Daybreak Energy Efficiency: Measurably Superior

According to an independent energy rating company, Daybreak builders create homes that are considerably and measurably more energy efficient than the vast majority of other new homes in the Salt Lake area.
Matthew Meyer, P.E., of Provident Energy, tests the energy efficiency of homes throughout the Salt Lake Valley. And when it comes to creating super-efficient homes, Meyer says, “Builders in Daybreak are significantly better.”
The big difference comes from the fact that all the homebuilders in Daybreak have committed to 100% compliance with the latest version of the E.P.A.’s Energy Star efficiency standard. Known as Energy Star 3.0, this standard sets an extremely high bar for how a home is built and how it performs. The standard is so high that Meyer has seen about 80% of homebuilders in Salt Lake drop out of the program.
Meyer says that Daybreak builders excel at solving the two biggest challenges to creating an energy-efficient home: keeping the outside air out and keeping the air-conditioned air in. These may sound like easy problems to avoid. But they require the use of advanced materials and techniques.
For example, builders in Daybreak frame and insulate their walls to an insulation value of R20, while the walls of a typical new home are insulated only to R15. And high-performance sealing techniques result in Daybreak homes being 50% better sealed than new homes outside of Daybreak, according to Meyer.
Then there’s duct sealing. A leaky duct system causes your furnace and air conditioner to work much harder. Meyer says under performance testing, the ducts in typical new home will leak 200 cubic feet of air per minute (CFM). But the typical new home in Daybreak will leak only 50 CFM — a 75% improvement!
Of course, we’ve always thought that Daybreak had the best homes in the Valley. But it’s nice to see some proof.