A brief guide to green home design and performance measurement tools

By June Donenfeld

What makes a green home green? That depends on a host of factors, but whether you want to tick all the boxes to get your home certified under one of these programs, or simply get some direction on making it greener and healthier, this (non-exhaustive) list of resources will help.

ENERGY STAR®

A voluntary program of the US Environmental Protection Agency that identifies and promotes energy-efficient products, ENERGY STAR includes major appliances and new homes and buildings. To certify, homes must meet specific standards of high-efficiency heating and cooling, thermal enclosures, water protection, lighting and appliances, and independent inspections and testing.

LEARN MORE: WWW.ENERGYSTAR.GOV/NEWHOMES/GREEN_HOMES

HERS INDEX

The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index is a nationally recognized, industry-standard scoring system for inspecting and calculating energy efficiency. Created and run by the non-profit Residential Energy Services Network, RESNET trains and certifies a national network of raters who evaluate a home’s energy performance in highly specific categories, enabling owners to identify the most effective ways to take action. RESNET also oversees the HERS H20 rating system, which evaluates homes’ indoor and outdoor water usage.

LEARN MORE: WWW.RESNET.US

LEED

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a third-party, globally recognized green building certification program created by the non-profit US Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is a design tool for creating high-performance, cost-saving buildings that promote the health of their occupants and the environment. The program takes a whole-building approach to sustainability, looking at location and planning, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, waste reduction, indoor environmental quality, innovative strategies and priority regional issues.

LEARN MORE: WWW.USGBC.ORG/LEED

LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

A sustainable building certification program from the non-profit International Living Future Institute, the Living Building Challenge consists of seven performance areas: place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. All Living Building Challenge projects must address specific aspects of all these areas, and compliance is based on actual performance; to verify compliance, projects must be operational for at least twelve consecutive months before auditing.

LEARN MORE: WWW.LIVING-FUTURE.ORG/LBC

NET-ZERO ENERGY HOMES (ALSO ZERO-NET ENERGY OR ZNE)

Net-zero homes produce as much energy from renewable sources as they use over the course of a year. Because net-zero design is a complex, data-driven process, it’s best to use an integrated team of experts; this usually includes an architect/designer, an energy consultant, a mechanical engineer and a skilled contractor. Site factors include all aspects of the local climate and home orientation, so homeowners can take advantage of natural breezes and the sun when they want it—and create shade when they don’t.

PHI (PASSIVE HOUSE INSTITUTE/PASSIVHAUS INSTITUT) AND PHIUS (PASSIVE HOUSE INSTITUTE US, INC.)

The broad goals of the performance-based PHI and PHIUS standards are energy efficiency and comfort, achieved by drastically reducing the need for additional heating/cooling through insulation, air leakage elimination, mechanical ventilation, passive solar, highly efficient windows and doors and the elimination of thermal bridges.

PHI is a German research organization overseeing a performance-based, globally recognized green building certification standard designed to limit total energy use and increase the interior air quality of buildings. PHI looks to the designer and other experts to determine the best paths to get there; this includes building envelopes with robust insulation, high levels of air tightness, and mechanical ventilation systems.

LEARN MORE: WWW.PASSIVEHOUSE.COM

PHIUS

A US non-profit organization that trains and certifies professionals, maintains the PHIUS+ climate-specific passive building standard, certifies and quality-assures passive buildings and conducts research to advance high-performance building. Like PHI, it is a performance-based certification, but PHIUS also collaborates with other organizations and takes into account specific climate differences in North America to determine what is practical and cost-effective for each zone.

LEARN MORE: WWW.PHIUS.ORG | GREENMAINEHOMES.COM/BLOG/WHATS-NEW-IN-PASSIVE-HOUSE-CERTIFICATION

PRETTY GOOD HOUSE (PGH)

Now nationally recognized, PGH was conceived and developed in Maine by a small group of high-performance building professionals to help in the home design, building or renovation process. With a focus both on occupants and the environment, PGH is an open-source framework and set of detailed guidelines that enables homeowners to work within their financial and practical constraints to create (or modify) high-quality homes that do right by the planet—and their pocketbooks. The guidelines cover economics, the team approach, climate, design, materials, the building envelope, windows and doors, mechanical systems, HVAC, plumbing, energy, lighting and appliances, verification and owner/occupant behavior.

LEARN MORE: WWW.PRETTYGOODHOUSE.ORG

This article appeared in the Spring 2021 edition of Green & Healthy Maine HOMES. Subscribe today!

Find Maine experts that specialize in healthy, efficient homes in the Green Homes Business Directory.