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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Building America Top Innovations 2012: DOE Challenge Home (Formerly Builders Challenge)

This Building America Top Innovations profile describes DOE’s Builders Challenge. Hundreds of leading-edge builders across the country signed on to the Challenge and more than 14,000 homes earned the label, saving homeowners over $10 million a year in utility bills. DOE’s new program, the DOE Challenge Home, increases the rigor of the guidelines including requiring homes to be Zero Net-Energy Ready.

Building America↗
DOE OSTI2010

Building America Best Practices Series - Volume 8: Builders Challenge Quality Criteria Support Document

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has posed a challenge to the homebuilding industry—to build 220,000 high-performance homes by 2012. Through the Builders Challenge, participating homebuilders will have an easy way to differentiate their best energy-performing homes from other products in the marketplace, and to make the benefits clear to buyers. This document was prepared by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for DOE to provide guidance to U.S. home builders who want to accept the challenge. To qualify for the Builders Challenge, a home must score 70 or less on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale). The E-scale is based on the well-established Home Energy Rating System (HERS) index, developed by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). The E-scale allows homebuyers to understand – at a glance – how the energy performance of a particular home compares with the performance of others. To learn more about the index and HERS Raters, visit www.natresnet.org. Homes also must meet the Builders Challenge criteria described in this document. To help builders meet the Challenge, guidance is provided in this report for each of the 29 criteria. Included with guidance for each criteria are resources for more information and references for relevant codes and standards. The Builders Challenge Quality Criteria were originally published in Dec. 2008. They were revised and published as PNNL-18009 Rev 1.2 in Nov. 2009. This is version 1.3, published Nov 2010. Changes from the Nov 2009 version include adding a title page and updating the Energy Star windows criteria to the Version 5.0 criteria approved April 2009 and effective January 4, 2010. This document and other information about the Builders Challenge is available on line at www.buildingamerica.gov/challenge.

Builders Challenge↗
DOE OSTI2011

Building America Best Practices Series - Volume 12: Builders Challenge Guide to 40% Whole-House Energy Savings in the Cold and Very Cold Climates

This best practices guide is the twelfth in a series of guides for builders produced by PNNL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program. This guide book is a resource to help builders design and construct homes that are among the most energy-efficient available, while addressing issues such as building durability, indoor air quality, and occupant health, safety, and comfort. With the measures described in this guide, builders in the cold and very cold climates can build homes that have whole-house energy savings of 40% over the Building America benchmark with no added overall costs for consumers. The best practices described in this document are based on the results of research and demonstration projects conducted by Building America’s research teams. Building America brings together the nation’s leading building scientists with over 300 production builders to develop, test, and apply innovative, energy-efficient construction practices. Building America builders have found they can build homes that meet these aggressive energy-efficiency goals at no net increased costs to the homeowners. Currently, Building America homes achieve energy savings of 40% greater than the Building America benchmark home (a home built to mid-1990s building practices roughly equivalent to the 1993 Model Energy Code). The recommendations in this document meet or exceed the requirements of the 2009 IECC and 2009 IRC and thos erequirements are highlighted in the text. This document will be distributed via the DOE Building America website: www.buildingamerica.gov.

Builders Challenge↗
DOE OSTI2011

High Performance Builder Spotlight: Cobblestone Homes

Cobblestone Homes of Freeland,MI quest to understand building science led to construction in 2010 of the "Vision Zero Project," a demonstration home that has earned a DOE Builders Challenge certification and achieved a HERS index of -4 with photovoltaics and 37 without PV.

builders challenge↗
DOE OSTI2010

Final Project Report

This project pursued innovations to improve energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in commercial and residential buildings. For commercial buildings, the project developed a testbed for “intelligent nested environmental systems technologies (iNEST),” which monitor and control energy flows and IEQ across a cascade of spaces from individuals’ desktops to office suites to floors to whole buildings. An iNEST testbed was constructed at Syracuse University and was used to assess the use of devices such as personal badges and CO2 sensors to study how reduced energy use and improved IEQ could be achieved. For residential buildings, resources were targeted in support of DoE’s Builders Challenge Program and to recruit Syracuse, NY builders. Three homes in Syracuse’s Near Westside neighborhood were also registered under the program by Syracuse University team, with an additional home registered by one of the builders. Findings from the work at the iNEST testbed facility, and results from other related projects were disseminated through Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) 2008 Annual Symposium, the 9th International Healthy Buildings 2009 Conference & Exhibition, and through SyracuseCoE’s website and eNewsletters to inform the broader community of researchers, designers and builders. These public communication activities helped enhance the understanding of high performance buildings and facilitate further market acceptance.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

