Modify the expanded score to account for total home energy use. Proponent: RESNET Standing Technical Committee Proposed Changes: This change requires alteration of equation 2, Section 303.2 to explicitly account for the full energy use for lighting and appliances in the HERS® score. The proposal includes added specificity for Reference Home lighting and appliance energy uses and specification of the calculation methods to be used in determining the change in energy use for alternative lighting and appliances (see Section 303.4.1.7). Justification: The intent of the original expanded score amendment was to include the total energy use in the home in the score calculation as well as the internal gains, but was left out of last year’s accepted amendment. This will have the impact of somewhat “compressing” the score improvement over the reference home that is available without the use of renewables (because some of these energy uses are not part of the “rated features” that are available for improvements. However, it will mean that over time, as RESNET chooses to add more end-uses to the rated features of the home, the rating scale will not change –only the “ceiling” of score improvement will shift as we add options for demonstrating improved efficiency. It is also the basis on which EPA has done their analysis for finding an expanded rating score for the 2006 ENERGY STAR standard. Comment period is over. View comments received.
