Post by Leigha Dickens, Deltec Green Building and Sustainability Manager & Certified HERS Rater
What’s Your HERS Score?
If you haven’t heard of the RESNET HERS index and you’re interested in energy efficient building, prepare for a brief lesson (and take notes!). The HERS (Home Energy Rating System) index is a national tool used to score how energy efficient a home really is—or isn’t. It’s like a “miles per gallon” rating for a home to help you evaluate how efficient your home will be compared to other homes like it, before you buy it.
RESNET (Residential Energy Services Network), the organization that oversees the HERS index, has a video to help explain the it to customers. Check it out:
Many Deltec Homes have been rated using the HERS index, which uses a scale from zero to 100+. A score of 100 represents the energy efficiency of typical new construction in the US, which we all know can leave much to be desired, while a score of zero represents a home that has net-zero energy bills. The lower your score is, the less energy your home uses and the lower your energy bills.
How Does a Deltec Home Compare?
The current average score of completed Deltec Homes that have been HERS Rated is a 47. Currently, the lowest HERS score of a Deltec home is a 3, while the highest found HERS score on a Deltec home is a respectable 68—indicating that this home is still 32% more efficient than typical new construction. Every one of our houses is custom and based on client desires, so the final score depends a great deal on the options and technologies you choose to put into your house. But the bottom line is, our super-insulated and air-tight shell package make building a high performing home a breeze.
Protect Your Deltec Home Investment with a HERS Rating
There are MANY reasons you should get a HERS rating on your Deltec. As a nationally recognized program, the HERS index means the same thing no matter where you are building and it protects your investment by offering tangible proof of the energy efficiency. A projected HERS rating off of your Deltec plans can help greatly with financing because it shows appraisers and lenders that you’re planning to build a home that offers measureable energy efficiency improvements over typical new construction, with projected energy savings to prove it. If you ever have to sell your home, an impressive HERS score offers a tangible selling feature. Studies have shown that, in many markets, homes with documented energy efficiency sell faster and at higher prices than those without. In addition, every HERS-Rated home goes into a national database, available to lenders and appraisers everywhere, helping them find other homes of similar efficiency to do better comparables. The more homes that are HERS Rated and in that database, the more lenders and appraisers will see the true predominance of clients who value energy efficiency in the residential home marketplace.