Keywords

Abstract

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® (HPwES) is a program jointly managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to significantly increase energy efficiency in existing homes. HPwES promotes whole-house improvements via home performance contracting, including comprehensive assessments and building-science based improvements where homeowners and the ENERGY STAR brand are protected by a robust quality assurance program. As of May 2008, HPwES programs are in twenty-three states. DOE is increasing both the demand for home performance contracting by: (1) exploring loan guarantees for homeowners to finance improvements and (2) working with Realtors to increase consumer awareness of benefits of home performance improvements; and the supply of qualified home performance contractors by (3) developing standards, field guides, and other tools for home performance contracting (4) encouraging national workforce development and (5) exploring HPwES contractor partnership pilots..

The goal of HPwES is to increase energy efficiency in the over 110 million existing homes-an increase of 25% represents 5.4 Quads and a potential annual energy bill savings of over $62 billion. Some of the most cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities in America are improving existing homes' performance, but there are many barriers to widespread market penetration. DOE and EPA are working to increase market penetration of HPwES by increasing homeowners' awareness, enabling homeowners to finance improvements, and facilitating skilled contractor availability on a national scale. This paper discusses DOE's activities in the existing homes market to promote home performance and significantly increase the impact of HPwES.

Paper

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Panels of the 2008 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Residential Buildings: Technologies, Design, Performance Analysis, and Building Industry Trends

Residential Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Commercial Buildings: Technologies, Design, Performance Analysis, and Building Industry Trends

Commercial Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Utility Regulation, Strategies, and Policies

Market Transformation: Taking Efficiency Mainstream

Human and Social Dimensions of Energy Use: Trends and their Implications

Energy and Environmental Policy: Planning for Greater Impacts

Strategies for Appliances, Lighting, Electronics, and Miscellaneous End–Uses

Visions of the Future: Big New Ideas for Energy Efficiency

Sustainable Communities: Systems Integration at the Community Scale