Of course, it's great when a home has energy efficient appliances and energy saving light bulbs, but that still doesn't tell you what your energy bills will be like!  If a house has energy efficient appliances, but poor insulation and leaky windows, it won't be very energy efficient at all!

One of the best ways to determine if a home is high-performance is to look for the home’s HERS Index. The Home Energy Rating System^®, is the most widely utilized index system that describes the energy performance of a home. If you have not been given the HERS Index for the home you bought, or the one you are considering buying, request it. If the home does not have a rating, its efficiency has not been quantified and you have no way of knowing whether it's a high performance home or not!

At EnergyLogic, we independently inspect a home and perform a comprehensive analysis that measures the home's energy performance, which is scored on the index system. The index is like a car’s mile per gallon rating that quantifies the energy performance of a home. However, like a golf score, the index has been developed on a descending scale where lower numbers equal better performance.

Learn More About HERS Scores:

• Introduction to HERS Scores
• What is a Good HERS Score?
• Why are HERS Rated Homes Better?

EnergyLogic is a third-party inspection and verification company - builders hire us to objectively inspect their homes and to ensure that their homes are built correctly. 

Our building science systems based approach combined with our understanding of the construction process and details ensure higher compliance, better performance, and give you more peace of mind that your home will meet your expectations.

Construction is a complex process that occurs outside of a controlled factory process, so the additional set of eyes of third-party verification is a crucial step that your builder has invested in. If you are considering purchasing a home, make sure your builder is working with a qualified third-party inspection company like EnergyLogic. 

Applied building science is the concept that scientific explanations of building failures, successes, and interactions in a home will enable us to better understand how to build houses that perform well. Looking scientifically at home performance has brought us to a better understanding of the relationships between different components in a home and why some assemblies perform better than others. When builders apply this information, it enables them to build homes that better meet our evolving expectations of a new home. 

For example, tight construction leads to control and predictability of air-flow in our homes. Air is like a freight train. It carries heat, moisture, and pollutants around and through the assemblies of our homes. Better control and predictability through tight construction and controlled ventilation lead to better being able to create homes that are durable, safe, more comfortable, and efficient than in the past to meet our expectation of high performance. 

The concepts of applied building science helps us to better understand the physics of home performance and it has revolutionized the way the homebuilding industry approaches home construction today. This understanding helps us put the pieces of the puzzle together differently than in the past, to meet our expectations for high-performance homes.

It's impossible to tell if a home will meet your comfort expectations from a walk-through while it is under construction. 

That's why it's important to buy a home that has been inspected by a third-party and that has, at a minimum, an Energy Rating to quantify the HERS Index. From initial plan analysis and consulting through inspections and completion of the home, a third-party verified home helps ensure a more comfortable home.

A few aspects of a home inspection that affect comfort:

• Insulation and air barrier inspections: insulation and air barriers work in conjunction with each other in a synergistic way. They both need to be installed well and be continuous to define the thermal envelope boundary of the home, separating and controlling the conditioned space of the home from the outdoors. When this is done well, the boundary is clearly defined and comfort is increased in the home.

• Air-tightness: By performing a blower door test, we determine if the house is air-tight. A very leaky house will be uncomfortable, both physically and financially! When a house is well sealed, it requires less heating and cooling energy to maintain a comfortable temperature.

• Whole House Ventilation: Now that the house is air-tight, it must be ventilated correctly. Why? – because it is important to ensure a controlled and predictable exchange of fresh air in the home for the occupants and for background moisture control. Moisture levels naturally rise in tight homes and comfort, and building durability can only be maintained if the moisture levels are at an appropriate level. Our goal is to achieve the proper balance of ventilation and humidity by ensuring that homes are tight and properly ventilated.

• Duct efficiency: Using a duct blaster, we pressurize the home's ducts to measure how much air the ductwork leaks. Well sealed duct systems deliver air to where it ought to go!

In homebuilding health and safety are two different but related concepts as they are dependent on different interactions in the house system.

• A Healthy house is often described as one that has plenty of breathable unpolluted air for its occupants.
• A Safe house is one that will not poison its occupants with the byproducts of combustion, namely carbon monoxide.

The applied building science principles that govern health and safety teach us to "build tight and ventilate right." Only by gaining control of a home's air and the moisture, energy, and pollutants carried by it, can we ensure that your home will be both healthy and safe.

Americans are spending more time at home and indoors than ever before due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic hit, not only did the unemployment rate skyrocket to its worst level since the Great Depression, but those who were able to work remotely started doing so in record numbers.

Indoor air quality is always important, but never more so than when people spend an extended amount of time inside. With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people home from work, school, and recreation, combined with the fact that it spreads most easily indoors, now is the time to do what you can to boost the quality of your indoor air. This excellent resource by Reviews.com outlines many suggested measures that can help reduce indoor air pollution while also saving on home insurance at the same time.

Durability is not a given. Many say this is because the craftsmanship or the materials were better in the past. In reality, we have a better chance than ever to build homes that are safe, comfortable, efficient and durable. This is because we now apply building science and systems thinking. 

Systems thinking is a term that encompasses the relationship between the structure, the mechanical systems and the occupants in a home.  The goal is to create a house where the parts work together in harmony with each other and the environment. The aim is to build a home that will fulfill the your expectations. By incorporating systems thinking from the initial design to final construction, a builder creates a high-performance home that performs safely and efficiently. 

They are developed on a national level and implemented at a local level. Colorado is a home rule state, so every jurisdiction has the ability to adopt and amend the building codes as they see fit. That is why we have jurisdictions in our state that have no building code and others that are on the most recent version of the code. The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is the code that governs performance. It is updated on a three-year cycle. You can often determine what codes have been adopted by a jurisdiction by looking at the building code section of the jurisdiction's website.

Builders that voluntarily build to the requirements of a building program are more likely to create high-performance homes. These programs are often referred to as "above code" programs. These programs are building science-based and have rigorous specifications that are usually verified by independent third-party inspection companies. While code tends to have a very broad overview of construction, a building program can dive into the details and ensure requirements are met for certification under the program. Below you can find information on some of the most popular building programs builders are taking part in. 

ENERGY STAR® 

Indoor airPLUS™ 

DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) 

LEED for Homes 

National Green Building Standard (NGBS) 

Passive House 

WaterSense