When I kept hearing the term Energy Star, I called my friends Frank Cirillo and Robert Goettlicher at Providence Homes to understand what all the fuss was about. I was amazed at what I found out! There’s a lot more to an Energy Star home than you may think. What I found most interesting is along with many energy saving features in each home, the homes must be independently tested to verify that it qualifies to hold the title of an Energy Star home.

It all starts with the home being designed properly – including window placement, heating and cooling duct design, planning for the air handler to be placed in conditioned space, and even truss design to allow for proper insulation all contribute to energy efficiency.

Check out the video above where Frank demonstrates the truss design. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about until he went and got a normal truss and compared it to the truss that goes in a more energy efficient home. A picture is worth a thousand words!

Of course, high performance low- E windows, insulated doors, programmable thermostats, energy efficient appliances, and water heaters all add to the energy savings.

Providence Homes guarantees that all Energy Star homes will score 77 or lower on the E scale which measures energy performance; however, they have recently been averaging 69. This matters to you because a home achieving 69 will use only 69 percent as much energy as a typical new home which is 100 on the scale. (more…)