Sacramento Utility Opens Updated E-House

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has unveiled its renovated E-House [1], an educational tool designed to showcase the latest and greatest in energy efficiency techniques and materials in new-home building and remodeling. The latest is a vastly upgraded version of the previous model thousands of SMUD customers have visited over the years.
The full-scale, walk-through model includes many features, such as the latest advances in home framing that use less wood. There are new roofing technologies and improved insulation. The new model contains energy-efficient windows, the newest daylighting products, advanced lighting, cooling products such as a whole-house fan, solar panels that look like roof shingles, radiant barriers, “cool” roofing and sustainable exterior finishes.
E-House is located in the lobby of the SMUD Customer Service Center located at 6301 S Street. The lobby is open to customers from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Residential customers can see new technologies that can help them save money on their energy bills. Commercial contractors and building designers can utilize E-House for energy education purposes and to understand specific energy-efficient products and applications. It is also a favorite prop for local news media to visually demonstrate for their audiences ways to save money on their energy bills without sacrificing comfort. 
The web page for the SMUD E-house [1] has a link where you can download helpful technical information related to framing, insulation, windows, roofing, lighting, ventilation/HVAC, vegetation and water efficiency.
E-House is an exhibit for the SMUD Energy & Technology Center (E&TC), which promotes market acceptance and transformation of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and safe energy-usage products and processes. With workshops, exhibits and consultations, the E&TC educates many residential customers, critical decision-makers and change agents in the greater Sacramento area.
The original E-House was constructed in 1996. Many of the features included in the renovation were donated by partners to minimize cost impact to SMUD customer-owners.
For more information about the SMUD E-House, the Energy & Technology Center or SMUD’s many energy efficiency programs that can save residential and business customer money on their energy bills, please visit smud.org [2].