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DOE OSTI2022

How Does Home Energy Score Affect Home Value and Mortgage Performance?

Energy-efficient homes save their occupants money through lower energy bills. These savings might be capitalized into higher home sale prices. They also improve the household’s net cash flow, which might make households better able to pay mortgage debt. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Home Energy Score (HES) assigns a 1-10 score to homes and estimates annual energy bills based on modeled energy consumption. In this paper we investigated the relationship between HES metrics and two housing market outcomes: home sale price and mortgage performance. We found that the relationship was only statistically significant in places with a mandatory HES assessment at the time of sale. Using a sample of 26,291 home sales that occurred after HES assessments, we found that a one-point increase in HES in these locations was associated with a 0.5% increase in sale price, and an increase in $100 of estimated annual energy bills was associated with a 0.4% decrease. This magnitude of effect is consistent with estimated magnitudes of home sale premiums for other green or energy-efficient home certifications in the literature. We also found that a one-point increase in HES was associated with a 5.5% reduction in the odds of a loan going 30 days delinquent if the loan originated after the assessment occurred. Similarly, we found that a $100 decrease in estimated annual energy bills was associated with a 2.3% decrease in the odds of a loan going delinquent if it originated after the assessment occurred. Our results suggest that HES provides a valuable signal for housing market transactions in specific situations.

Pigman, Margaret↗
DOE OSTI2020

Pushing Green: Leveraging Home Energy Score to Promote Deep-Energy Retrofits in Portland, Oregon

In the United States, 39% of total energy is consumed by the building sector, 20% of which is attributed to residential buildings. Older homes, built before 1992 when the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program was established, represent approximately 68% of residential building stock in the country and often have significant air leakage, inadequate insulation and inefficient heating & cooling systems. These older homes have long been the elephant in the room: how can programs effectively increase efficiency in all of the homes in need? Developed by DOE, the Home Energy Score was established to provide homeowners, buyers, and renters a comparable score measuring a home's energy use. Much like the MPG rating of automobiles, the Home Energy Score provides an overview of a residential building’s energy efficiency. In 2016, the City of Portland passed an ordinance requiring all residential properties to receive a Home Energy Score before being listed for sale, a mandate that was implemented January 1, 2018. Since 2018, more than 22,000 homes throughout the Portland Metro area have received Home Energy Scores (amounting to over 10% of Portland's single-family homes). This paper explores the sample of Home Energy Scores throughout Portland, including at the neighborhood level, identifies trends in efficiency measures, describes how the data has been used to date and proposes ways program administrators can use the Home Energy Score to increase the impact of energy efficiency programs on a city-scale.

Antonopoulos, Chrissi A.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Remote Home Energy Score Assessments (Feasibility Study)

The delivery of Home Energy Scores (HES) has been significantly impacted over the last year by the recent pandemic and ongoing limitations to person-to-person interactions. There are also historic challenges in providing HES to more remote geographies where assessor infrastructure is not in place. Alternative approaches to in-person, on-site home energy assessments could help address these current restrictions, while also potentially providing opportunities for the efficient delivery of HES in certain use cases after COVID-related restrictions are lifted. From the program administrator’s perspective, there needs to be confidence that the remote scores closely match what they would have been if the assessment had been performed on-site. The recommendations shown on a report generated from a remote score should closely match those of an onsite assessment. A remote assessment should be an option for all HES Partners and have direction on how to deliver those scores. From the HES partner’s and assessor’s perspective, there needs to be understanding of what level of experience is needed, what system infrastructure is required, the time expenditure of the remote assessment process, and the limitations of a remote assessment. From the homeowner’s perspective, there needs to be an awareness and comfort with the time commitment, the level of knowledge of the home, the equipment needed, and any physical requirements of the remote assessment process. During this study, Earth Advantage assessed methods for delivering Home Energy Score assessments remotely through web-based technology platforms and resident interaction in a diverse array of home types in different geographic locations. Earth Advantage developed remote assessment test protocols and integrated those testing protocols into existing Home Energy Score programs being overseen by USDOE Home Energy Score partners New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE), and the City of Portland (PDX). Earth Advantage staff acted as the Remote assessor and gathered HES data remotely during the video sessions with participants. Authorized Home Energy Score assessors performed the onsite assessments that were then used to compare with the remote assessment data. This allowed the research to effectively test the efficacy of various remote assessment approaches in a diverse array of home-types. Earth advantage identified the key components of a remote assessment infrastructure which included Remote Home Energy Score Assessments Page vi processes, tools, services, methods and mechanisms that would better enable remote assessments. This report details methods, results, and findings of the HES remote assessment research. In addition, the report provides recommendations and best practices that could be used as guidance for the Home Energy Score administrator and the HES partners seeking to effectively conduct remote assessments.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Becoming a 10: A Closer Look at the U.S. Department of Energy Home Energy Score's Updates, Improvements, and Expansion

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Home Energy Score provides homeowners, buyers, and renters directly comparable and credible information about a home's estimated energy use and costs. Certified Qualified Assessors conduct low-cost assessments to provide each home a 1-10 score alongside a set of cost-effective upgrades to improve the score. As of February 2022, hundreds of assessors have delivered over 175,000 scores to homes across the country. Originally released in 2012 using DOE2.1e as the modeling backend, after years of effort, a new version of Home Energy Score was released in 2021 utilizing DOE's flagship energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. The updated architecture leverages modeling advancements and enables new building technologies to be added to the Scoring Tool. The new release represents a leap forward in harmonizing modeling assumptions across DOE and industry programs. In this paper we discuss the rigorous approach to model comparison with DOE2 undertaken prior to the update, utilizing test homes and real homes from the Home Energy Score database to strike a balance between consistency and more accurate energy predictions. We also discuss additional new capabilities, including improvements made to the upgrade recommendations methodology, the inclusion of an energy cost estimate metric based on ResStock analysis for use in home appraisals, and improved data analysis for quality assurance. Finally, we look at the impact Home Energy Score has had over the last decade and its future potential as its uptake in state energy plans, local ordinances, utility programs, and real estate data continues to grow.

building energy modeling↗
DOE OSTI2023

Final Technical Report

Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed in your application. The DOE and its national laboratories developed the Home Energy Score™ (HES) to encourage homeowners to improve their energy performance, lower costs and to share energy information through the MLS listing, appraisal, and financing channels. While the HES is an instrumental tool, it is currently underutilized and consists of technical, structural and sector barriers which need to be addressed in order to scale and many energy efficiency contractors are understandably overwhelmed by the added time and effort and lack of incentive to sell and deliver deep retrofit projects while simultaneously meeting the DOE HES program requirements; consequently, contractors may decide to forgo participation. Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Raters have the opportunity to play the critical Assessor role in producing a Home Energy Score (HES); this role has immense potential but currently is unfulfilled. Lastly, while utilities are interested in their customer base achieving greater energy efficiency, especially to help offset growing residential loads in states like California that are accelerating electrification, utilities do not have access to the market actors who are on the front line of influence to homeowners or review and approve their permits: HERS Raters, assessors, contractors and building departments. General statement of how this problem is being addressed: ConSol will integrate the Home Energy Score™ (HES) to its State of California, approved home energy rating services (HERS) platform (CHEERS) to develop a single tool for contractors nationwide to assess, record and install recommended cost, energy, and emissions saving measures to the 140 million single-family homes throughout the U.S. and 14 million homes in California (CHEERS+HES). The CHEERS high fidelity energy code permitting data will be integrated with HES for simple, accurate, easy-to-use home energy estimation and analysis and will directly gain access to the retrofit and renovations markets with the same upgraded platform. This innovative project will assist the utilities in supporting existing homes in their jurisdictions with HES and develop measures to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions. How is this problem being addressed? What is the overall project approach? In effort to expand the Home Energy Score™ (HES) by increasing the use of aggregable home energy asset data, ConSol proposes to integrate the DOE HES via Application Programming Interface (API) to its State of California approved home energy rating services platform (CHEERS). Once the CHEERS platform and HES are integrated (CHEERS+HES), this enhanced platform will be instantly available and actively deployed via Phase 1 pilot to HERS Raters, assessors and contractors in California to market-test the solution, understand the rate of adoption and identify opportunities for improvement prior to scaling nationally. The CHEERS high fidelity energy code permitting data will be integrated with HES for simple, accurate, easy-to-use home energy estimation and analysis and will directly gain access to the retrofit and renovations markets with the same upgraded platform. This innovative project will assist the building industry and homeowners with an easy-to-use assessment if energy and carbon impacts of existing homes, and assist the utilities in supporting existing homes in their jurisdictions with HES to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions. What is to be done in Phase I? During Phase I of this proposed project, ConSol will (1) design software architecture that links CHEERS to the Home Energy ScoreTM via API, (2) solicit partnership from one or more California utilities for a regional pilot, (3) test the new software with its HERS Raters and contractor network in the partnership utility jurisdiction, (4) launch a pilot version of the newly developed software with HERS Raters and contractors in the utility territory, and (5) explore California’s GoGreen energy efficiency homeowner lending program in parallel with the pilot. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits. Summarize the future applications or public benefits if the project is carried over into Phase II or Phase III and beyond. The CHEERS+HES commercialized product will be ready for national market scale following a successful Phase 1 performance. The CHEERS+HES adoption is estimated to reach a 5% adoption growth rate versus the 110,000 baseline, starting in Year 1 after Phase I completion, and continuing each year. As a direct benefit to the DOE, CHEERS will set a goal of 100,000 Home Energy Score assessments for existing home alterations within the first 10 years following Phase 1 performance. The technical benefits of this proposed project include the harmonized, automated, and seamless integration of the DOE HES into the widely used and market leading California energy registry, CHEERS. The social benefits include the aggregate energy, cost and GHG savings by allowing the broader public streamlined access to the CHEERS+HES measurement and the energy efficiency recommended measures that may result. Key Words: Home Energy ScoreTM (HES); Application Programming Interface (API); Home Energy Rating Services (HERS); HERS Raters; contractors; assessors; existing homes, energy asset data; cost, energy, and emissions saving measures; energy code (Title 24) compliance; document repository; utilities; pilot; newly developed software; energy efficiency; homeowner. Summary for Members of Congress: The DOE Home Energy Score™ (HES) is a tool to encourage homeowners to improve their energy performance, lower costs and share energy information but is underutilized and consists of barriers which need to be addressed in order to scale. In effort to expand the HES, CHEERS, Inc. will integrate the HES to its State of California, approved home energy rating services (HERS) platform (CHEERS) to develop a single tool for contractors nationwide to assess, record and install recommended cost, energy, and emissions saving measures to the 140 million single-family homes throughout the U.S. and 14 million homes in California.

