This training provides an overview of the program’s structure, mandatory certification requirements, efficiency performance threshold, and available partner resources. (January 2025, 35 minutes.)
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[Sarah Santiago-Cok]
Welcome to the US Department of Energy's Efficient New Homes Program training on its Single Family National Version 2 program. This training is being recorded for use by DOE-recognized Home Certification organizations or HCOs as part of their training and credentialing of Raters working under their oversight.
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Please note that all partners are required to view this training, but raters and verifiers must take this and all other required training through their overseeing HCO for DOE so that they may track and record your participation. Watching this video via the DOE Efficient New Homes website does not fulfill the training requirements for raters and verifiers.
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This training covers five main topic areas. We'll start with a quick overview of the program’s structure, and then there is a longer section on the mandatory requirements. Then we'll look at the target home, the certification and oversight process for Efficient New Homes, and then wrap up with a summary of the published program documents to be aware of.
Now, Jamie Lyons, the program's technical director, will start us off with a description of the program's structure.
[Jamie Lyons]
Next, we'll walk through the basic building blocks of the program structure to get our partners familiar with that landscape.
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We unpack that program structure we call the technical foundation in three components.
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So here we show those.
And Step 1 is what you might suspect. It's really to begin by optimizing the energy efficiency of the home through a very well insulated and air-sealed enclosure, high efficiency space conditioning and water heating equipment, and highly efficient appliances and lighting.
But that's just the beginning. Really, there's a lot more than just the energy efficiency. Along with that high level of efficiency, we really want a high-performance home that addresses water management, includes features to make the home more comfortable and it includes a complete set of indoor air quality protections for the resident.
And then third, the key component is to make this home, which is often going to be the largest investment that the buyer will ever make, make it future ready with measures for PV readiness, electric vehicle readiness, and electric readiness for both space and water heating systems.
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So the program requirements that we showed at a high level on that last slide are structured in a set of mandatory requirements and a performance threshold.
The mandatory requirements ensure that they're really important, must have types of features are going to be included in each certified home. These are measures that are considered just really essential for the home's performance and often times they have a very high opportunity cost of not getting them right during the initial construction.
One good example of that is building and designing a really robust thermal envelope during the home's initial construction.
And then the second point, the performance threshold, sets the bar for the energy efficiency level that the homeless meet. This efficiency level is demonstrated through the use of energy modeling, and it can be achieved using a variety of different energy efficiency measures that, taken together, collectively meet the threshold.
And then finally, compliance with these requirements is verified using rater checklists that are completed by a third party and support the home's certification.
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Version 2 includes separate specs for single family and multifamily buildings, and Single Family Version 2 does not apply to any multifamily buildings. Manufactured homes are not eligible for the Single Family program, although there is a program version for this market segment as well.
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And there's also two types of the Single Family Version 2 program requirements: one for all states except California, referred to as National, and then there is a California-specific set of program requirements that achieves a similar level of efficiency but provides some allowances and options that harmonize with the California Energy Commission's Building Energy Efficiency Standards.
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The California specifications are not covered in this presentation and will be covered in an alternate training.
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The chart shown here, which is also available right on the Program Requirements web page, identifies the implementation dates for Single Family Version 2 program requirements.
To figure out and determine the appropriate set of program requirements to use for a given project, you need to know three things: the building type, the permit date, and the location. This chart will be continually updated, so it's a good resource on the website to get familiar with and check in on to determine which program version will apply to a given project.
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And then because the program version is determined by project's permit date, we also want to touch on the fact about how the permit date is defined.
Determining the permit date varies within some programs. For instance, it's defined a little bit differently for the Single Family Version 2 program as compared to the Multifamily Version 2 program. In the case of the Single Family V2 program, permit date is defined as we see here on the slide - as the date on which the permit authorizing construction of the building was issued. Alternatively, the date of the Rater’s first site visit or the date of the contract on the home is allowed to be used as the permit date. The permit application date is not allowed to be used. So, there are some important details in those definitions of permit date, and again they're found in the program requirements.
