What's a Home Energy Rating?

Are you ready to get serious about your home’s energy efficiency? Learning your home’s rating on the home energy rating system (HERS) index can help. This official analysis of a home’s energy efficiency is used to qualify homes for the federal Energy Star label, energy efficient mortgages (EEMs) and various tax incentives. When a home qualifies for these benefits, it becomes easier to market for sale. And even if you’re not planning to move, a low HERS index still means long-term energy savings and improved comfort.

How Does the HERS Index Work?

To determine the HERS index, a home’s building components must be inspected and assessed. Energy efficiency modeling will also be undertaken with accredited software, and the home will also undergo performance testing like duct blaster and blower door tests.

The number that results from this process, the HERS index, compares the home’s energy performance to the performance of a theoretical home that exactly satisfies set energy standard, which has a 100 percent rating. A home that qualifies for a HERS index under 100 percent exceeds energy efficiency standards, while one that’s above 100 percent doesn’t. The lower the number, the better your HERS rating.

What You Can Get From a HERS Index

Reports on a broad range of issues concerning a home’s energy use will result from the ratings process, including:

• Estimated annual energy costs, separated into four categories: heating, cooling, water heating and lights/appliances
• Compliance with energy requirements or codes

With a HERS report for your home, you’ll have a plan to lower energy use in your home and possible qualify for an energy efficient mortgage. The plan will lay out specific areas where you can reduce or eliminate wasted energy. Your home’s biggest energy problems will be ordered on a graph, in descending order. The report also will identify what improvements probably won’t do much good.

To learn more about what a home energy rating can do for your Northwest Arkansas home, contact the pros at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. With the report in hand, we can help you reduce energy use for big savings and better comfort.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Springdale, Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about home energy ratings and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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