The National House Building Council, usually known as the NHBC, states its primary purpose as raising the construction standards of new homes in the United Kingdom (UK), and providing consumer protection for homebuyers through its 10-year Buildmark warranty.
Energy Star is a program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that promotes energy efficiency. The program provides information on the energy consumption of products and devices using different standardized methods. The Energy Star label is found on more than 75 different certified product categories, homes, commercial buildings, and industrial plants. In the United States, the Energy Star label is also shown on the Energy Guide appliance label of qualifying products.
A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption and carbon emissions. Traditional heating and active cooling systems are absent, or their use is secondary. Low-energy buildings may be viewed as examples of sustainable architecture. Low-energy houses often have active and passive solar building design and components, which reduce the house's energy consumption and minimally impact the resident's lifestyle. Throughout the world, companies and non-profit organizations provide guidelines and issue certifications to guarantee the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Certifications include passive house, BBC - Bâtiment Basse Consommation - Effinergie (France), zero-carbon house (UK), and Minergie (Switzerland).
The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is an Australian scheme to measure the energy efficiency of a residential dwelling. An accredited software tool assesses the home based on a variety of criteria and produces an energy star rating.
Domestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK greenhouse gas emissions targeted by the Government for 2010. However, the process of achieving that drop is proving problematic given the very wide range of age and condition of the UK housing stock.
Energy World was a demonstration project of 51 low-energy houses constructed in the Shenley Lodge area of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. The project was promoted by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation and culminated in a public exhibition in August and October 1986 that attracted international interest. It was a significant landmark in the design and construction of low-energy housing, and in the development of energy efficiency evaluation tools. It has had a long-term impact on Government policy and within the national house-building industry, insofar as the progressive 'tightening up' of the energy section of the Building Regulations has largely been founded on this pioneering work.
The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) is the UK government's recommended method system for measuring the energy rating of residential dwellings. The methodology is owned by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and produced under licence by BRE. The first version was published in 1995, and was replaced by newer versions in 1998, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2012, and 2021. It calculates the typical annual energy costs for space and water heating, and, from 2005, lighting. The CO2 emissions are also calculated. The SAP runs from 1 to 100+, with dwellings that have SAP>100 being net exporters of energy.
Energy performance certificates (EPCs) are a rating scheme to summarise the energy efficiency of buildings. The building is given a rating between A - G (Inefficient). The EPC will also include tips about the most cost-effective ways to improve the home energy rating. Energy performance certificates are used in many countries.
An energy performance certificate (EPC) is a rating scheme to summarise the energy efficiency of buildings or devices.
The Home Energy Rating is an American estimated measurement of a home's energy efficiency based on normalized modified end-use loads (nMEULs). In the United States, the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) is responsible for creation and maintenance of the RESNET Mortgage Industry National Home Energy Rating Standards (MINHERS), a proprietary system of standards, which includes standards language for the certification and quality assurance for RESNET Provider organizations. RESNET is an EPA recognized Home Certification Organization (HCO) that also help's create standards in compliance with the American National Standards Institute, namely ANSI 301, ANSI 310, ANSI 380, and ANSI 850. The Building Science Institute, Ltd. Co. (BSI) is another EPA recognized HCO that maintains the ANSI Standards to produce Energy Ratings and compliance with above-code programs such as the ENERGY STAR New Homes Program.
The National Energy Foundation (NEF) is an independent British charity, established to improve the use of energy in buildings.
This article provides examples of green building programs in the United States. These programs span the public, private, and non-profit sectors, and all have the goal of increasing energy efficiency and the sustainability of the built environment.
BREEAM, first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of buildings. More than 550,000 buildings have been 'BREEAM-certified' and over two million are registered for certification in more than 50 countries worldwide. BREEAM also has a tool which focuses on neighbourhood development.
A Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) for efficient energy use is an accredited position in the UK that is approved by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Under the UK's Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations, an Energy Performance Certificate is required for the sale or rent of a domestic dwelling. DEAs are qualified and accredited for the production of RdSAP EPCs - these are specifically for use on existing buildings, which would include an dwelling built after 2008 which had already received an on-construction SAP EPC. As of November 2018, DEAs had produced 16,849,375 RdSAP EPCs since the inception of the industry.
Green buildings in Australia are assessed and rated by a variety of government and independent ratings systems.
The Builders Challenge is a high-performance housing recognition initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through its Building Technologies Program. The voluntary program with incentives was announced by the DOE on 14 February 2008. Through the Builders Challenge, participating homebuilders can more easily differentiate their high energy-performance homes from other less energy-efficient products in the marketplace by means of a standardized energy rating system. “Best energy-performing” is defined by the DOE as scoring 70 or lower on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale), that is, at least 30 percent more efficient than a typical home built per the 2004 International Energy Conservation Code. The Builders Challenge aims for 1.3 million homes scoring 70 or lower to be constructed by 2030 thereby saving $1.7 billion in energy costs per DOE estimate.
Energy rating may refer to:
NABERS, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System, is an initiative by the government of Australia to measure and compare the environmental performance of Australian buildings and tenancies. There are NABERS rating tools for commercial office buildings to measure greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste efficiency and indoor environment quality. There are also energy/greenhouse and water rating tools for hotels, shopping centres and data centres.
The House Energy Rating (HER) or House Energy Rating Scheme (HERS) are worldwide standard measures of comparison by which one can evaluate the energy efficiency of a new or an existing building. The comparison is generally done for energy requirements for heating and cooling of indoor space. The energy is the main criterion considered by any international building energy rating scheme but there are some other important factors such as production of greenhouse gases emission, indoor environment quality, cost efficiency and thermal comfort, which are considered by some schemes. Basically, the energy rating of a residential building provides detailed information on the energy consumption and the relative energy efficiency of the building. Hence, HERs inform consumers about the relative energy efficiency of homes and encourage them to use this information in making their house purchase decision.
Green building certification systems are a set of rating systems and tools that are used to assess a building or a construction project's performance from a sustainability and environmental perspective. Such ratings aim to improve the overall quality of buildings and infrastructures, integrate a life cycle approach in its design and construction, and promote the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by the construction industry. Buildings that have been assessed and are deemed to meet a certain level of performance and quality, receive a certificate proving this achievement.
