Homestar Technical Clarification Rulings
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| Energy Use in Small Dwellings | v5 | January 2026 | EF4 - Energy Use | EF | Link | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Approved Ruling: It is recognized that there are benefits to building smaller dwellings that should be rewarded. As some energy use does not directly scale with dwelling size, especially hot water, it is more difficult for smaller homes to meet energy targets as those uses are spread across a smaller area. To help overcome this barrier to entry for smaller homes targeting Homestar, the below additional allowance applies to meet the Mandatory Minimums for Credit EF4: Energy Use. This additional energy (in kWh/m2) may be added to the minimum thresholds set regardless of region or Star rating targeted. Relative to dwelling size, the below values may be added to increase the maximum energy demand allowances.
Note that this applies to the Mandatory Minimums, not to the points calculation. The same thresholds for the points achieve apply as per the Technical Manual. However, to account for the energy allowance above, a lower number of points may be achieved if the increased energy thresholds are met.
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