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A homebuilder in the New England area has been building net zero energy single family homes since 2008 and is continuing with multiple small-scale subdivisions of 20 or more homes. This builder… Read More

A startup builder in the San Francisco Bay Area has a goal of producing factory built/modular houses with net zero energy performance. Their first prototype was a two-story, two bedroom, urban infill… Read More

The influence of vapor barriers on the hygrothermal performance of wall and roof systems is a function of exterior climate, interior climate, solar absorptance, rainwater absorption, and the vapor… Read More

This paper is from the proceedings of the Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings XI International Conference, December 5-9, 2010 in Clearwater, Florida. This paper… Read More

Exterior insulation retrofit is a reasonable step if a recladding of the building is already being done for aesthetic or ongoing maintenance reasons. This paper presents many of the lessons learned… Read More

This paper evaluates the performance of typical residential wall systems that incorporate water-resistive barriers with a range of vapor permeability. These systems included both absorbent and… Read More

Improved energy efficiency building enclosures generally means an increase in R-value and reduced air leakage, which commonly reduces the drying potential of wall assemblies. Essentially, less energy… Read More

Tankless water heaters offer significant energy savings over conventional storage-tank water heaters, because thermal losses to the environment are much less. Although standard test results are… Read More

A single-story, single-family, 1350 sq. ft. house located in Las Vegas, NV was outfitted with two separate ventilation systems. The systems were independent of each other, and were operated at… Read More

Side-by-side energy testing and monitoring was conducted on two houses in Louisville, KY. Both houses were identical except that one house was constructed with conventional U.S. 2x4 studs and a truss… Read More