Best Practice Upgrades for New Energy Efficient Homes in Hot and Humid Climates

摘要

The EPA's ENERGY STAR Homes program is anational voluntary program that promotes theconstruction of new homes that are 30% moreefficient than the Model Energy Code. Accordingly,with the Home Energy Rating System (HERS)scoring system, ENERGY STAR Homes must achievea score of at least an 86. This performance-basedcompliance requirement enables builders to becreative in the specific energy efficiency features thatthey build in their new homes. However, buildersoften want to know what the minimum energyefficiency features of an ENERGY STAR Homewould likely be - before they joined the program.To solve this problem, EPA developed the BuilderOption Packages (BOPs). BOPS are currently usedas marketing tools to communicate the typical energyefficiency features of ENERGY STAR Homes. Thispaper will focus on the hot and humid portion of theUS. and explain the technical methodology used todevelop the BOPS as well as the energy use andHERS scores obtained for the various configurationsanalyzed.