Application Programming Interface (API)↗
DOE OSTI2021

National and Regional Initiatives to Promote Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Through State Energy Offices

The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) worked with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office (WIP) over a ten year period to provide technical assistance, research and analyses, and enhanced coordination between DOE and the State and Territory Energy Offices. Over the life of the agreement, NASEO worked with WIP and the states to provide statewide strategic energy plan analyses and recommendations, including customized technical assistance to the states; peer to peer financing assistance via NASEO’s Financing Committee and supporting activities; training on core energy policies and programs, including dialogues and resources to support energy-air coordination, a training for new State Energy Office Directors, peer to peer exchange via a rural energy taskforce, and support to states to enhance buildings efficiency, home energy labeling, and technology deployment opportunities; support for State Energy Program metrics; and regional coordination via regional coordinators and peer exchange opportunities both in-person and online. Over the life of the project, the position and role of State Energy Offices within state government has changed, with now 80 percent of State Energy Office Directors serving as their Governor’s energy advisor, or reporting directly to their Governor’s energy advisor. This shift in stature has made it ever more crucial for State Energy Offices to receive timely and relevant technical assistance across a range of energy issue areas. NASEO, in collaboration with WIP, was able to deliver this technical assistance, and energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment has accelerated across the country. The State Energy Office Directors and their staff continue to engage in NASEO’s Committees – many of which were supported through this agreement – and have provided formal and informal feedback on the value of the programs supported through this award (e.g., reporting via survey increased understanding of their roles and technical assistance offerings provided by WIP and NASEO following the New Director Trainings). Moreover, resources developed through this award (e.g., Comprehensive State Energy Planning Guidelines, State Energy Loan Fund Database, Rural Data Resources for State Energy Planning and Programs, The Value of Adding home Energy Score to Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs, etc.) have been cited by states as instrumental to their understanding of specific energy issue areas and in many cases led directly to enhanced program design within a state (e.g. Iowa citing their review of NASEO’s Comprehensive State Energy Planning Guidelines as a necessary first step in their planning process, later following may of the steps outlined in the guidelines). The priorities of the states and federal government have evolved over the last decade, with an increasing focus on climate mitigation and adaptation, equity impacts and considerations, energy security and resilience, and enhanced energy efficiency and renewable energy technology deployment, but the roots of these new priorities are based in the state and federal policies and programs, and research and analyses, that were supported in part through this award and other complementary initiatives. NASEO looks forward to continuing to support the states, and collaborate and coordinate with DOE, as we build on this important foundation in the years ahead.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Clean Energy Mortgage

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Estimate of the Mass and Radial Profile of the Orphan–Chenab Stream's Dwarf-galaxy Progenitor Using MilkyWay@home

