The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERH) program in the Building Technologies Office (BTO) has accelerated the adoption of cost-effective building technologies since 2013 by recognizing and establishing guidelines for highly energy-efficient residential buildings and the builders who construct them. Today, the Building Technologies Office (BTO) reaffirmed this longstanding commitment to advancing high-performance, high-quality homes through its ZERH certification program by releasing its Draft ZERH Multifamily Version 2 National Program Requirements for public comment.
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Multifamily buildings up to five stories in height have been eligible for certification under Version 1 of the ZERH program, and many outstanding projects have earned the ZERH label. The draft Version 2 program requirements for Zero Energy Ready multifamily homes expands that eligibility now to any number of stories. Version 2 also increases the efficiency, performance, and electric readiness provisions of Version 1 and aligns the compliance pathways and certification processes with the Environmental Performance Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR Multifamily New Construction (ESMFNC) program.
DOE has posted the Draft ZERH Multifamily Version 2 National Program Requirements, the Rater, drafts of the EV-Ready and PV-Ready checklists; and the draft Energy Rating Index (ERI) Target Procedure document for stakeholder review and comment. Comments are due May 15, 2023. Additionally, DOE has posted a 3-page summary that highlights the major changes between multifamily requirements under ZERH Version 1 and draft Multifamily Version 2 program requirements.
DOE recognizes that many stakeholder groups including affordable housing programs, energy efficiency programs, energy consultants, and high-performance housing developers have a strong interest in this program update to ZERH, and invite your feedback. The DOE Zero Energy Ready Home website includes the draft program documents as well as a comment submittal form: https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/zerh-multifamily-version-2
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The DOE Zero Energy Ready Home program is also conducting a webinar on April 12, 2 pm – 3 pm (Eastern) to provide an overview of the ZERH Multifamily Version 2 draft program requirements. Register today! |
DOE greatly appreciates the engagement of stakeholders and looks forward to informing the final multifamily program requirements based on this feedback.
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