Residential New Construction Baseline Study Best Practices: Lessons Learned from Long Island, New York

Toben Galvin and Richard Faesy, Vermont Energy Investment Corp.
Stuart Slote, Optimal Energy Inc.
Kevin Harrison, LIPA/KeySpan Energy

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Abstract

The term “baseline study” might be translated in more-common parlance as “knowing your enemy” when strategizing how to promote energy efficiency improvements in residential new construction. ENERGY STAR® Labeled Homes programs, energy-efficiency organizations, utilities, and others increasingly require comprehensive residential new construction baseline data to identify current practices, efficiency opportunities, and evaluate program success. Baseline studies provide an important snap shot of the current building practices and serve as the standard to measure future market effects of ENERGY STAR homes programs. This paper presents an overview of the current best practices for residential new construction baseline studies. We present highlights from a baseline study completed in the fall of 2003 for the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). A brief overview of the major study findings are presented along with a detailed presentation of the key results. With greater adherence to the suggested methodologies detailed in this paper, baseline study results and cross-baseline study comparisons will be improved.