This is a great piece of software that I was able to use successfully to design the critical elements of our home. You enter the specs for your proposed design or existing home and you can tweak the elements (triple pane windows, or double?) to get the energy efficiency you're after or see what retrofitting a component would do for the energy use of the home.
I entered our 16' x 18' two story cabin (yes we lived in it year round - for 10 years) and it was amazingly accurate in predicting our fuel usage. The same for our 2,400 sq ft log home.
It is designed for Alaska, so I don't know how it will work for you "outsiders"; you may have to choose a zip code of a place in AK that closely resembles your town to get the correct heating degree days.
Let me know if you try it, and if it works! http://www.absn.com/akwarm.cfm
(I have no affiliation with the software, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, a self supporting state "corporation", funds the development and distribution of the program. They also offer a great interest rate reduction for in state residents that build energy efficient. We got 1% below prime for our 30-year mortgage - not only do we save money on energy every month, we have a smaller mortgage payment!)
I entered our 16' x 18' two story cabin (yes we lived in it year round - for 10 years) and it was amazingly accurate in predicting our fuel usage. The same for our 2,400 sq ft log home.
It is designed for Alaska, so I don't know how it will work for you "outsiders"; you may have to choose a zip code of a place in AK that closely resembles your town to get the correct heating degree days.
Let me know if you try it, and if it works! http://www.absn.com/akwarm.cfm
(I have no affiliation with the software, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, a self supporting state "corporation", funds the development and distribution of the program. They also offer a great interest rate reduction for in state residents that build energy efficient. We got 1% below prime for our 30-year mortgage - not only do we save money on energy every month, we have a smaller mortgage payment!)