Also, we want to point out that revisions represent minor updates to a program version. And it's important to note that newer, more recent program versions and revisions can optionally be used by partners earlier than the required implementation date. And if a project is certified under a newer program version or revision, it's also deemed to meet the certification requirements of corresponding earlier/older versions or revisions. For example, a home that meets Single Family V2 Rev 1 would also be deemed to meet the certification requirements of Single Family Version 2 Rev 0.
And lastly, a project must be certified under just one program version and revision. It's not permitted to take parts of one program version and parts of another program version and stitch them together.
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Next, we'll walk through one of the core building blocks of the program that we mentioned, the mandatory requirements. So, the first place to look for information on the program's specific requirements is the document on the website entitled, “Single Family Version 2 National Program Requirements.”
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Sometimes we'll shorten that to “NPRs,” and the first exhibit in those NPRs that we see here is a table that describes all the mandatory requirements associated with the program. And I'll quickly click through these here and then we'll cover each of them with some follow up slides.
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So, there's some co-requisite certifications, the envelope needs to meet the 2021 IECC insulation levels, high performance windows, ducts and air handlers in conditioned space, water heating efficiency, lighting and appliances, indoor air quality, heat pump, space heating readiness, heat pump, water heating readiness, photovoltaic or PV readiness, and electric vehicle readiness.
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So the first requirement any builder considering the program should really take a look at is these two prerequisite certifications for ENERGY STAR and Indoor AirPlus. For the ENERGY STAR prerequisite, it references ENERGY STAR Single Family New Homes Version 3.2 or 3.3 National. And for the Indoor AirPlus program, we'll speak a little bit more about the exact program version that needs to be met a little further down in the slide deck today.
And together, these two prerequisite certifications establish a few really key building blocks for projects right out of the gate. They provide very sound building science and designing the home as a system. They provide above code efficiency levels to get started and they also provide a comprehensive package of IAQ measures that will benefit the homeowners.
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The next mandatory requirement in Exhibit 1 of the program requirements covers the building's exterior envelope. And as we mentioned, getting the envelope right during initial design and construction is really critical to reducing a home’s energy load for heating and cooling, resulting in lower energy bills. And the high-performance envelope can also help keep temperatures consistent, reduce drafts, and provides a comfortable indoor environment even during really extreme weather and periods of extreme heat or cold. And even when the power goes out, homes may stay comfortable for longer periods of time than homes with more standard envelopes.
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Homes achieve this high-performance envelope in part by meeting the UA requirements in the 2021 IECC or the TC requirements in the 2024 IECC. The Efficient New Homes program allows the use of both codes to provide flexibility for builders who might use either one.
The boxes highlighted in yellow on the screen show places where the 2021 and the 2024 IECC have slightly different efficiency levels. The 2024 code has slightly more efficient requirements for vertical glazing than the 2021 code, but also provides reduced levels of ceiling and slab insulation in some climate zones.
Homes may meet or exceed these levels using a UA calculation for the 2021 code or a TC calculation for the 2024 code, both of which allow trade-offs between different building envelope components. Regardless of which option builders choose, the home’s envelope must be less than or equal to 100% of the code-required UA or TC level. This requirement provides additional efficiency beyond the ENERGY STAR Single Family New Homes program, which in some cases allows a home to have a greater than 100% of the levels dictated by code.
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Under the 2021 IECC, the UA is calculated by multiplying the surface area of each envelope component by its U factor in the tables we showed on the previous slide. Under the 2024 IECC, the TC is calculated almost the exact same way as the 2021 UA, except homes with a slab on grade foundation have an additional term included in the equation, which is the F factor times the slab edge perimeter. For both cases, the home's calculated envelope level must be less than or equal to the code envelope level. Energy modelling software programs typically include a UA and/or TC calculation.
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In addition to the total envelope UA requirement, DOE Efficient New Homes also has specific mandatory high performance window requirements for SHGC, or solar heat gain coefficient. SHGC is the fraction of solar radiation emitted through a window, door or skylight - really anything with glazing. The lower the SHGC, the less solar heat it transmits and the greater its shading ability. A window with a high SHGC rating is more effective at collecting solar heat during the winter, helping to maintain warmer indoor temperatures, while a product with a lower SHGC rating is more effective at reducing cooling loads during the summer by blocking heat gain from the sun. Due to the ability of lower SHGC windows to reduce heating loads in the summer, the Efficient New Homes program requires low SHGC windows in warm climates.
