Coming For 2025: Homeowners’ Course In Home Performance
Make Your Own Retrofit Plan That Helps Meet the UN’s 2030 Carbon Reduction Goals
Free Course - Online!
1) Home Energy Basics: Building Science Principles
This module introduces homeowners to the critical concepts of how energy, heat, air, and moisture flow within a home, focusing on the building science principles that underpin energy efficiency. By understanding these fundamentals, homeowners will gain insights into how their home functions as a system and how each component—from insulation to HVAC systems—affects a home’s overall performance and indoor environmental quality.
Key Learning Objectives:
Understanding Heat, Air, and Moisture Flow:
Learn how heat moves from warm to cold, how air circulates through your home, and how moisture infiltration can affect both comfort and building durability.
The Building Envelope:
Explore how your home's outer shell—including the attic, basement, and walls—creates a thermal boundary that serves as the first line of defense against outdoor elements. Understand the role of insulation and air sealing in maintaining this boundary.
The House as a System:
Discover the interconnection between various elements of your home, such as how upgrading one component, like windows or insulation, can influence the performance of heating and cooling systems. This holistic view is key to achieving energy efficiency and maintaining a healthy indoor environment.
Health and Safety Considerations:
Identify what constitutes a healthy indoor environment by focusing on ventilation, moisture control, and the potential need to address issues like radon, asbestos, or mold. Learn strategies to improve air quality while ensuring your home remains energy-efficient.
By the end of this module, you will have a foundational understanding of building science principles that will empower you to take informed steps choosing measures to improve home energy efficiency.
2) DOE Home Energy Score: Turn A Model Into A Plan
Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and dive in. You’ll develop findings that the professional energy auditor will love to discuss with you and a model for future home upgrades that can serve as your plan.
Energy Assessments: Conduct a thorough assessment of your home’s characteristics. Call in a professional with a blower door to discuss your findings. Free or low cost services are sponsored by many utility programs, like in Minnesota, the Center for Energy and Environment's (CEE) Home Energy Squad.
Advanced Energy Modeling: Harness a powerful tool used by professionals, DOE’s Home Energy Score (demonstration version only), to create a personalized efficiency and/or decarbonization plan. Your home as is; your home with upgrades and/or new system(s). This is the place to let your knowledge and creativity shine. These are ideas you will later share with a home performance contractor.
Outcome: By the end of this section, you’ll have a clear, actionable blueprint to achieve your goals.
Common Retrofit Packages:
Understand how to choose or adapt a retrofit package based on your home’s specific characteristics—whether it’s an older home with drafty windows, basement, walls, and attic, or a newer home that just needs more insulation, or something in between.
A Basic Package:
Focuses on low-cost, high-impact upgrades such as attic insulation, air sealing, and LED lighting.
Intermediate Package:
Includes the basic package plus things like window replacements and adding a high-efficiency HVAC system. A great example is the ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade.
Advanced Decarbonization Package:
Incorporates all elements of the intermediate package with a shift to electrification of all systems such as heat pump installation to replace fossil fuel systems. This may also require advanced (invasive - demo required) air sealing and insulation techniques and adding solar panels, if you want a net-zero home.
3) Renovations and Rebates: Putting The Plan Into Action
This section is all about turning your knowledge into power and following through on the plan, approaching the renovation process with confidence.
Retrofit Roadmap: From sealing your home’s envelope to upgrading HVAC systems, your plan provides the makings of a detailed scope of work document for each of the trades that outlines the most impactful upgrades for energy savings and any other goals you have for your project. Use the DOE’s contractor checklists for additional guidance.
Communicating With Contractors: Navigate the renovation process with confidence, speaking the language of building science and energy efficiency.
Estimate Your Savings: Learn how to estimate how much tax credits and rebates can reduce the cost of your renovations.
Explore Financing Options: Discover financing options, including green loan programs, to make your upgrades more affordable.
4) Sales Comparisons: How Going Green Boosts Home’s Value
Your hard work pays off—not just in carbon savings, but in increased home value. When it’s time to sell, your green home stands out in the marketplace. This section will show you how to communicate the benefits of your upgrades, ensuring that potential buyers see the true value of your energy-efficient home.
A green home is worth more in the marketplace
The Value of Green Homes: Highlight the features that make your home a standout—energy efficiency, comfort, and a low or no carbon footprint. Learn about the Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum, which is used in appraisals to communicate the high-performance features of a home when selling or refinancing your home.
Final Outcome: By the end of this course, you won’t just have a higher-performing home—you’ll be a leader in your community, showing others what’s possible. Please join us in this effort! It’s FREE!
