The design for this year's structure features an energy efficient thermal shell, including insulated concrete forms for the walls, energy efficient windows and sliding glass doors, and an unvented attic with spray foam insulation applied to the underside of the roof and the inside of the gables. The airtight building employs a heat recovery ventilator to provide fresh outdoor air with minimal loss of energy. The home includes a solar hot water system, Energy Star appliances, and fluorescent lamps and LEDs used in 80% of hard-wired lamps.
Combining these energy efficiency features with high-efficiency heating and cooling systems yields a home that consumes 49% less energy than a similar house built to code. The 10.53 kW solar system on the home's roof cuts its average energy use by nearly half again.
The New American Home is the official showcase home of the annual International Builders' Show (IBS), which was held January 19-22 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, for the first time in its 27-year history, the home was not completed in time for the show. In a chain of events all too familiar to builders, tight credit and a soft market for high-end homes in Las Vegas made it difficult to find alternative financing after a private lender withdrew funding for the home. Because the home is now only 75% complete, the IBS instead created a special exhibition area that provided a virtual tour of the home. See The New American Home Web page and energy summary on the IBS Web site, as well as the Building America brochure about the home (PDF 1.1 MB).
U.S. Crude Oil Imports Decreased 9.2% in 2009
The American Petroleum Institute announced in mid-January that the imports of crude oil and related products decreased 9.2% in 2009, falling to an average of 11.7 million barrels per day. The oil industry group attributed the drop to decreased demand due to the recession.
API measures petroleum demand in terms of the total petroleum deliveries in the US, which averaged 18.7 million barrels per day in 2009, a 3.6% drop below 2008 levels, which in turn were 6% below 2007 levels.
U.S. crude oil production was also up 7% over 2008 production levels, averaging 5.3 million barrels per day. However, API saw a slight increase in petroleum demand in December 2009, suggesting that economic recovery could erode some of these gains. See the API press releases for 2009 oil demand and 2008 oil demand.
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
