Glossary · Energy, bills & ratings
Home Energy Score (DOE)
Also called: DOE Home Energy Score
A US Department of Energy 1-to-10 rating of an existing home's expected energy use, a bit like a miles-per-gallon rating for houses.
What it means
A trained assessor records the home's envelope, heating, cooling and hot water systems, and DOE's model estimates its energy use, normalized for local weather so scores compare across climates. A 10 ranks among the most efficient homes and 5 is about average.
Why it matters in an audit
It gives buyers and owners a simple, comparable number for an existing home.
Typical numbers
Reference values with their sources. Your auditor’s report gives the figure for your own house.
| What | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Scale (DOE) | 1 = uses more energy than about 85% of US homes; 5 = about average; 10 = among the 10% of US homes expected to use the least | betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov ↗ |