Building America Performance Analysis Procedures for Existing Homes

Because there are more than 101 million residential households in the United States today, it is not surprising that existing residential buildings represent an extremely large source of potential energy savings. Because thousands of these homes are renovated each year, Building America is investigating the best ways to make existing homes more energy-efficient, based on lessons learned fromresearch in new homes. The Building America program is aiming for a 20%-30% reduction in energy use in existing homes by 2020. The strategy for the existing homes project of Building America is to establish technology pathways that reduce energy consumption cost-effectively in American homes. The existing buildings project focuses on finding ways to adapt the results from the new homes researchto retrofit applications in existing homes. Research activities include a combination of computer modeling, field demonstrations, and long-term monitoring to support the development of integrated approaches to reduce energy use in existing residential buildings. Analytical tools are being developed to guide designers and builders in selecting the best approaches for each application. Also, DOEpartners with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase energy efficiency in existing homes through the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program.