Prioritizing Your Energy Efficient Retrofits
Residential buildings consume roughly 20% of energy used in the United States. With the advancement of modern energy codes and equipment standards, new residential buildings typically perform at a much higher energy performance level than older, existing buildings. Opportunities for increasing the energy performance of existing homes have attracted the attention of utilities and state and federal government, which have all responded by developing initiatives to spur residential “energy retrofits” across the country.
This study serves as a guide for homeowners, remodelers, trade contractors, and weatherization agencies by providing information on prioritizing energy upgrades for existing homes. This unique research evaluates dozens of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) for their energy, economic, and environmental performance at 10 locations across five climates zones. While many systems were evaluated in the study, special emphasis was given to the performance of propane systems.