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In the table shown here, we can see the required solar heat gain coefficient values for Single Family Version 2. The limit for climate zones 1 and 2 is an SHGC of 0.23 or lower, for zone 3 an SHGC of 0.25 or lower, and for climate zones 4A and 4B an SHGC of no greater than 0.4. These values are attainable with many window products on the market, and some builders will go beyond these levels and use even higher efficiency windows.
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Next up, locating forced air distribution ducts and the air handler within condition space is a key design detail to get right when a home is first built. It's another one of those measures that has a lot of impact on performance, and it's much easier to get it right during the initial design of a home. There's significant energy and performance penalties from locating ducts in more severe environments and those conditions are likely to continue through the life cycle of the house.
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So this slide shows the actual requirement, and we point out that there are several strategies builders can use to accomplish the spec.
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So, each of the design strategies shown here would satisfy the requirement for duct location. Over on the left, we have mini-split ductless systems, which when you don't have ducts to locate, then that consideration goes away because they're ductless. Ducts can also be located under the attic insulation in a vented attic type of assembly. There's a couple pathways to achieve that and we would point towards the NPRs for those details. But they generally deal with the extent to which ducts are buried under the attic insulation and how well air-sealed those ducts are against duct leakage.
And then there's several other options shown here over here on the right, which provide ways to keep ducts within the home thermal envelope and many of our builder partners and we'll gravitate towards one or more of these strategies after weighing pros and cons to the different methods in terms of the design, the installation complexity, the cost and perhaps the aesthetics.
And we also note that the HVAC air handler also needs to be located in conditioned space. So, some of these strategies by default would open up additional space to locate the air handler, such as an insulated basement or perhaps the unvented conditioned insulated attic assembly, which would also allow not only space for the ducts, but also the air handler.
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Water heating energy is a major energy use in a home, often being the second or third largest end use. And as the graphic here shows, on a national basis, water heating energy makes up 18% of total US energy consumption in residential buildings. So, it's a major end use and water heater efficiency is certainly an important aspect of the system along with the distribution system for delivering hot water throughout the home.
This is an area where many high-performance builders will often find that they can make some additional performance gains in their designs once they focus on the overall water heating system. Some of the benefits are listed here from an efficient overall water heating system. We'll see a lot of energy savings that's used to heat water. We'll also see significant water savings because less water will be lost down the drain while the homeowner waits for hot water to arrive at the fixture. And it'll also be the use of water conserving fixtures.
And then a third element to think about is upstream energy that's saved because a lot of energy goes into the water sanitation and distribution at the utility level. So, if less water is used at the site, there's upstream savings that result as well.
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So, the V2 program has some flexibility on this provision, offering three different options for achieving efficient water heating systems.
The first option is to design the hot water distribution system to be very compact, so that very little water volume, a half gallon or less, is stored in the distribution system between the hot water source and the fixture that's furthest from the source. And in most cases when we say source, it's the water heater, unless there's a recirculation loop, in which case the source becomes the point at which the branch takeoff to that furthest fixture leaves the loop.
The second option is a multi-component approach. It's going to involve using a very highly efficient water heater itself, which if it's a gas unit it has a uniform energy factor UEF above .87, or if it's an electric system, it's going to have a UEF above 2.2, meaning it's going to be a heat pump water heater. In addition, it's going to have a well-designed distribution system that doesn't have any more than 1.8 gallons of water stored between the hot water source and the furthest fixture. That's a good design. It's not storing an enormous amount of stored volume between the source and the fixture. And then third, this design will have water conserving fixtures, meaning WaterSense labeled showerheads and bathroom faucets.
And then the third option which is available to partners is that the home is certified under the EPA's Water Sense 2.0 program. This ensures that the home's overall design is going to conserve both water and the energy used to heat water. Builders already participating in WaterSense will often leverage this option.