We fit the mass and radial profile of the Orphan–Chenab Stream's (OCS) dwarf-galaxy progenitor by using turnoff stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Dark Energy Camera to constrain N-body simulations of the OCS progenitor falling into the Milky Way on the 1.5 PetaFLOPS MilkyWay@home distributed supercomputer. We infer the internal structure of the OCS's progenitor under the assumption that it was a spherically symmetric dwarf galaxy composed of a stellar system embedded in an extended dark matter halo. We optimize the evolution time, the baryonic and dark matter scale radii, and the baryonic and dark matter masses of the progenitor using a differential evolution algorithm. The likelihood score for each set of parameters is determined by comparing the simulated tidal stream to the angular distribution of OCS stars observed in the sky. We fit the total mass of the OCS's progenitor to (2.0 ± 0.3) × 10 7 M ⊙ with a mass-to-light ratio of γ = 73.5 ± 10.6 and (1.1 ± 0.2) × 10 6 M ⊙ within 300 pc of its center. Within the progenitor's half-light radius, we estimate a total mass of (4.0 ± 1.0) × 10 5 M ⊙ . We also fit the current sky position of the progenitor's remnant to be (α, δ) = ((166.0 ± 0.9)°, (–11.1 ± 2.5)°) and show that it is gravitationally unbound at the present time. The measured progenitor mass is on the low end of previous measurements and, if confirmed, lowers the mass range of ultrafaint dwarf galaxies. Our optimization assumes a fixed Milky Way potential, OCS orbit, and radial profile for the progenitor, ignoring the impact of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2000

A Multi-Center Controlled Study of the Acute and Chronic Effects of Cooling Therapy for MS

To determine the acute and chronic effects of cooling therapy on patients with MS using objective functional performance measures and self-assessed measures of fatigue. Cooling demyelinated nerves can reduce conduction block, potentially improving symptoms of MS. Significant acute and chronic effects of cooling have not been demonstrated in a multi-center, controlled, blinded study using objective measures of neurologic function. Patients (N=84) with definite MS, mild to moderate disability (EDSS less than 6.0), and self-reported heat sensitivity were enrolled at 5 study sites. Acute effects of cooling were assessed by randomly assigning subjects to high-dose or low-dose cooling for one hour using an active cooling vest and cap (Life Enhancement Technologies, Santa Clara, CA). Settings were individualized to maintain the cooling garments at 55 F for the high-dose treatment and 70 F for the low-dose treatment. Both patients and examining investigators were blinded to treatment assignments. The MSFC and visual acuity/contrast sensitivity were assessed before and 30 minutes after treatment. The following week, subjects had an identical visit with the alternate cooling treatment. Chronic effects of cooling were assessed by randomly assigning the same subjects to unblinded daily home cooling or observation for 4 weeks. All subjects completed the Rochester Fatigue Diary (RFD) twice weekly and subjective measures of strength, cognition, and energy level daily. At the end of the period, subjects completed the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS) and underwent another high-dose cooling session with assessment of the MSFC and vision. After a one-week washout period, subjects crossed over to the alternate 4-week treatment. Oral temperatures were reduced with both acute treatments (0.8 +/- .06 F, high and 0.5 +/- .06 F, low). While mean MSFC did not change significantly during individual cooling sessions, post hoc analysis pooling the 3 high-dose cooling sessions revealed an improvement in MSFC scores (acute phase 0.064 +/- 0.020, p = 0.0013; chronic phase 0.044 +/- 0.021, p = 0.0368) from before to after cooling. The change in MSFC scores during the acute cooling sessions was not related to the extent of change in oral temperatures. Both the RFD score and the MFIS indicate a significantly lower fatigue level during the cooling month compared to observation (RFD, 2.53 +/- 0.83,p = 0.0033; MFIS 7.63 +/- 1.56, p = 0.0001).

Luna, Bernadette↗
DOE OSTI2024

Empirically Categorizing the Built Environment in Relation to Height

Buildings are a core component of the urban environment and affect human populations, energy usage, city development, city planning, and urban heat islands. Buildings span an enormous range of sizes, from a 2m tall shelter to the Burj Khalifa; and at the same time there are widely recognized categories of similar buildings, with homes, office buildings, or skyscrapers as some examples. Currently, there is no consistent method to quantitatively determine how a building should be categorized by its height, or how many categories there should be within the built environment. Additionally, these categories vary spatially, leading to multiple definitions at local scales of what it means to be a tall, medium, or short building. Here, we find across 17.59 million buildings in the United States, Germany, and Japan, that applying a K-nearest neighbor approach to quantitatively bin the built environment outperforms the current state-of-the-art, subjective domain knowledge. This was evidenced as our method of leveraging a K-nearest neighbor improved upon the existing approach of using domain knowledge by 10% with respect to precision, recall, F1-score and accuracy. Our results showcase the finding that it is possible to generate a global and consistent approach to categorizing the built environment in relation to height. This is significant in that there is now a quantitative way to categorize the built environment based on building height at a global scale, allowing researchers a consistent platform for comparison and collaboration across various applications.

Stipek, Clinton↗