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| Qualifying Homes: |
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| All participating projects had to meet the following criteria: |
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Any market rate or low-income home/unit in Connecticut that falls under the residential designation within the Connecticut state building code. This includes single-family attached and detached homes, multi-family homes, condos and townhouses. Multi-family attached projects must be less than three stories to be considered residential. |
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For multi-family attached projects, only one unit per project is eligible. The HERS Index for the selected unit will be the average of all neighboring units for the given project. |
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Homes must be built in the service territory of one of the participating utilities and must be a customer of that utility. |
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Applications must show a preliminary HERS Index of less than or equal to 50 (based on project plans), prior to inclusion of any on-site power generation. |
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The home must be a new residential project or a complete gut rehab; modifications to pre-existing homes are not eligible. |
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Total home size must not exceed 5,000 sq. ft. of conditioned living space. To encourage and reward homes that make maximum use of their living space, homes under 3,000 sq. ft. will receive a HERS Index adjustment based on the percentage that the home is below 3,000 sq. ft. of living (heated) space. For example, if a 2,500 sq. ft. home has a HERS Index of 30, the adjusted HERS Index will be (2500/3000) x 30 = 25. In this situation, the adjusted HERS index of 25 will be used to qualify the home for inclusion in the program and to determine the winner(s) of the Challenge. Homes that are above 3,000 sq. ft. will not receive any type of HERS Index adjustment. |
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| REM/Rate™ is a residential energy analysis software developed specifically for the needs of HERS providers. The software calculates heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, and appliance energy loads, consumption and costs for new and existing single and multi-family homes. |
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Home plans must be analyzed and scored by a certified HERS rating professional prior to the start of construction. Homes will also be tested and scored by a HERS professional once construction is complete. The HERS professional will submit electronic REM/Rate™ files to the Challenge Sponsors for review and validation in order to determine eligibility and competition winners. Participants will be given a $500 incentive to help defray the cost of the HERS Rating. |
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| Selecting the Participants & Determining the Winners: |
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Based on the exceptional group of applications that were submitted, the project sponsors elected to include all 18 in the competition. In addition to ensuring that the applicants met the minimum criteria specified above, the sponsors also looked for diversity within the projects in terms of utility provider, geographic location, building design, heating and cooling equipment, and project type (single family, multi-family, low income, etc.). Builders were allowed to submit applications for more than one project for the Challenge. |
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Considering that incentives for solar PV (Photovoltaic) systems may be limited, the HERS Index for homes constructed without a PV system will include a deduction for a system to-be-installed at a later date. The deduction will assume that the system will be mounted flat on a roof and will incorporate the current site conditions, including orientation and shading, into the modeling. The size of the proposed system will equal 1 kWh per 1,000 sq. ft. of living space. For homes with a PV system installed, the actual PV system will be incorporated into the HERS modeling. |
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| A PV (Photovoltaic) System converts sunlight into electricity, taking advantage of the earth’s most essential source of clean & renewable energy, the sun. Click Here to learn more. |
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The Challenge sponsors will judge the homes and will determine the winner(s). In the event of a dispute or should final results be “too close to call”, the Challenge sponsors will hire an independent HERS rater to determine the winner(s). |
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| Additional Requirements & Activities: |
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All homes entered in the competition must also be participants in the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund’s Residential New Construction (RNC) incentive program. Through this program these homes (and all other participating RNC homes) are eligible to receive incentives for energy efficient features including ENERGY STAR® home certification, insulation, geothermal systems, HVAC equipment, and natural gas hot water heaters. |
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Throughout the process, each builder agreed to occasional inspections, status reports, and monitoring and evaluations on behalf of the appropriate service provider in order to ensure compliance with the rules and as a way to document the process. |
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Participants also agreed to take part in promotional activities including media events, open houses, publications, and a final awards ceremony. |
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