In the past decade or so, the California building industry is
full of talk of Title 24 compliance and how to achieve it. In essence, it
is an energy scoring system which brings rebates with it if you can attain it.
However, recently it has become firmly tied to another standard, one which has been around
for a long time – the HERS inspection with HERS standing for home energy rating system. So, in order to
qualify for the Title 24 energy code, you will have to have your house inspected by a HERS rater.
However, there are some questions on laymen’s minds, like
what are these two standards and what do the raters do. Read on to get some
idea.
What Does a HERS Rater Do?
HERS rater is an
independent inspector who performs various aspects of your home in accordance with the HERS system. These inspectors are
certified by a HERS provider, which makes them unbiased and should prevent any
sort of corruption or malpractice.
What Does a HERS Rating Include?
There are several aspects of the inspection that needs to be
performed. They use a variety of diagnostic tests to rate your home in energy
efficiency in the key fields of energy consumption. The first part of the test
relates to the heating and cooling systems.
Closely related to that part of the testing is the
assessment of the supply and return of air in the air ducts. Finally, the
quality of your building’s envelope insulation is checked.
After that is done, the rater will compile a detailed
analysis of energy consumption of the residential building. This report
explains how your home’s components affect your home’s energy consumption,
including your windows, doors, and roof. At the very end, all these numbers are
plugged into a software which calculates
the energy rating of your home.
However, that is not the end of it. You will also be given a
list of potential improvements which you can apply to your home, along with the
amount of efficiency that comes with each improvement.
How Do I Find a HERS Rater?
Well, the simplest way is to ask your contractor. Typically
builders have a network of partners and trusted associates that they have
cooperated with for a long time. However, if you want to find a more
independent one, you can
always go online and search for a HERS rating company that way. Finally, if
you know anyone who has had previous experiences with HERS rating, they can suggest and recommend a company based on
their experiences.
How Does All That Relate to Title 24 Compliance?
The requirement for Title 24 compliance is that your home
has had at least one HERS rating, as well as achieved certain results in it.
The aspects of HERS rating that are most
related to Title 24 are those related to the insulation quality and the air
ducts. That means that you should check your HERS score and do as much as you
can to improve your insulation and ducts as possible.
However, depending on the part of the state you live in,
other aspects of your HERS score may become more important. The desert regions
will probably benefit more from improvement in the air conditioning and heating
score, whereas colder and more humid parts of the state need to pay closer
attention to air infiltration and overall insulation.
Apart from being required by law and for Title 24
compliance, HERS rating can do wonders
for reducing your overheads each month. If you apply even one of the
recommended improvements, you will start seeing the benefits really quickly.
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