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Overview:
The Comfort Home Program

The Comfort Home Program is a nationally-recognized, new construction premiere home program offering one of the most technically advanced residential energy efficiency processes available. It has proven energy efficiency techniques and a solid marketing approach that makes it easy to build and sell energy efficient and comfortable homes. The program is offered through utility sponsorship to builders and home buyers of single family and multifamily housing.

Participation

The Comfort Home Program is currently sponsored by utilities that represent exposure to new construction in excess of 100,000 units annually. In addition, the total customer base of existing homes for these utilities exceeds 7.5 million units.

Over 1,500 builders have voluntarily participated in the Comfort Home Program with the number of new builders increasing each year as awareness grows and the program is introduced in other areas.

The Comfort Home Program was developed from extensive research and field experience working with builders and subcontrators that focused on infiltration control, proper equipment sizing and system design, periodic inspection of the building shell and mechanical systems during construction and final inspection of insulation efficiency, mechanical equipment performance and building infiltration.

The result of this effort validated that 30 to 40 percent of the energy needs for heating and cooling could be achieved compared with a "standard" built home that does not incorporate these measures nor do performance testing.

Housing Affordability

The Comfort Home Program provides three distinct benefits that contribute to supporting affordable housing:

Lower Energy Costs -- Proven performance backed by a guarantee of operating costs provides the home buyer with clearly identified heating and cooling costs that are 30 to 40 percent less than comparable housing that is not "energy efficient."

Improved Cash Flow -- The cost of meeting the higher standards of a Comfort Home, when incorporated into the mortgage, is generally less than the money saved in utility costs to heat and cool the home. The net result is the home owner benefits from overall reduced costs and improved cashflow.

Energy Efficient Financing -- Comfort Home meets the guidelines for liberalized debt-to-income ratios.

Many of the utilities that sponsor the Comfort Home Program also offer incentives for builders/customers that built to Comfort Home standards.

Energy Efficiency at a Reasonable Cost

One of the keys to the success of the Comfort Home Program is that it is based on field experience with builders. It is designed to be compatible with compatible with the scheduling needs of the builder and his/her subs while enhancing quality control opportunities and improving thermal construction techniques. By incorporating these enhancements savings can often be realized in equipment, thermal measures, and service call-backs. As a result, energy efficient housing can be achieved with minimal additional cost.

Voluntary Participation

While the Comfort Home Program is generally sponsored by utility companies, the participation by builders is totally voluntary. The acceptance of builders has generally reflected the value-added features the program offers with particular interest in a quality control process that provides them with a measure of performance along with a guarantee.

Technology Transfer

Because the Comfort Home Program is based on a process that emphasizes performance testing, utilizing standards established by the industry, and emphasizes a team commitment of the builder and his subcontrators, increased awareness and sensitivity to quality workmanship is achieved. Education is a natural consequence which helps to stimulate innovation and improve productivity. In its simplest terms, the acceptance of preestablished measures of performance results in higher levels of performance that is translated to an improved standard of work for all jobs.

Our experience with participants of the Comfort Home Program is that the time for diffusion of innovative technologies related to energy use is significantly reduced where active participation of all the contributing parties is involved, changes are based on solid research data that has been demonstrated in the field, and where specific measures are identified that can be tested and validated under pre-determined protocol.

Comfort Home Corporation, established in 1990, evolved as a natural outgrowth of the Energy Information Center, which was founded in 1984 to provide both services to, and enhanced awareness of, residential and commercial energy efficiency. Utilizing the experience gained in working with builders, subcontrators, home owners, and utility companies, the company developed the Comfort Home concept, which provides a strong marketing and educational program primarily directed to builders and subcontractors in cooperation with utilities.

Operations include instrumentation, measurement and analysis of building energy use with a view to recommendnig and implementing practical retrofitting techniques, installation of load-shielding devices and systems. Comfort Home Corporation pioneered the instrumented analysis approach to the location of thermal defects in building and mechanical systems and quantified the scope and impact of ductwork leakage in the late 1980's.