The purpose of this project is to develop a cost-effective design for moving the HVAC system into conditioned space. In addition, BSC conducted energy analysis to calculate the most economical strategy for increasing the energy performance of future production houses. This is in preparation for the upcoming code changes in 2015. The builder wishes to develop an upgrade package that will allow for a seamless transition to the new code mandate.

This project evaluates the cooling energy savings and cost effectiveness of radiation control retrofit strategies for residential attics in U.S. cooling-dominated climates. Usually, in residential applications, radiation control retrofit strategies are applied below the roof deck or on top of the attic floor insulation. In this project, two groups of low-cost radiation control strategies were evaluated for southern U.S. applications. One uses a radiant barrier composed of two aluminum foils combined with an enclosed reflective air space and the second uses spray-applied interior radiation control coatings (IRCC).