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AkWarm Modernization

Download the latest version of AkWarm here.

In 1996, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) developed software to aid energy raters and mortgage loan officers in determining the energy efficiency of a home, including the heating and air handling systems, building envelope and foundation. In 2008, AHFC contracted with CCHRC to evaluate and update the software to better reflect today’s building standards, advances in technology and mortgage loan requirements. AkWarm is also used to establish a home’s energy rating in preparation for rebates from the AHFC Home Energy Rebate Program . AkWarm was originally written by Alan Mitchell and Analysis North who are CCHRC's primary contractors on this project.

AHFC staff have collected hundreds of suggestions for improving AkWarm. This project will implement as many such improvements as can be afforded. Priority is being given to the most urgently needed changes, as determined by certified Energy Raters and other AkWarm users.

 

We are seeking comments from energy raters, members of the home building community and home owners. Please complete the comment form here. All comments will be included in the final report to AHFC.

 

Phase One

The first three major stages of AkWarm Modernization since CCHRC began the project are complete:

  1. Available energy rating software was analyzed and in January 2008, the Energy Rating Program Evaluation was issued which helped AHFC determine that modernizing AkWarm was in Alaska’s best interest;
  2. The “AkWarm Reporter” was created to transform the AkWarm results into a document tailored to home owners’ needs; and
  3. AkWarm was rewritten using modern software engineering methods and tools so that future maintenance and the addition of new features will be efficient and affordable. The rewritten version, known as AkWarm 2 , was released for general use on March 19, 2009. This marked the end of Phase One of this project.

Phase Two

Also funded by AHFC, Phase Two is on-going and will add significant new functionality to AkWarm with a new release approximately every six months. AkWarm version 2.0.5 was released on September 23, 2009. Version 2.0.6, which is expected in March 2010, will enable AkWarm users to once again meet homebuilder tax credit compliance requirements. Details about what is new in each AkWarm release can be found in the AkWarm 2 Change Log.