And a quick note about how does one verify that stored volume limit - there's two methods by which that value can be verified. One is a planned take-off method and the second is a field measurement and either of those methods can be used as part of the verification process.
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The next mandatory provision requires efficient lighting and appliances. As the pie charts here show, the overall energy use, we might call it an “energy budget,” for homes over the years has reduced quite a bit and a big, big part of the reduction is driven by the envelope. We have very good envelopes, high insulation levels, good air sealing. We also have high efficiency HVAC equipment. So that green slice of the pie is smaller and the overall pie is smaller.
But what we also noticed is that lighting and appliances, they represent a bigger proportion of the remaining energy budget for that home. So, it makes sense to take advantage of high efficiency options for those parts of the building. And what that looks like in Version 2 is the requirement for ENERGY STAR refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, and bath ventilation fans, but only in cases where the builder is supplying and installing this appliance.
And then for the lighting side, the program requires 100% LEDS with a small allowance for a little bit of a specialized lighting that can be non-LED. But if that exception is used, we'll note that the ERI target that must be met for the home still assumes 100% LEDS, so any little drop off in lighting efficiency that might occur has to be made up for elsewhere.
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Indoor air quality and a healthy indoor environment are really critical benefits for the residents of high-performance homes. And the program views IAQ really as an essential component of each certified home.
And equally important, many builders find that indoor air quality is one of the key features that the buyers are really looking for in their new home. And we'll show a quote here, which is one of many that we hear from homeowners, just showing the powerful difference in how residents feel. And in this case, the residents saw a remarkable improvement in their asthma symptoms.
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Indoor air quality is critical to the design of a DOE Efficient New Home. The program requires compliance with the EPA's Indoor AirPlus certification program. Some of the key provisions are a properly designed and installed ventilation system, pest management features, combustion safety provisions, the use of low emission materials like paints and carpets to reduce exposure to VOCs, radon-resistant construction techniques, and provisions to control both bulk moisture and water vapor in and around the building.
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The DOE Efficient New Homes Single Family Version 2 program allows compliance with the IAP Version 1 specs for projects permitted on or before December 31st, 2026. IAP has also updated its program to Version 2 with some enhanced specifications, and the DOE Efficient New Homes Program requires certification under the IAP Version 2 Certified tier for homes permitted on or after January 1, 2027.
Single Family Version 2 has an additional requirement for heat or energy recovery ventilators in climate zones 6 through 8. These are the very cold climate zones where the heat exchange capability of this technology boosts efficiency while also providing balanced ventilation to the home.
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And we're hitting the home stretch on the mandatories now. The last four items we’ll cover are in the area of readiness for four critical innovations that homeowners they might use on day one in their new homes, or maybe they will deploy these at some point in the future.
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So first is for the installation of a future heat pump where gas is used as the primary heating source initially. To prepare for this future installation, there needs to be either an individual branch circuit or conduit install terminating within 3 feet of the existing furnace and labeled as being for the future heat pump. And there's one exception to this readiness requirement, shown here - if the home already includes an electric heating system as a primary heating source, then the heat pump readiness isn't required because this provision will already have been taken care of.
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The second readiness requirement is for heat pump water heater readiness. There's two components for this requirement. The first is that there must be a space large enough in the home to accommodate a future heat pump water heater. The volume of that space that's required is a 3x3x7-foot space. And importantly, this space can contain the existing water heater. So, if there's already a volume of space for a water heater there, that that can count towards this reserved space in the future.
And then secondly, there needs to be an additional branch circuit that's installed and energized terminating within 3 feet of the installed gas water heater with a rating of 240-volt 30-amps or 120-volt 20-amps.
There's also a couple exceptions we should touch on here. The exceptions apply to the space and circuit provisions separately. The first is the circuit isn't required if the existing water heater already has a circuit that meets the 240-volt 30-amp or 120-volt 20-amp specs. And secondly, the space reservation isn't required if the installed water heater is either an electric water heater or a gas tankless system.
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The third readiness requirement is for photovoltaic or PV readiness provisions that help ready homes that don't initially include a solar PV system for a more streamlined installation in the future. And there's four simple parts to what these PV ready provisions entail.
