master Planning, Infrastructure Assessment, Analytics; Gender & Disaster Program Support, Capacity-Building and Training, Program Implementation and Evaluation, Green Building Consultation, Standards and Labeling, Codes Support, Water Efficiency, Vulnerability Assessments, Baseline Surveys, Communications and Marketing, Monitoring and Evaluation, and EU Accession Advice.