Remotely: A Home Energy Score App

The proposed Remotely app uses smartphone technology to facilitate Home Energy Score data collection by an energy professional or the homeowner. We believe Remotely can lower the cost of a Home Energy Score and lower barriers to Home Energy Score program adoption. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the dynamics of the energy efficiency industry by creating a need to virtualize elements of energy auditing. To meet ambitious climate goals, the majority of US homes will need to be targeted for efficiency improvements and electrification. This requires innovative and cost effective approaches to energy auditing, which is often the first step in an efficiency improvement project. The Remotely app combines: ? information on energy systems collected via touch screens; ? images of key energy characteristics of the home taken with the phone’s camera; ? estimates of the home’s finished square feet, window and wall sizes, ceiling height calculated with augmented reality algorithms and phone based data collection. This data is validated by a certified home energy professional before generating a Home Energy Score. This Phase I project has two primary objectives: ? professional validation of the augmented reality spatial estimates on a sample of homes with the goal of qualifying the app as a scoring tool; ? use of the app as a free efficiency screening tool for homeowners in Berkeley, CA. A key goal of this project is to demonstrate that Remotely can improve the accuracy of the spatial measurements going into the scores, shorten data collection and provide greater traceability and documentation of the model assumptions. Remotely provides added benefits to contractors by providing detailed information on the scope of the retrofit project needed.