Over the past couple of weeks I have been working with Mark Blake to feed all of the house specs into the RESNET modeling software. The model spit out a fantastic HERS score of 44 and says that it will meet the Energy Star Home Certification!

The model is currently projecting the largest waste of energy will be due to air infiltration. If the building shell can be tightened through good air-sealing techniques there is a good chance this number could improve.

It was also interesting to take a look at the heating, cooling, and overall energy usage numbers. Unlike a typical house, the largest waste of energy will be lights and plug-loads. So, with some user education there is a good chance the total cost to heat, cool, and turn-on-the lights could be less than $100 a month!

As the house is constructed the HERS rater will be on site periodically to check the air infiltration rates with a blower door, which is perhaps the most telling test on whether the structure will meet the standard when it’s complete.