Home Energy Score
Signet Inspection Group
Home Energy Score™
No matter where you are in your home buying, owning or renting journey, there is always good reason to better understand your home’s energy use and the Home Energy Score™ can help. Homes that are drafty, cold in the winter, hot in the summer and expensive to run leave residents struggling to choose between staying comfortable and paying their bills. A Home Energy Score™ enables you to not only financially prepare for your expected energy costs, but will aid in your energy upgrade planning and save you money in the process as well.
What is the Home Energy Score™?
Think of the Home Energy Score™ like a miles per gallon (MPG) rating for a house. It allows you to compare and contrast the home’s expected energy use in contrast to the features it has and in comparison to similar homes across the United States. But unlike a car, you can actually improve your home’s energy efficiency and the Home Energy Score™ tells you how with specific recommendations, many of which a homeowner can do on their own.
What does a Home Energy Score™ provide?
Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in conjunction with its national laboratories, the Home Energy Score™ provides a low-cost, easy to understand rating system designed to help homeowners and homebuyers alike gain useful information about a home’s energy performance under normal operating conditions. Using a simple 1 to 10 scale, a 10 represents the most energy efficient home and a 1 represents a home that needs extensive energy improvements.
How does the Home Energy Score™ process work?
The process starts with a Home Energy Score™ Assessor collecting about 40 pieces of energy related information during a brief home walk-through that normally adds about a half hour to our home inspection or takes roughly an hour as a stand-alone service. Information about “fixed assets” that include heating, cooling, hot water systems and the home’s “envelope” (foundation, roof, walls, insulation, windows, etc.) are entered into the Home Energy Scoring Tool. Once complete, the assessor in conjunction with their DOE Home Energy Score™ Partner, will generate a detailed report that includes the home’s score on a scale of 1 to 10.
What does the Home Energy Score™ include?
When you receive your report it will include; 1) The Home Energy Score™ itself, 2) Useful facts about the home including data on the fixed asset information collected and a home energy use breakdown, 3) Recommendations to both improve your score and the overall energy efficiency of your home.
How accurate is the Home Energy Score™?
Developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Home Energy Score™ modeling software converts the expected home energy usage into a point on the 10-point scale. This scale accounts for differences in weather conditions by using the zip code to assign the house to one of more than 1,000 weather stations. The software was designed so that scores for different homes can be compared to one another regardless of where the homes are located or the number of people currently living in those homes. Keep in mind that information about how residents operate the house and non-permanent house features like lighting, home electronics and appliances are not included in the score calculation since these are not considered to be fixed assets. Therefore a home’s past utility bills may not match the home’s estimated annual energy usage.
Does home size matter?
Yes. If two homes have equivalent energy equipment, insulation, etc., but differ in size, the larger home will generally receive a lower (worse) score than the smaller home, because the larger home requires more energy to heat and cool the home’s living space. The score reflects how much energy a home is likely to use – not how much energy per square foot will be used.
Does home location matter?
The 10-point scale is adjusted to account for local climate. So, while a home with a score of “5” in San Diego and a home with a score of “5” in Minneapolis are both considered “average” (that is they are in the 50th percentile in terms of energy use for their area), the home in San Diego will use a lot less energy given the mild local climate.
Why should I get a Home Energy Score™?
As a Homeowner your Home Energy Score™ will show you how your home’s efficiency compares to other homes, and will identify energy improvements that will not only save you money and raise your Home Energy Score™, but will likely enhance how comfortable you feel in your home and may improve your home’s air quality as well.
As a Homebuyer you want as much information as possible when comparing homes, and the Home Energy Score™ enables you to not only financially prepare for your expected energy costs, but will aid in your energy upgrade planning as well.
As a Homeseller having a Home Energy Score™ separates your home from the pack. One study by Elevate Energy found that listings that include energy costs – even when those costs were high, sold for a higher percentage of the asking price and spent less time on the market than comparable homes that did not disclose energy costs.
Also, with Fannie Mae’s Home Style Energy mortgage, borrowers can finance up to 15% of a home’s “as completed” appraised value for energy efficiency improvements by receiving a Home Energy Score™. Borrowers in this program can also qualify for a stretch on their debt-to-income ratios for homes that score a 6 or higher, or for making improvements to a less efficient home. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has a similar policy that allows larger debt-to-income ratios for high scoring homes. These policies reflect the fact that more efficient homes have lower operating costs.
What does a Home Energy Score™ cost?
The cost of a Home Energy Score™ assessment during one of our Signet Comprehensive Home Inspections is $150. The cost as a stand-alone service is $250.
Signet Inspection Group
Certified U.S. Department of Energy
Home Energy Score™ Assessors
Order you Home Energy Score™ today
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If you have any questions about the Home Energy Score™ program, feel free to give us a call. You can also view the official program page at HomeEnergyScore.gov.