In 2002 and 2003, IBACOS had the opportunity to dig into the practices necessary to design and build to extremely high levels of performance with the IBACOS Demonstration Home. In addition to testing new design and construction strategies to achieve Building America levels of energy performance, IBACOS is using this home, located in the cold climate of Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs, to educate consumers. The goal is to illustrate to consumers the key areas of construction where quality and performance decisions are made, using best practices based on IBACOS’ research. The construction process was filmed and documented for a cable television series by The DIY (Do It Yourself) Network. The 26-part series, called “Home IQ,” is currently airing and focuses on the design and construction process of a high performance home.

The 3,074 square foot home (the basement is an additional 2,911 square feet) was designed to be at least 50% more energy efficient than homes built to the 1993 Model Energy Code benchmark. The final performance result was a HERS score of 91.4, a reduction of more than 55% in energy use beyond the 1993 MEC benchmark.

Key factors to meeting the performance goals in terms of occupant safety, health, and comfort, as well as building durability and efficiency, included:

• improving the thermal performance of the building enclosure
• providing mechanical ventilation
• installing high efficiency mechanical equipment
• ensuring fire safety
• improving the floor framing and duct design
• installing high efficiency appliances and lighting

Click here to read a technical case study of our research on this home.