The residential sector accounts for over 20% of the national energy consumption. This project is intended to provide an overview of the energy balance on a residential building, and what factors cause a large consumption. Standards and regulations providing energy efficiency requirements in homes are discussed and how they affect home design. To gain an in depth understanding for reducing energy consumption, a case study will be used on a house in Orlando, Florida. The purpose of this case study is to provide methods for reducing a home’s energy usage, and to show that an understanding of the home’s energy balance could result in these methods not following standard guidelines. A radiant barrier to negate the large solar load in Florida, and LED lightbulbs to reduce the lighting load as well as the cooling load were implemented.
