Adopted 2004 Enhancements to the National Home Energy Rating Standards

The RESNET Standards Drafting Committee was appointed in 2001 with the approval of the RESNET Board of Directors to review RESNET's Mortgage Industry National Home Energy Rating Standards and draft proposed amendments to the standard. After three years of research, deliberations, vetting and public review, the committee developed a set of enhancements to the national rating standard developed by the committee.

The enhancements were endorsed by the RESNET Board of Directors and adopted by the Standards Revisions Committee on December 23, 2004. The Revisions Committee is composed of three representatives of State Energy Offices and three representatives of the rating industry.

The adopted enhancements to the national home energy rating standards were developed through a three-year process included:

• Publicly soliciting recommendations for proposed changes to the standard in 2001
• A consensus process in which the drafting committee reviewed and developed the proposed amendments
• An aggressive vetting and robust education effort to obtain input from the key stakeholders of rating services.
• The education effort included presentations to the National Association of Home Builders Energy Subcommittee, RESNET Conference, EEBA Conference, and Affordable Comfort Conference and numerous articles in RESNET Notes, Home Energy Magazine, and Energy Design Update.
• An industry education effort took place after the amendments were drafted and before the public comment process. The proposed amendments and their justifications were posted on the RESNET web site 30 days prior to the public comment process. A major emphasis of the 2004 RESNET Conference was to educate the industry on the proposed amendments. Break-out sessions were dedicated to the proposed amendments that would have the greatest impact on the rating industry and a half day general session was dedicated to a forum on the proposed amendments. In the general session, every proposed amendment was presented and conference participants were allowed to express their views.
• A 75 day public comment period followed the education effort. The comment period was extended by 15 days upon the request of the National Association of Home Builders.
• A seven month review period followed, where the drafting committee carefully reviewed every comment received and made necessary changes to the amendments based upon the comments. This effort included consultation with key experts such as Gary Nelson of the Energy Conservatory, Hank Rutkowski with ACCA, and interest groups such as the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association.

The result of this process is a set of enhancements to the national home energy rating standards that solve many known issues with the existing standard, are technically defendable, and do not present an undue burden on the rating industry or the clients of its services. The result enhances the credibility of our industry by moving the industry into the 21st century and setting high standards of quality.

To review the 2004 enhancements to the national home energy rating standards click on Adopted Enhancements to the Mortgage Industry National Home Energy Rating Standards.