| Energy conservation programs mainly rely on home energy audits to identify and confirm energy retrofit opportunities in energy-inefficient homes. To enhance the effectiveness of these programs and to improve the value of home energy audits, a pre-screening methodology that utilizes readily-available information like energy consumption data, conditioned building area, and local daily weather data to identify energy-inefficient homes is presented. The methodology models energy consumption using the Variable Base Degree-Day method, classifies homes into design archetypes, and compares modeling parameters to simulation results to identify energy-inefficient homes. The methodology is applied in two studies. The first study compares results from utility bill modeling performed on simulations to the simulation inputs, effectively characterizing residential energy-efficiency. The simulation study finds that the HS values can be used to identify 100% of the energy-inefficient homes, compared to 90% for EUI values, the high base-load natural gas users are identified, and the homes with high thermostat set-points are identified. The second study compares results from utility bill modeling to identify energy-inefficient single-family homes on a community scale. Using a home archetype classification procedure, the methodology results are validated using a well defined field-test home and are reconciled with energy audit reports to confirm the predictions of energy efficiency. |
