Building Envelope, Shape and Dimensions

Calculation of Building Dimensions

The Home Energy Saver allows for user entered dimensions for a variety of house shapes.
The Home Energy Scoring Tool does not accept user dimensions and applies the default shape for all homes.

If no house shape is specified the dimensions are estimated from the conditioned floor area.
The default shape is a 5:3 aspect ratio rectangle with the dimensions calculated as follows:
  • foot_print_area = (conditioned_floor_area - conditioned_basement_area) / floors_above_grade
  • length = SQRT(3 *  foot_print_area / 5)
  • width = (5/3) * length

Building Constructions Types

All Home Energy Saver building constructions types are modeled in DOE2 using the following assumptions:
The Home Energy Scoring Tool has slightly different construction options available.   A summary map of the Scoring Tool construction is located at: