1st Steps to Conservation

These days we hear a lot about Solar as an alternative energy source. The cost question always seems to diffuse the conversation. "Costs too much, ROI is too long." I always struggle with the payback mentality as short sighted. Ground source geothermal gets the same gaff.

What is missing in this conversation is the Whole House concept of home energy conservation. There are 5 basic steps for new and existing homes that need to be accomplished before we look at alternative energy sources:

1.) Tight building envelope - If your home leaks you are paying to heat and cool your neighborhood. Caulking or air-sealing all of the penetrations in the skin of your home is, usually without acception, the first step towards a healthy efficient home. 

2.) Ducts in conditioned space - Duct leakage commonly is responsible for 15% of your energy bills. Sealing crawlspaces and attics  will bring the HVAC system within the conditioned space. Energy loss is reduced because, even if the air handling system leaks it is in the house not outside.

3.) Insulation - Super insulation (R-50 Attic, R-30 Walls) is a tested and time proven method. There have been homes built in this fashion for over 40 years that are still models of comfort and efficiency.

4.) Good quality windows and doors - We tend to have more, bigger windows than we really need. Older homes with single pane and metal attached storms are good opportunities for window replacement. New homes can be designed with double pane, gas filled low "E" glass that is very efficient.

5.) Make-up air - This is an important piece of the Whole House puzzle. This is the home's source for fresh air. Most homes today leak enough to provide sufficient air changes per hour (ACH) , trouble is they loose energy in the process. A really efficient, tight home is no longer voluntarily ventilated and needs a filtered, controlled air change system. There are several methods to accomplish this. The best of them exchange out going air temperature with incoming air and are over 90% efficient.

 Once these steps are completed Solar and Geothermal become a more reasonable proposition. The home's energy needs are greatly reduced and the system size and cost can be reduced as well. Using a trained energy rater to help you through this process will guarantee  a safe, healthy and efficient home.

LEED Tech Session

GREEN BUILDING TECH SESSION


FEATURING
LEED GOLD HOMES, LEED GOLD CHECKLIST, HANDS ON WITH A BLOWER DOOR AND DUCT TESTING, VISIT A CONDITIONED CRAWLSPACE



DATE:
APRIL 15 2009
1- 4 PM

LOCATION:
KNOX HOUSING PARTNERSHIP
109 WINONA ST
KNOXVILLE, TN

CONTACT:
Bruce Glanville: bg@bruceglanville.com
space is limited so please confirm in advance

USGBC-ENERGY STAR-KHP-ELIZABETH EASON ARCHITECTURE
ON EARTH ENERGY GROUP

Looking to Invest?

This will probably sound self serving and, to be honest, to some degree it is: There is no better time than now to invest in the energy efficiency of your home. Realistically, what else is there you can invest in, Stocks? CD? 401K? mattress? I am very aware of the lack of ready cash these days, we kneel before the alter of frugality and pray for wisdom to further tighten up the budget. Any form of weatherization is going to help you out, as will better appliances, glass, lighting etc. Keep an eye on the tax incentives for home energy improvement. While I have not yet had the opportunity to help a homeowner apply for tax credits or incentive money for home energy improvement, when (NOT IF) fuel costs rise again I expect more and more folks to explore this path to stretching their energy dollars.
There is a new TVA program in the works that will enhance their existing Energy Right Program with more comprehensive audits and some cash incentives. As I understand it there won't be any blower door style performance testing. To bad, in my view, because you can miss a lot without pressure testing.
When folks begin to regain confidence in their job situation and want to borrow for home loans again we will see a demand for efficient homes. It is already happening to some degree as folks want as much high performance from their homes as they do their cars. The idea that we get very little help from our home builders and sellers compared to the information you get when you buy a new car is finally begining to get some attention. I still advocate a HERS rating as part of the home sales cycle though there seems to be some push back on that idea.

Incentives for your home

Home Performance with Energy Star is a program designed to help organize and administer funds for residential housing energy efficiency improvements. We will see a great deal of cash from the federal government soon for this type of program. Hopefully those who are channeling these funds are aware of the Energy Star system. State, local, and utility task forces have been convened to study energy use and conservation over the last year. I wonder which one will actually drive the energy conservation effort and how effective they will be in putting these funds to work? The Energy Star sponsor guide and the RESNET Mortgage Industry National Home Energy Rating Standards call for accurate home analysis that recommends home efficiency repairs. Following the home remediation there is a follow up analysis that verifies the results hit the target. Without a program like this we may fall into a situation where all the energy that is currently wasted is not captured.

