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Systems Engineering Approach

Once a home is designed using systems engineering, the Building America Performance Analysis Procedures and Benchmark help to determine the actual energy savings.

The Building America Research Teams use a systems engineering approach to achieve higher quality and energy savings in homes. Using these techniques, the energy consumption of new houses can be reduced by 40% or more with little or no impact on the cost of ownership. This page describes the systems engineering approach, examines the cost impacts, provides examples, and looks at the test house concept for community-scale housing.

Teams and Whole-House Assessments

A systems engineering approach unites segments of the industry that traditionally work independently of one another. Teams of architects, engineers, builders, equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, community planners, mortgage lenders, and contractor trades collaborate to research and design optimal building solutions.

The teams assess the structure as a whole, recognizing that the design of one component can greatly affect other aspects of the house. To help establish energy savings goals, teams may use the Building America Research Benchmark as a standard of comparison.

Design and Construction Evaluations

The team must work together throughout the entire process to produce high-quality houses that incorporate energy- and material-saving strategies. At the very early stages of the project, the team evaluates the builder's design, business, and construction practices to identify cost savings.

Then, throughout the design and construction phases, the team examines the interaction between the building site, envelope, mechanical systems, and energy-use factors to identify additional savings. Any money saved provides an opportunity to invest in improved energy performance and product quality.

Examples of Systems Engineering Cost Savings

Learn more about building techniques and solutions based on systems engineering in the Best Practices Series.

Systems engineering allows builders to identify improvements to the design of a home that will ultimately save money. For example, the design might incorporate new techniques for tightening the building envelope which enables builders to install smaller, less expensive heating and cooling systems. These savings can then be reinvested in high-performance windows that further reduce energy use and costs.

Other examples of cost trade-offs:

  • Advanced framing systems require less wood and labor and allow for improved insulation.
  • Proper placement of heating and cooling systems allows shorter duct runs saving material and installation costs. Additionally, moving ducts into the interior of a home eliminates loss of conditioned air to the exterior.
Chart illustrating the systems engineering method. The left side of the chart consists of four boxes lined up vertically. The top box in the chart is labeled 'Design' with an arrow pointing downward to the next box. The next box below is labeled 'Build' with an arrow pointing downward to the next box. The next box below is labeled 'Test' with an arrow pointing downward to the final box. The last box is labeled 'Cost and Performance Trade-offs and Integrated Systems in Houses.' The third box, 'Test,' also has an arrow going toward the right that points to a box labeled 'Re-design.' This Re-design box then has an arrow going toward the left that points to the second box, 'Build.' The right side of the chart, as just described, is meant to show the circular nature of building, testing, and then re-designing.

After the design process, a prototype home is built to examine the proposed solutions in production. The team tests each system for efficiency and makes any necessary changes to the design.

Test Houses and Community-Scale Housing

The systems engineering approach improves any home building project. For large developments, often the ideas developed in the design phase are tested in a prototype or "test" house.

Once a prototype house is built per the initial design, the team tests the prototype's systems for quality and energy use and makes necessary changes to the design to increase efficiency and cost effectiveness. The design must be tested and re-tested for total performance before it is ready for use in production or community-scale housing. Often, teams use the Building America Performance Analysis Procedures and Benchmark to determine the actual energy savings.

Chart illustrating the steps toward community-scale housing. The chart consists of three boxes lined up vertically. The top box in the chart is labeled 'Test Houses' with an arrow pointing downward to the next box. The next box below is labeled 'Production Housing' with an arrow pointing downward to the final box. The last box is labeled 'Community-scale Housing.'

For large, community-scale housing projects, often a test house is built to examine how well a home is performing before the plan moves into production.

Many of the developers that the Building America Research Teams work with utilize test houses to ensure the home is operating as expected. Once the prototype house has been analyzed thoroughly and adjustments have been made, the design is ready for use in production or community-scale housing.

Understanding the interaction between each component in the home is paramount to the system engineering process. Recognizing that features of one component can dramatically affect the performance of others enables Building America teams to engineer energy-saving strategies with little or no impact on the cost of ownership. Utilizing this approach for community-scale housing can dramatically reduce the amount of energy an entire community uses.