Equivalency Between IECC Prescriptive Path and IECC Energy Rating Index

Published Thursday, October 13, 2016

This study reports HERS indices for defined configurations of typical houses (Standard Rated Homes) compliant with the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) minimum requirements. For all building characteristics not defined in the IECC, the “Methodology for Calculating Energy Use in Residential Buildings” (2012 Methodology) is followed. This Methodology was developed in 2012 by Home Innovation Research Labs (formerly NAHB Research Center) to provide guidance, uniformity, and practical construction and equipment choices for researchers comparing the energy performance difference resulting from code changes.

For this study REM/Rate™ v 15.2 (Summer, 2016) is used. REM/Rate produces HERS Indices according to the requirements of the ANSI/RESNET/ICC 301-2014 Standard for the Calculation and Labeling of the Energy Performance of Low-Rise Residential Buildings using an Energy Rating Index (Republished January 15, 2016).

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In a separate report, Home Innovation Research Labs reported the predicted HERS indices for over 300 typical house configurations simulated to meet the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) minimum requirements for both federal minimum and high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment.

In order to identify the energy conservation opportunities associated with high-efficiency lights, appliances and balanced mechanical ventilation, modifications were made to a subset of the modeled configurations from that report: Medium Standard Rated Homes on slab basements in Climate Zones 1, 4 and 7.

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