High Performance Building Envelope (BE)

Buildings account for about 40% of all energy use in the United States. EarthCraft encourages an energy efficient building envelope to reduce this impact. One of the key elements to any energy efficient home is constructing a proper building envelope by sealing for air leaks, properly installing insulation and using high-quality windows. The building envelope is the barrier that separates the home’s conditioned space from unconditioned space or the outside. The building envelope consists of two parts – an air barrier and a thermal barrier (insulation) that must be both continuous and contiguous (touching each other). In a typical residence, the building envelope consists of the roof or ceiling, walls, windows, doors, and floor or foundation.