PSD is excited to announce that we have submitted our Heat Pump Toolkit (HPTK) software solution to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for approval, meeting the requirements laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This approval will allow Utility and State organizations to utilize the HPTK’s advanced heat pump modeling capabilities as part of HOMES Energy Efficiency Rebate programs.
In May of this year, it was announced that the U.S. Department of Energy, working with NREL, had developed a test procedure to verify that home energy modeling software meets the requirements. Since then, PSD has worked to review and update the HPTK software in preparation for submission to NREL.
Section 50121.b.1 of the IRA states that the HOMES Energy Efficiency Rebate programs utilize home energy modeling software consistent with BPI 2400 standards. The BPI 2400 standard originated with PSD and sets a specific methodology for building energy simulation software tools to calibrate models to customers’ actual energy bills.
This step continues PSD’s commitment to the evolution of building sciences. For over 10 years PSD has worked with BPI in the pursuit of advancing home performance standards. This effort began with PSD creating the HPXML data standard and proposing it to BPI in 2010.
The standard timeline to receive approval is two to three weeks.