EEBA's High Performance Home Blog

Every fall, DOE releases updated program documents for the Efficient New Homes Program (previously ZERH). Updates reflect clarifications resulting from dialogue with the program’s builders and raters. 

Partners can find program documents associated with the new Revisions at the following links. These Revisions will be required for projects with permit dates on or after January 1, 2027.

• Single Family Version 2 (Rev. 4) National
• Single Family Version 2 (Rev. 3) California
• Multifamily Version 2 (Rev. 3) National
• Multifamily Version 2 (Rev. 3) California 

If you’d like to learn about the details of all the changes, Policy Records for each program version are available here: Single Family Policy Record; Multifamily Policy Record

The major updates in these documents include: 

• Indoor AirPlus Version 2 Implementation: Certification under Indoor AirPlus Version 1 will be accepted as the co-requisite certification for DENH for projects with permit dates on or before 12/31/2028. 
• Integration of 2025 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards (BEES): The performance requirement for the California program is now 12% improvement beyond the 2025 BEES Standard Design, using the Long-Term Service Cost, Efficiency metric. The points compliance pathway for Single Family has been sunset. 
• Restructured Multifamily Program Documents: To streamline program participation for multifamily partners following the ERI certification pathway, the program has created a set of simplified ERI path-only documents. 
• Phius Performance Pathway: Following a period of partner engagement and technical review, the Phius alternative pathway through the Multifamily ASHRAE compliance path now recognizes three methods to achieve compliance with the DENH performance requirement based on Phius compliance modeling (in addition to meeting all applicable DENH mandatory requirements):
  • Exceed all five Phius 2021 or 2024 thresholds by 2-4%, depending on climate zone.
  • Meet or exceed the Phius 2021 or 2024 Source Energy Threshold and include a central HPWH or in-unit HPWHs for domestic water heating.
  • Meet or exceed the Phius 2021 or 2024 Source Energy Threshold and use gas heating and/or water heating.
  • For buildings with at least 18% common area, meet or exceed the Phius 2021 or 2024 Source Energy Threshold.

A brief training video will be posted later this month, explaining all the updates described above. Raters should review this webinar via their overseeing HCO or MRO when it becomes available. 

If you have any questions about this year’s updates or any other comments related to the program, please reach out to EfficientNewHomes@doe.gov. Program staff continue to be dedicated to the implementation and operation of this program and are eager to hear from partners.