Programs & Services > Touchstone Energy Home


 


The Touchstone Energy® Home program allows Touchstone Energy® cooperatives to market an energy efficiency home program under its own identity. The standards set forth by the program exceed the standards of the Good Cents program, previously offered by CHELCO.

CHELCO’s program is locally focused and allows CHELCO’s members to have one of the most energy efficient homes available today. The program is available only to members of Touchstone Energy cooperatives, an alliance of about 570 consumer-owned utilities that serve more than 5.6 million households and businesses in 38 states.


Approved Touchstone Energy® Home  Program Standards

 Qualifications:
To qualify for Touchstone Energy® Home certification, electric heat pumps must be installed in dwellings that meet heat gain characteristics or prescribed thermal criteria. For NEW, all electric construction, the allowable heat gain is 11 Btuh in Florida and 12 in Alabama. NEW homes that exceed these levels can be qualified under the “prescriptive” method.  The “prescriptive” method requires the home to have 8 energy efficient features, including the electric heat pump and electric water heater.  Speculative Builder and Multi-Family units must incorporate the same Touchstone Energy® Home features as new or improved conventional homes.

For Improved Homes  the allowable heat gain is 14 Btuh in Florida and 15 Btuh in Alabama.  Homes that exceed these levels can be qualified under the prescriptive method of qualification.  Prescriptive methods require homes to have 7 Touchstone Energy®  Home features, not including the electric heat pump, electric water heater and heat gain not to exceed 17 Btuh. 

The Touchstone Energy® Home features incorporate energy saving features into building and remodeling plans. The 15 Touchstone Energy® Home features are listed below. Touchstone Energy Home features include: 

  • R-16 wall insulation minimum

  • R-38 attic insulation minimum

  • R-19 floor insulation for closed and open crawl spaces

  • Double pane windows or single pane with storm

  • Metal insulated doors

  • Low-E coating on all glass

  • Heat pump (mandatory), may have outside thermostat or gas supplemental heat

  • Electric water heating 

  • Exhaust system in kitchen and baths vented to exterior of home

  • Exterior vapor barrier or air barrier

  • Supply duct located in conditioned area

  • Radiant heat barrier in attic

  • Heat recovery system

  • Infiltration control

  • Programmable thermostat
For more information about the Touchstone Energy® Home program, contact CHELCO’s Marketing Department at 892-2111 or 800-342-0990.




Energy Calculator
Click here to estimate your energy usage costs based on your inputs.  It is not intended to be 100% accurate, but rather to provide a comparison to give you the differences between the energy your home is currently using versus "What-if" variations.






                  Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative Inc.
                  1350 W. Baldwin Avenue/P.O. Box 512 |  DeFuniak Springs, Florida 32435 
               Toll Free: (800) 342-0990 |  Local: (850) 892-2111 
                Fax: (850) 892-9243

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