First off, the max allowable dead and live load ratings of the roof system are documented and provided to the owner so that a future PV installer has access to this information. A potential array location is identified and documented, and information is provided to the owner. Wiring conduit is run from the attic beneath the proposed array location to a termination point within eight feet of the service panel or subpanel. And then a space is reserved in the electric panel or subpanel for a dual pole circuit breaker that will tie into the PV system in the future.
And then additionally, there are four exceptions which would exempt the home from needing to complete these provisions in V2, and they're shown over here on the on the right side. If the home already includes on site solar, that's an exception. If the home receives energy from a community solar system, or if it has significant natural shading, or if it simply doesn't have enough free roof area in a southward facing direction, it can be exempted based on any of those from completing the PV checklist, and the fine details are in the NPRs.
But we'd also point out very importantly, if one of those exceptions applies, as long as the home meets all the other relevant program requirements, it can still be certified under the program.
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The fourth readiness requirement is for EV charging readiness. So, the primary scenario that we'll start with is when a dwelling, a house, has a private garage or driveway, and in this circumstance a powered 30-amp receptacle must be located either in the garage or within 6 feet of the private driveway.
This size circuit will provide adequate overnight charging for most EV use cases and builders are also able to increase the amperage if they see a use case that would justify that. The electric service panel must identify the branch circuit as electric vehicle charging, and there's also a few instances where the provisions aren't required.
First, if adding the 30-amp circuit to the main panel increases the electric service needs to the home, then connecting the circuit to the panel is not required. Secondly, if there's no parking provided for the home, this wouldn't apply. And the third and fourth ones are utility capacity related.
The third is if the local utility isn't able to provide the necessary capacity to support the 30-amp circuit for charging within two years, then the requirement can be excluded, and documentation of that circumstance needs to be retained. And fourth, if these EV readiness requirements will increase the utility side cost to the builder or developer by more than $450 per home, then this provision can also be excluded and again documentation of that must be retained.
So that's the primary application of EV charging. And then next, for the scenario where there's not a private garage or driveway, rather shared parking, there's some alternate EV charging provisions that would kick in.
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So with that, I will hand it over to my colleague, Sarah Cok, who is the technical manager to walk us through the next couple of sections, starting with the target home requirements.
[Sarah Santiago-Cok]
So now that we've covered the mandatory requirements, the other core requirement is the performance threshold, and this threshold sets the bar for how energy efficient a home must be to meet the program's criteria. To establish this threshold, the DOE Efficient New Homes program uses a target home system that is built into energy modelling software.
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The software will automatically configure a target home based on the actual design home. This Target Home assumes certain efficiency specifications which are identified in Exhibit 2 of the Single Family Version 2 program requirements shown here. The design home must meet or exceed the overall efficiency of the target home.
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The performance threshold is expressed as an integer on the Energy Rating Index, which is an efficiency scoring metric used widely in the residential construction industry. The lower the score, approaching 0, the more efficient the home. The Efficient New Homes ERI Target will be different for every home depending on its specifications, location, and orientation. The Design Home is configured by energy rating software, which is reviewed and approved by DOE and automatically generates the ERI Target score. This is the score that the Design home has to meet or exceed. The Design Home must achieve this score only with efficiency measures. Any reductions in the Design Home’s ERI score resulting from renewable energy don't count towards meeting the ERI Target score. In general, ERI target scores for Single Family Version 2 are in the 40s, but it's really important to model each home to find its unique ERI target score.
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Here's an example of a DOE Efficient New Homes design home, the actual home being built, and its corresponding target home to illustrate how a design home can use trade-offs to meet the efficiency level of the target home. The target home, built automatically by the software based on the design home, is nearly identical to the design home, except it is configured according to Exhibit 2 of the National Program requirements. The target home and the design home will have the same number of stories, conditioned floor area, orientation, climate zone, and fuel mix. So, a gas water heater in the design home would mean a gas water heater is assumed to be used in the target home.
One characteristic that may differ slightly is the fenestration area, which is capped at 15% of conditioned floor area for the target home in cases where the design home has this much glazing area or more. For this example, we're just going to look at how three different variables can be treated to achieve the target score. On the left are three target home specs: heat pump efficiency, infiltration, and gas water heater efficiency. The design home configured to these target specifications yields an ERI score of 45.
