for people trying to reduce their energy usage - this is the best tool to do so - remrate
here are example from my home here in Canada this is rated for my area where the average winter temp is -16c - the program basically rates my House as HERS 20 a normal average Canadian home has HERS rating of 100. to have high efficiency house rating it is basically anything under 85
even though my house quite air tight most of my energy loss is still air infiltration
heating actually makes up very little of annual cost. most of my annual cost is lights and appliances plus not included is my electric car and greenhouse ( that I grow peaches and nectarines in which in total add about another $500 to my annual bill.
but lets say by example I did not have added solar equipment but still my heat pump
this is what it would be normally (not including the solar equipment )
but say I had very little insulation in my attic.
or perhaps a house that had an air infiltration rate twice that of recommended code
or you had a house that is moderately drafty ( poor sealing windows & doors - poor vapour barrier etc)…
from my time of living in Europe most houses had very little ceiling insulation and were drafty from windows and doors -the draft for most are easily fixable at the lowest cost and have the greatest energy usage impact