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Virtual Home Energy Assessments: Scaling Net-Zero Retrofits Whitepaper

At the current rate of building energy assessments and upgrades, it will take over 140 years to retrofit North America’s existing building stock to the level required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Today’s manual approach to building energy assessments and retrofits doesn’t scale and will fail to meet climate targets. A virtual home energy assessment approach deployed alongside on-site assessments provides the following benefits:

  • faster assessment of the building stock so every building has a low-carbon plan;
  • a simplified journey for homeowners to understand, plan, and undertake retrofits;
  • better tools and data for professional energy advisors so they can focus on coaching more homeowners;
  • a data-driven pathway to stakeholder collaboration and better program design.
 
Climative has published a white paper outlining an AI-powered approach to virtual home energy assessments to tackle the climate problem before us. In this article, we’ll discuss the highlights of this virtual approach and how it complements on-site home energy assessments. For the full story, we invite you to download the free whitepaper.

How many homes do we need to retrofit annually to reach net-zero by 2050?

Achieving net-zero emissions in the North American housing stock by 2050 will require the annual retrofitting of nearly 6 million residential buildings, or 3-5% per year.

net zero retrofit funnel Climative
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Home energy assessments are the leading tool to engage homeowners in the retrofit journey and grant access to financial incentives. This approach is not scaling to meet the significant challenge before us. At its present capacity, the supply chain can assess only 1-3% of the building stock annually, with a post-retrofit audit rate of about 0.7%. At this rate, it will take 142 years to retrofit all homes to net zero.

How do home energy assessments help decarbonize buildings?

Home energy assessments are used to assess a building’s energy efficiency and carbon emissions. In some jurisdictions, energy assessments unlock access to financial assistance for retrofits. A professional home energy advisor typically performs these assessments on-site and includes over 200 data points. The assessment often includes energy coaching and retrofit recommendations.

How do virtual home energy assessments accelerate progress to net-zero emissions?

The current approach to home energy assessments needs to be digitized and accelerated; otherwise, homeowners will not initiate the retrofits required, and we will not achieve net zero emissions. A virtual home energy assessment approach deployed alongside on-site assessments provides the following benefits:  

  • faster assessment of the building stock so every building has a low-carbon plan;   
  • a simplified journey for homeowners to understand, plan, and undertake retrofits;  
  • better tools and data for professional energy advisors so they can focus on coaching more homeowners;   
  • a data-driven pathway to stakeholder collaboration and better program design. 

What is a virtual home energy assessment?

A virtual home energy assessment estimates a home’s energy performance in a virtual space instead of physically examining the building on-site. It uses building structure data collected from reputable sources. Like an on-site assessment, a virtual home energy assessment can provide detailed home efficiency retrofit advice. 

Virtual home energy assessments are categorized into three types based on the effort required for data collection. They include: no-touch mass market assessment, survey-based assessment, and remote assessment.

Learn more about the three types of virtual assessments by downloading our free whitepaper.

What is a no-touch mass market home energy assessment?

A no-touch mass market assessment is a virtual home energy assessment that leverages public data, such as property tax assessment data and weather data, in conjunction with an artificial intelligence (AI) platform to evaluate the energy efficiency of homes. This method offers broad coverage of all residential buildings without needing additional input from energy advisors, homeowners, or program managers. If this approach is backed by sound data and a well-conceived machine-learning algorithm, 100% of homes in an area receive a unique and actionable low-carbon retrofit plan.

Download the free whitepaper to learn more about survey-based assessments and remote assessments and how they’re being deployed in the market. 

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Climative provides homeowners with a personalized low carbon plan.

Climative’s Approach to Virtual Home Energy Assessments

Climative’s web-based platform combines all industry-leading types of home energy assessments in a single workflow. By combining data from no-touch assessments, survey-based assessments, remote assessments, and on-site assessments, we can leverage the best attributes of each.

This approach enables:  

  • A positive, simplified journey for homeowners toward a carbon-neutral future;   
  • A progressive, adaptive journey for program managers toward targeted advice and program offers; and   
  • Data-driven measurement and reporting that benefits everyone with a stake in carbon reduction.  

At Climative, we have turned a highly manual process into a super-efficient digital process with rich energy data at the center. Climative’s AI-powered approach and platform is the leading choice in the industry with unique advantages, including the ability to assess over one million homes per day.

Download the whitepaper to keep reading. Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • How data from home energy assessments can be layered to create a more comprehensive understanding of a building
  • How a web-based platform can engage homeowners and enable collaboration with stakeholders
  • How Climative uses blockchain for a secure and auditable digital twin of each building
  • Climative’s Automated Carbon Model (ACM)
  • Example of a Virtual Home Energy Report (VHER)
  • Five use cases for municipalities, banking, real estate, and more
 
Download the whitepaper to keep reading, or reach out to a member of the Climative team here or on LinkedIn.

Download the Free Whitepaper

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Winston Morton

Winston has 25 years experience as a leader in the telecommunications and utility industries. His in-depth knowledge of energy analysis and large-scale web-based platform deployments informs Climative's strategy in his role as CEO.

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