Townhomes built by Ryan Homes in partnership with the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program. The homes compare the efficiency of three types of construction for CARB.
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The pink are steel-framed construction with exterior insulation, the gray homes are of traditional construction, and the brown are constructed with engineered wood framing on the inside and structural insulated panels.
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The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program uses energy monitoring as part of its testing program. Here a researcher tests infiltration from an electric outlet.
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As part of the testing program researchers testing the energy efficiency of air ducts.
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What is Building America?
Building America is a private/public partnership sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy that conducts research to find energy-efficient solutions for new and existing housing that can be implemented on a production basis.
What Does Building America Do?
Building America conducts systems engineering research to do the following:
- Produce homes on a community scale that use on average 30% to 90% less energy
- Integrate onsite power systems leading to "zero-energy" (ZEH) homes that will ultimately produce as much energy as they use by 2020 (PDF 852 KB) Download Acrobat Reader.
- Help home builders reduce construction time and waste
- Improve builder productivity
- Provide new product opportunities to manufacturers and suppliers
- Implement innovative energy- and material-saving technologies.
By using a systems engineering approach to home building, Building America unites segments of the building industry that traditionally work independently of one another. It forms teams of architects, engineers, builders, equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, community planners, mortgage lenders, and contractor trades. Currently, there are five Building America teams who have worked with over [an error occurred while processing this directive] different industry partners.
Throughout the design and construction process, research participants in Building America projects evaluate the interaction between the building site, envelope, mechanical systems, and energy-use factors. In many uses, cost tradeoffs allow the teams to incorporate energy-saving strategies at no extra cost. Building America research participants agree to:
- Provide all construction materials and labor for research projects
- Evaluate their design, business, and construction practices
- Identify cost savings
- Re-invest cost savings in improved energy performance and product quality
- Extend their efforts from discussion of possibilities to development of solutions
- Use a design, test, redesign, and retest process to resolve technical barriers.
The research conducted by Building America teams increases the quality and performance of today's homes and provides valuable information for homes of the future. By supporting industry-driven systems engineering research, the Building America Program provides the feedback required to develop critical "next generation" building systems.
The long-term goal of the Building America program is to develop cost-effective systems for homes that can produce as much energy as they use—a zero energy home.
Building America Homes have a Number of Advantages
- Improved comfort—an energy-efficient building envelope reduces temperature fluctuations
- Reliability—BA homes can be designed to continue functioning even during blackouts
- Security—a home that produces energy protects its owner from fluctuations in energy prices
- Environmental sustainability—a BA home saves energy and reduces pollution.
Building America Homes Optimize a Variety of Features
- Climate-specific design
- Passive solar heating and cooling
- Natural daylighting
- Energy-efficient construction
- Energy-efficient appliances and lighting
- Solar thermal and solar electric systems.
For additional information about the Building America Program, see the Program Overview (PDF 1.9 MB) Download Acrobat Reader.
Contacts
George James
New Construction
Office of Building Technologies
EE-2J / Forrestal Building
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585-0121
(202) 586-9472
email: George.James@ee.doe.gov
Terry Logee
Existing Homes
Office of Building Technologies
EE-2J / Forrestal Building
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C., 20585-0121
(202) 586-1689
email: Terry.Logee@ee.doe.gov
Lew Pratsch
Onsite Power Systems and "Net Zero Energy" Homes
Office of Building Technologies
EE-2J / Forrestal Building
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C., 20585-0121
(202) 586-1512
email: Lew.Pratsch@hq.doe.gov
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