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Home Energy Score

Home Energy Score

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Home Energy Scores are now being included in the real estate market!

bb-testUsing the Home Energy Scoring Tool, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Janesville Home Solar can score the home on a scale of 1 to 10. A score of 10 indicates that the home has excellent energy performance. The mission of the Home Energy Score program is to build market value for home energy efficiency among single-family and townhomes. Janesville Home Solar envisions the Score becoming the go-to metric for valuing, understanding, and financing home energy efficiency with nationwide household recognition.

What is the Home Energy Score?

Imagine you are in the market to buy a car and comparing your options. You are weighing a number of factors in your purchasing decision, including performance, cost, size, and appearance. When you ask the salesperson what the miles-per-gallon rating for each car is, they shrug and say, “I don’t know.” Even if fuel efficiency is not the only factor you are considering, this would probably concern you as a prospective buyer.

And yet, this is how most people make decisions when buying or renting a home: without any information about how much energy the home is expected to use, how much this will cost them, or how to cost-effectively lower energy expenses.

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Like a miles-per-gallon rating for a car, the Home Energy Score is an easy-to-produce rating designed to help homeowners and homebuyers gain useful information about a home’s energy performance. Based on an in-home assessment that can be completed in less than an hour, the Home Energy Score not only lets a homeowner understand how efficient the home is and how it compares to others, but also provides recommendations on how to cost-effectively improve the home’s energy efficiency.

The Home Energy Score uses a simple 1-to-10 scale where a 10 represents the most energy efficient homes.

Sample Home Energy Score Label

Features of the Home Energy Score

  • An energy efficiency score based on the home’s envelope (foundation, roof, walls, insulation, windows) and heating, cooling, and hot water systems
  • A total energy use estimate, as well as estimates by fuel type assuming standard operating conditions and occupant behavior
  • Recommendations for cost-effective improvements and associated annual cost savings estimates
  • A “Score with Improvements” reflecting the home’s expected score if cost-effective improvements are implemented

Home Facts

The Home Facts section gives you all of the data that we collect to calculate your Home Energy Score. In addition to providing facts about the building “envelope” (roof, foundation, walls, insulation, windows), energy systems (heating, cooling, hot water), and floor area, this section also provides energy use estimates for the home.

Recommendations

Recommendations that come with the Score are expected to pay back in ten years or less based on state average utility rates and national average installation rates. We will also provide you with additional recommendations that reflect local rebates or other incentives the Scoring Tool does not consider. Share the Score When Selling Your Home Increasingly, Home Energy Scores are being included in the real estate market. If you are selling your home, ask your real estate agent to see if your home’s score can be listed on local multiple listing services (MLSs). And when buying a home, be sure to ask for each home’s Home Energy Score to make a well informed decision.

More Questions? Are you a homeowner, homebuyer, or renter interested in getting a Home Energy Score?

Contact Janesville Home Solar about what the Home Energy Score means for your home, or learn more at at HomeEnergyScore.gov.
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