On the right is the same home, the design home, with these three specs adjusted slightly. These system specs might be preferable to the builder. The heat pump is less efficient, but the home is tighter and has a more efficient gas water heater with a 0.99 UEF. The ERI score for this home is 43 - less than the target 45, meaning that it passes the Efficient New Homes efficiency requirements.
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Partners will sometimes run into situations when the design home, which seems very energy efficient, is not achieving the Efficient New Homes ERI target. This slide provides a few strategies to address this challenge. First, we need to make sure that the team is aiming for the right target, which is the DOE Efficient New Homes Target ERI score for Single Family Version 2. This automatically is generated by ERI software that DOE has reviewed and approved, which is then used by HCOs and their raters for Efficient New Homes certifications. Using a static ERI target, such as trying to make all designs achieve ERI 45 or lower, isn't a useful strategy for program compliance because the ERI target varies with different home designs.
The second strategy that raters can try is to compare the design home specs to the target home specs, which are found in Exhibit 2 of the Single Family Version 2 National Program Requirements. The design home does not have to match each of these specs for the target home, but comparing specs can indicate where the design home might be losing some ERI points relative to the Efficient New Homes ERI target home. For example, the target home for Single Family Version 2 assumes the use of a high efficiency electric heat pump water heater with a UEF of 2.57. So, if the design home is using an electric resistance water heater with a UEF of just 0.95, this is going to cause the design home to lose several ERI points in comparison to the target home.
The third strategy we've pointed out here is to adjust different specifications to be more efficient based on builder preference, pricing, design integration, and other factors, and then gauge the impacts on the design home’s ERI. So, for example, if the building team is proficient at air sealing of the shell, consider reducing the infiltration value in the design home. Or perhaps the builder can easily specify a high performance HRV system with a minor cost impact. So this could be another spec to adjust. By going through the process of modeling different “what if” scenarios, the builder and rater can optimize the approach to attaining the Efficient New Homes ERI target needed for certification.
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So we've now covered the main program components for what you're building needs to do to earn certification. Now we're going to cover what builders, raters, and other partners need to do to ensure that their home is certified, including the program’s certification process and oversight requirements.
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This is the general certification process that applies to DOE Efficient New Homes Version 2 Single Family.
During the design phase, the design team uses the Efficient New Homes Program requirements to guide the design of a home. During modeling and consultation, a rater models the home using energy simulation software, which has been reviewed and approved by DOE for how it implements Efficient New Homes compliance to ensure that the design will meet the required energy efficiency level based on the design and specifications. Next comes construction. The builder constructs the home to the design, deviating as little as possible. The rater works alongside the builder to ensure that the home under construction matches the design and the energy model. In the rating phase, the rater performs site testing and inspections, ensuring that the as-built home matches the design and qualifies for certification. This verification work will also cover the ENERGY STAR and Indoor AirPlus certifications for the home and occurs both during and after construction. Finally, a DOE-recognized Home Certification Organization oversees the certification documents and approves the home for certification. This group also reports certification information to DOE.
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Next, we'll quickly run through all the program documents for Single Family Version 2 available on the website that go into detail about all program requirements we've covered so far. This slide gives a quick overview of three primary program documents that raters should be familiar with. The National Program Requirements, National Rater Checklist, and PV Checklist all describe how to earn certification under DOE Efficient New Homes Single Family Version 2.
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This is where you can find the Efficient New Homes Single Family Version 2 documents on the website. Go to the Program Requirements page, then click on Single Family Version 2, and this page appears. The three documents we previously mentioned, the National Program Requirements, Rater Checklist, and PV Checklist all appear here in order.
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Thank you for watching the Efficient New Homes Program Single Family Version 2 training.
For more information, please visit the website to view program documents, frequently asked questions, technical resources, and more. You can also reach out to the Efficient New Homes team at efficientnewhomes@doe.gov. We're happy to answer any technical questions regarding the DOE Efficient New Homes Program. Thanks for tuning in!