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House Rating Schemes

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House Rating Schemes

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

This chapter presents selected House Energy Rating Systems in diverse contexts and explores the different aspects of a House Energy Rating Scheme (HERS). It demonstrates that there are inadequacies in the current rating schemes which this book attempts to address.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    More details about software programs can be found in the web-based references given by the US Department of Energy, 2009: Building energy software tools directory, <Energy Rated Homes of America US Department of Energy. http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/tools_directory/subjects_sub.cfm.

  2. 2.

    The R-2000 Standard is based on an energy consumption target for each house, and a series of technical requirements for ventilation, air tightness, insulation, choice of materials, water use and other factors (See: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/new-homes/r-2000/About-r-2000.cfm?attr=4).

  3. 3.

    [MNECB] is intended to help in designing energy-efficient buildings. It sets out minimum requirements for the features of buildings that determine their energy efficiency, taking into account regional construction costs, regional heating fuel types, and costs and regional climatic differences. The MNECB has, in addition to sections on the building envelope and on water heating, detailed information on lighting, HVAC systems and electrical power, which can offer major energy savings (See: http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/pubs/codes/nrcc38731_e.html).

  4. 4.

    Some of these methods appear in a review by Kotsaki, K. and G. Sourys (2000).

  5. 5.

    A home score in the original method was calculated from 100 to 20*(ER/EC), in which ER is the total purchased energy consumption for heating, cooling and hot water for the rated home, and EC is that for the reference home.

  6. 6.

    Load in this method is defined as the amount of heating energy that must be added or removed from a building to satisfy a specified level of comfort in the building, and Energy Use is the amount of energy required by the equipment that satisfies the load.

  7. 7.

    The mathematical process is described in Fairey et al. (2000).

  8. 8.

    The Fanger thermal comfort model will be discussed in Chap. 3.

  9. 9.

    Appliances in a home account for 35% of total energy use on average, and up to 50% in a moderate climate.

  10. 10.

    House Free Running Rating Scheme (HFRS) is a clumsy term in English; however it has been used in this book to make it consistent with the previous term, “House Energy Rating Scheme (HERS)” for house ratings.

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Kordjamshidi, M. (2011). House Rating Schemes. In: House Rating Schemes. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15790-5_2

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