Dave Roberts of the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (NREL) has been researching the penetration of the HERS® Index in the U.S. housing market. His research discovered that in 2017, 23% of all completed new homes in the U.S. were HERS® rated. This a 1% increase from the percentage of homes that were HERS® Rated in 2016. NREL’s research also broke down the percentage of completed new homes in 2017 that were HERS® rated by state. The top states in terms of percentage of new completed homes that were HERS® rated in 2017 are: Arizona – 63% Indiana – 61% Massachusetts – 53% Rhode Island – 53% Iowa – 47% New Mexico – 45% Maryland – 44% Ohio – 42% Delaware – 40% Pennsylvania – 39% Oklahoma – 35% Texas – 31% Colorado – 31% Below is a map that breaks down by state the percentage of new homes HERS® rated in 2017: Source: Dave Roberts, NREL The sources for the NREL analysis were data of homes HERS® rated in 2017 by state from RESNET’s National Building Registry and the number of completed homes by state from the U.S. Census Bureau. NREL also reported on the breakdown by state of the average HERS® Index score of homes HERS® rated in 2017. Source: Dave Roberts, NREL The states with the lowest average HERS® Index scores of HERS® rated homes in 2017 are: Vermont – 43 Maine – 46 Montana – 49 Minnesota – 51 New York – 53 Connecticut – 54 South Dakota – 54 Nebraska – 54 North Dakota – 55 Maryland – 55 Source: Dave Roberts, NREL While it is gratifying to learn that the percentage of homes HERS® rated in the U.S. is holding steady, RESNET wants to strive for vigorous and continuous growth. RESNET staff is developing a comprehensive marketing plan targeting builders and consumers on the value to HERS® Index ratings. RESNET Communications Director, Valerie Briggs, has been recently featured on RESTalk, RESNET’s new podcast on RESNET’s marketing efforts. Click on RESTalk to listen to RESNET’s marketing and outreach plans.
