Southwest Energy Efficiency Project

Pulte Homes, Las Vegas

Pulte provides a good example of how a large-scale production builder can cost-effectively achieve a highly-efficient home through a combination of advanced design and construction practices and use of highly-efficient products and equipment. Innovative design features implemented by Pulte include use of unvented roofs, placement of ducts inside conditioned space, spectrally selective windows and integrated space heating, hot water and ventilation systems. The improvements resulted from collaboration between Pulte Homes, the Nevada State Energy Office, and Building Science Industries as an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program.

Pulte Corporation was one of the first builders in the Las Vegas area to commit to building all of its homes to ENERGY STAR levels. Since 2002, Pulte has built nearly 15,000 ENERGY STAR qualified homes in the Las Vegas area.ⁱ The energy efficiency improvements implemented by Pulte are highly cost-effective for the homeowner, which save $300 or more on their annual energy bill. The incremental cost to achieve Pulte’s highest efficiency level, known as “Engineered for Life (EfL) Platinum” was $760, including offsets for switching from 2x4 to 2x6 framing, and downsizing the HVAC system. The incremental costs and savings for each measure are shown in Table 24. The higher performance construction also reduced the number of call-backs and warranty costs for Pulte, which results in higher customer satisfaction.

Incremental Cost to Achieve Pulte ‘EfL Platinum Level’ (1999 $)

Measure	Cost
Building feature changes in a typical 1800 ft2 home	-$250
Moving insulation to roof deck, and insulating the gables	$1,000
Advanced framing, including upgrading from 2x4 to 2x6	-$200
Spectrally selective glass (low-e glass with low solar heat gain coefficient)	$360
Properly sized HVAC system	-$800
Sealed ductwork + pressure relief	$300
Controlled ventilation system	$150
Sealed Combustion Furnace (90% AFUE)	$200
Total:	$760

Source: Pulte Homes. http://www.builtgreen.org/articles/0104_pulte.htm

Lessons learned

The whole-house approach to the design and construction of homes achieves greater energy savings at lower cost than applying measures individually. Whole-house design and construction practices are capable of reducing home heating and cooling costs by 50%, at minimal incremental cost to the builder. The unvented roof design allowed Pulte to effectively place the ducts inside conditioned space, which significantly reduces cooling-related electricity demand.
Design and construction teams must be properly trained and educated about advanced building design and whole-house engineering practices.
Public-private partnerships can help accelerate the development and adoption of advanced building design and construction practices.

For more information

Pulte Homes Corporation
www.pulte.com
Building America Case studies:
www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/31793.pdf and www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/28322.pdf
Article: Pulte Homes and Re-engineering
www.builtgreen.org/articles/0104_pulte.htm

ⁱ Source: ENERGY STAR New Homes Partner database. www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=new_homes_partners.showHomesResults&partner_type_id=SHB&s_code=NV

© 2002-2008 Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
2260 Baseline Rd. Suite 212, Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 447-0078 fax: (303) 786-8054 info@swenergy.org

Last Updated: 04/18/2008