NorthernStar Zero Energy Ready Homes

This is a repository for all NorthernSTAR Zero Energy Ready certified homes. Amaris Homes Model Home - St. Paul, MN 55110 Description: Model home completed September 2013 The DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Case Study looks to study and eventually design zero net energy homes in cold weather climates. These zero net energy homes are referred to as challenge homes. For this challenge home, Amaris Homes is working with the DOE in St. Paul, Minnesota. The household located at MN 55110 acts as the Amaris Challenge Home Test. The resources include technical drawings including siding, roofing and Windows. Christian Builders Challenge Home - House Count: 1 - Otsego, MN 55374 Need pictures from builder; This home actually narrowly missed certification under DOE Net Zero Energy Ready Homes. Need building plans and project summary from builder. DESIGN AND STRUCTURE - Amaris Homes - House Count: 7 Stillwater, MN 55082; Vadnais Heights, MN 55127; Bloomington, MN 55437; Apple Valley, MN 55124; White Bear Lake, MN 55110; Mounds View, MN 55112; Midland, MI 48642; DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes

Array↗
DOE OSTI2012

Practices and Processes of Leading High Performance Home Builders in the Upper Midwest

The NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership team proposed this study to gain insight into the business, sales, and construction processes of successful high performance builders. The knowledge gained by understanding the high performance strategies used by individual builders, as well as the process each followed to move from traditional builder to high performance builder, will be beneficiant proposing more in-depth research to yield specific action items to assist the industry at large transform to high performance new home construction. This investigation identified the best practices of three successful high performance builders in the upper Midwest. In-depth field analysis of the performance levels of their homes, their business models, and their strategies for market acceptance were explored. All three builders commonly seek ENERGY STAR certification on their homes and implement strategies that would allow them to meet the requirements for the Building America Builders Challenge program. Their desire for continuous improvement, willingness to seek outside assistance, and ambition to be leaders in their field are common themes. Problem solving to overcome challenges was accepted as part of doing business. It was concluded that crossing the gap from code-based building to high performance based building was a natural evolution for these leading builders.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Energy Retrofit Field Study and Best Practices in a Hot-Humid Climate

Energy efficiency improvement as a component of comprehensive renovation was investigated under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding of the Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC). Researchers at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) worked with affordable housing partners renovating foreclosed homes built from the 1950's through the 2000's in the hot-humid climate (within the Southern census region), primarily in Florida. Researchers targeted a 30% improvement in whole-house energy efficiency along with the health and safety, durability, and comfort guidelines outlined in DOE's Builders Challenge Program (Version 1) Quality Criteria.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Energy Retrofit Field Study and Best Practices in a Hot-Humid Climate

Energy efficiency improvement as a component of comprehensive renovation was investigated under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding of the Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC). Researchers at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) worked with affordable housing partners renovating foreclosed homes built from the 1950's through the 2000's in the hot-humid climate (within the Southern census region), primarily in Florida. Researchers targeted a 30% improvement in whole-house energy efficiency along with the health and safety, durability, and comfort guidelines outlined in DOE's Builders Challenge Program (Version 1) Quality Criteria.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2016

Energy Innovations for Healthy Buildings

Healthy buildings provide high indoor environmental quality for occupants while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. This project advanced the development and marketability of envisioned healthy, energy-efficient buildings through studies that evaluated the use of emerging technologies in commercial and residential buildings. The project also provided resources required for homebuilders to participate in DOE’s Builders Challenge, concomitant with the goal to reduce energy consumption in homes by at least 30% as a first step toward achieving envisioned widespread availability of net-zero energy homes by 2030. In addition, the project included outreach and education concerning energy efficiency in buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2010

Best Practices Case Study: Rural Development, Inc., Wisdom Way Solar Village, Greenfield, MA

Wisdom Way Solar Village is an appropriate moniker for the 20-unit community of energy-efficient duplexes in Greenfield, MA. The homes meet the requirements of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge, achieving HERS scores of 8 to 18 by packing energy efficiency features into the compact, heavily insulated homes and adding solar water heating and photovoltaics on top, to net home owners energy cost savings of at least $2,500 per year per home.

cold and very cold↗
DOE OSTI2011

Best Practices Case Study: David Weekley Homes - Eagle Springs and Waterhaven, Houston, TX

Case study describing David Weekley Homes, Houston Division, has qualified more than 1,240 homes for the DOE Builders Challenge. Advanced framed 2x6 walls with open headers and two-stud corners allow more room for R-20 damp sprayed cellulose wall cavity insulation that is covered with R-5 rigid XPS foam. A radiant barrier cuts heat gain in the R-38 insulated vented attics. Draft stopping at fireplace and duct chases and behind tubs, gluing sheetrock to framing, and extensive caulking make for air-tight homes at 3.0 ACH50.

advanced framing↗
DOE OSTI2011

High Performance Builder Spotlight: Imagine Homes

Imagine Homes, working with the DOE's Building America research team member IBACOS, has developed a system that can be replicated by other contractors to build affordable, high-performance homes. Imagine Homes has used the system to produce more than 70 Builders Challenge-certified homes per year in San Antonio over the past five years.

builders challenge↗