Mining Gold in Park City

Our area is about to jump up a few “green” notches with the December 11th open house celebration for Knox Housing Partnership’s 7 LEED Gold low-income homes in 5 Points. These are the first LEED Gold homes in the state and, I believe, the first LEED Gold low income housing in the US.
Mostly because my Energy Star Provider became a USGBC LEED for Homes Provider, I was privileged to be Green Rater for this project. LEED is the US Green Building Council’s program for energy efficient and sustainable home construction. KHP's construction project manager, Ken Block set the goals and Jason Estes from CAC provided the crew for the seven homes’ construction. It took a little bit of a push to get the USGBC program going but once we got past the Design Charrette (USGBC speak for planning meeting.) things went very well. I made regular site visits to verify that the LEED prerequisites were met and that the work quality for a Gold rating was accomplished. My roll was much more coach than cop and I found that the crew was very understanding and enthusiastic about the work we did.
A Green Rater’s roll is to provide an unbiased third party review of the construction process. Everything done is expected to be better quality work. From a builder’s point of view this might seem like a costly headache. In reality it was not. Nor is it significantly more expensive. These homes will appraise around $100,000. While we all know that material cost has become a moving target, the labor side was not much different. The gang at CAC is now much more aware and better trained to build homes to these standards so I expect the next group to be even better.
In the realm of subcontractors it helped that there was a Design Charrette and that they were all there. Some things, like caulking building penetrations, advanced framing techniques or sealed crawlspaces take some explaining both to builders and code officials. These systems stem from building science developed at places like ORNL and are more common in other parts of the US than here in ol’ East TN. Nevertheless, local builders will find that the techniques are not all that different from what they currently do, just more attention to detail.
Plan, pay attention to detail and be willing to give it a try and builders will find that LEED is a path to a new market.

"Too Tight" or not tight enough?

          As the heating season approaches and we face a 20% increase in energy cost, this is a good time to tighten up your home. There are many small things that you can do to improve your homes' efficiency. Infiltration is a term I use that refers to how drafty a home is, some call it a  "voluntary" air supply. Here are some simple ways to reduce air infiltration;

Windows and doors are a common source of temperature and energy loss depending on what type  you have. The newest, double pane, low emission, argon vinyl windows are very good. Be sure that they are clean and locked tight. They will leak if they aren't locked!

Older wood or metal frame systems are not as efficient and you need to be sure they are closed and latched firmly. Storm windows over double hung or sash weighted frames are likely to be a source of energy loss. Again make sure everything is clean and closes all the way. If you can see daylight you have a problem, often there is something stuck or out of line. Any of these window systems benefit from being exercised, raise and lower each one and look carefully to be sure they close all the way. Old fashion sash weighted windows leak around the pulley. There are caps available that snap over the hole and seal them up. Check the caulking on the storm windows for gaps and voids. 

Weather stripping on exterior doors is another source of "voluntary" air supply. The seals should be clean, flexible and contact the door all the way around.

Another common pathway for air leaking into or out of your home is utility penetrations. Inspect your outside walls for gaps around the electric, HVAC, cable TV and water services where they go through into your home. A bead of caulking or some closed cell spray foam will seal these up. Look for penetrations up through your floor from the basement or crawl-space, if you have one and down through the ceiling from the attic. Remember that attics and crawl-spaces are usually colder or hotter than your living space and you don't want that air in your house. The electrical wires, water lines and duct boot penetrations are generally a pathway for leaks and energy loss. Ceiling can lights that stick through the ceiling into your attic are notorious leakers.

It is important to understand that as you air seal you are reducing the amount of  "voluntary" air changes in your home. You are slowing down unwanted air infiltration and becoming more efficient. This effects the "V" or ventilation part of HVAC that is often neglected. We call it ACH (Air Changes per Hour) and the term refers to the amount of fresh air you get circulating in your living space. This is the "Too Tight" part. The idea is to control the air flow rather than get your air supply through energy robbing leaks. Once the house is tight you will want to install mechanical ventilation. This is a filtered source of fresh air that connects to your current system or can be a stand alone supply. It can be as simple as an air duct with a filter connected to your HVAC system's return or as sophisticated as an Energy Recovery Ventilator that operates on its own control sensor. Both are adequate for ACH, the ERV is more efficient.

Three "R's"

Renew, Reuse, Recycle.

       There is a terrific book called "Cradle to Cradle" published in 2002 that proposes methodology like the 3 r's and how the impact of what we do is usually much more than what we see around us. The Chamber in Knoxville has launched a Green movement to encourage its members to participate in the process. "Cradle to Cradle's" authors suggest that recycling is truly "down cycling" due to  the fact that materials usually degrade during their life cycle and do not rejoin upstream manufacturing at the same purity as the original material. (See: beer cans at Alcoa) We have talked for years about recycled beer cans going to Japan and coming back as Hondas, well not really. The high grade aluminum used for pistons and other stressed parts are not made of beer can grade alloys. 

       My point in all of this is that if we are to really have an impact on our manufacturing process and generally wasteful life style we will need to take a much closer look at how to close the loop. Annie Liebowitz's "The Story of Stuff" points out the fact that we degrade many aspects of our environment as we go through the life cycle of product manufacture, delivery and use. I applaud the Chamber's efforts to encourage the 3R's. I hope that we can dig deeper into the subject. So far our Green efforts have grazed the surface and the marketing claims touted from these positions are pretty hollow when you get down to brass tacks. I hope we can engender a culture that will take an honest and in depth look at our over-all way of doing things.