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If you’ve ever had to dive into the details of the green building and energy efficiency programs for homes,you’ve experienced the operational definition of the word ‘complexity,’along with a bit of ‘confusion,’too,I’m sure. I know I have. Unfortunately,the programs all just keep going further and further down that path. Continue reading Confusion &Complexity –Can Green Building Programs Be Simplified? I was checking some REM/Rate files for our HERS raters yesterday,mostly submitted forENERGY STAR homes. I’ve come to expectManual J heating and cooling load calculations submitted along with the files to be less than perfect. Mostly,I accept them because they’re close enough. Yesterday,though,I received a Manual J to go along with a file for an ENERGY STAR home that was beyond the pale. It was egregiously horrific. It was spectacularly sordid. It did come close to meeting the ENERGY STAR Version 2 requirements for Manual J (tight or semi-tight infiltration and correct design temperatures),but whoever put this one together was singularly devious in his efforts to justify the oversized air conditioning systems he wanted to install. Continue reading Oversized AC,Screwed-up Manual J,ENERGY STAR HVAC Tirade! May 12th,2011 | Category:Design,Energy Efficiency,energy star,HVAC,Indoor Air Quality,Thinking Green | 2 comments | My two sisters-in-law have been in town the past few days,and one of them needs to get an energy audit for the home she and her husband recently bought in Seattle. I gave her a recommendation for a company to do the audit (from a couple of friends who used to live there),and now she’s asking the very reasonable question,“What should I be looking for? What should they do when they come to the house?” Continue reading How to Choose a Company to Do a Home Energy Audit I wrote about energy conservation versus energy efficiency last year and showed how things had stayed pretty level over the past three decades as we’ve spent our efficiency dividend on bigger houses and more electronics. Still,I had trouble believing we were actually using less energy per person than we did in 1970. Continue reading News Flash:Americans Use Less Energy When It Costs More We’ve been hearing for years that the energy efficiency industry needs to find its equivalent to the cell phone. These days industry folks refer to it as the ‘killer app,” the revolutionary product or service that consumers can’t resist. But lately,partly because I’m dieting,I’ve been thinking what energy efficiency really needs is something akin to a Weight Watchers dessert. Let me explain myself. Continue reading Energy efficiency and Weight Watchers The house was at one end of a mountain valley in the foothills of Northern Colroado,and at the other end of the valley was Horsetooth Mountain. During the Summer,they could watch the afternoon storms roll across the valley,and would often see heards of elk and deer roaming. The wildlife would practically dine with us,they were so close. Continue reading No More “Damn Architects!”–The Case for Integrated Design April 19th,2011 | Tags:Design,green | Category:Building Green,Design,Green Living,Thinking Green | Leave a comment | Science is science. Anyone who works on buildings is free to ignore the principles of building science to the extent that they can get away with it,but someone’s going to pay the price. Maybe it’ll be the occupants,who suffer with comfort problems,poor indoor air quality,frequent maintenance,or high energy bills. Maybe it’ll be the remodeler or builder who has to face constant callbacks. That’s the point I was trying to make with my article on can lights. To the extent that program guidelines or building codes allow can lights,a remodeler or builder can use them. If they’re part of the building envelope,however,and create a problem with the air barrier or insulation,the contractor is giving their client an inferior product. That’s just building science. Continue reading Are Freedom and Building Science Incompatible? April 18th,2011 | Tags:Building Science,Green Education | Category:Building Green,Customer Service,Government,Stimulus,Tax Incentives,Thinking Green | Leave a comment | We keep hearing that China is going to become a really big deal in world energy markets. But it wasn’t until I read this statement by Jane Henley,CEO of the World Green Building Council,that I grasped the scope of its coming influence: Continue reading Time to Export Energy Efficiency? December 9th,2010 | Tags:China,Department of Energy,Export | Category:Government,Stimulus,Tax Incentives,Thinking Green | Leave a comment | For a long time the energy efficiency industry operated largely under the two-guys-and-a-truck-model:local businesses made up of small contractors. Then the ‘super’ energy efficiency service companies (ESCOs) emerged,big operations taking on big contracts often for government,schools or hospitals,like the $35 million deal that Pepco Energy Services signed with the Prince George’s County Maryland Public Schools this week. Continue reading Export opportunity for US energy efficiency? The White House issued a report July 14 that credits federal stimulus money for the rapid drop in costs for electric cars. Once written off as a technological mishap,the electric car now appears nearly road ready for American consumers. The price tag is dropping rapidly,in part because of the $12 billion the federal government has pumped into alternative vehicles,according to the report. Of that $5 billion went to electrifying the US transportation fleet. Continue reading Electrifying vehicles:A car and its drama |  Trades Topics Place Type
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