Got a Tiger by the Tail

It has been 3 weeks at KHP and the growth has been logarithmic. We have major projects under way in the multi-family and single family attached world. For those of us not familiar with those LEED distinctions I have to refer you to the prodigious LEED checklist. I will confess to confusion regarding the minutia. KHP has a string of projects underway that target very high LEED certification and are on track to meet the goals we all hope for. What I like the most is that the Knoxville building community is embracing the idea of sustainable housing and has been receptive to helping achieve our goals. Without exception local contractors and developers have been welcoming the information KHP has presented regarding the standards LEED for Homes and Energy Star require. I think one reason is the collaborative "Coach" not "Cop" posture that the staff at KHP has taken in the administrative handling of the sustainable processes. In particular I congratulate those at the drawing board and on the job site we have spent time with for their flexibility and willingness to learn the steps to attain certification. Meanwhile, as our local elections unfold, I encourage a bipartisan support for housing that is healthy, durable and energy efficient. Our current officials have been the driving force behind the success of sustainable housing for our community. It is only through their mandates and funding that we are able to set these high standards and then achieve them. Let's vote, lobby and advocate to continue to support the effort and improve the quality of our homes.

The Demise of the Independant Rater

When I began this column in 2008 I had high hopes for my future as an independent energy rater. The business plan was to provide Energy Star HERS Rater services for contractors building new homes and retrofit advice for existing home owners. Seems it was a good idea as there has been a plethora of utilities and non profits jumping into the market providing the equivalent of LEED for Homes and HERS rating services. Indeed I have been a part of that new nonprofit service sector since last June. While I am appreciative of the services available now that were not prevalent here in '08 I lament that there is little room left for the individual entrepreneur in the energy advisor field. If I had a dime for every time I have had someone ask me how to "Do what I do" or heard "You are the crest of the wave!" I have to say that the market has not been good for the independent rater. While I can't deny that there are far more services available to home owners, there is no doubt that the utilities and non profits have made it difficult, if not impossible, for the small business man to compete in the market here in East Tn. The hope remains that with increased home owner interest the market will continue to grow I suspect that the actual monetary value placed on a thou rough energy audit will be disproportionate with the time required to do it right and make a living on your own. So, my advice to those who want to "Do Want to do What I Do," is to get some training (BPI / RESNET HERS) and get a job with a government service or non profit that is set up to offer energy rating. All in all it will turn out fine as the folks paying the bills will have more access to the skills of a competent rater. I lament the demise of the free lance entrepreneur whose values and goals are aligned with the American Dream of the small independent business man.

Knox Housing Partnership

After 9 glorious months of crawling through attics and slithering into crawl spaces for TVA and CSG I am joining KHP as Project Manager for Sustainable Housing. Having been Green Rater for the previous construction of the 7 LEED Gold homes in Park City I am looking forward to more of the same with the many projects on the table with the Team at KHP.

How deep is it here?

In what now seems like a past life I was a tour guide in the USVI for a company called Aqua Action. We ran scuba tours in what was often the clearest water you could imagine. The most common question from our customers was "How deep is it here?" because it was so clean you couldn't tell. Our standard answer was 18' no matter how deep it was. Kind of an insider's joke amongst divers. The analogy I am reaching for is regarding deep energy retrofits. A stretch, perhaps. Here's my point. A clip board walk through usually results in Air Sealing, Duct repairs and Insulation Upgrades. Gets you to 18'. A performance audit with pressure and CO tests will recommend more extensive repairs to the home. (Deep energy retrofits) Our dive tourists rarely caught on, I suspect our homeowners don't know the difference either.
If I do a walk through audit on a home and leave behind a list of suggested repairs, there is no guarantee what the homeowner will do. Money, contractor "advice" and 1/2 measures can lead to some serious trouble. Where is the liability if air sealing leads to CO contamination or moisture and mold? At what point do we get to make-up air and humidity controls and who is responsible for commissioning? At what juncture in the repair process do we cross the line between simple energy upgrades and significant impacts on Indoor Air Quality. I have been involved in enough high performance home building to know that a really tight home takes some "tuning" to get the air quality, moisture control and thermal comfort working properly. This is a lot harder to do with existing homes. I see so many leaky homes sitting on festering crawl spaces with trampled insulation and porous duct systems. Of course I want them to do "everything" but not everyone can afford to do the work. Some of these houses are truly unhealthy.
Back to the 18' analogy. Is it good enough to hit just the Big 3?(Air Seal, Ducts and Insulation) or should we be chasing every Watt and retrofitting these buildings to the point of make-up air and humidity control. The former will impact the most homes the later is the more complete solution. Somewhere in the middle is potential for some bad building science.

REEP and HomeStar

Currently in the hands of the US Senate: HR 1778 is an energy bill that includes a comprehensive energy conservation program to be wielded by Secretary Cheu and the DOE. Named in the bill (along with some mega dollars) are existing programs from RESNET and BPI and programs titled REEP (Residential Energy Efficiency Program)also titled HomeStar. Tax and cash incentives for home owners interested in becoming more efficient and less carbon creating are the happy part. The not so happy part is the attached cap and trade proposals. Our august Senators are, seemingly, taking a dim view of the "trade" portion of the bill. Not unlike the Health Bill there is now an effort to segment 1778 and send the "Homes" portion to a vote, I hope they do. Cap and Trade is a tricky sell to "smaller government" folks and has not been terrifically successful in the EU model. The Home component is an excellent tool for carbon reduction in the residential housing world while providing work for the construction workforce now relatively idol. I was fortunate to be invited to DC with a group of Green carbon cap advocates and met with House and Senate members from ET. Nothing conclusive, this is politics after all, but a good sense of understanding the value of energy efficiency in residential housing. There is tremendous good sense in more efficient housing, it is a "no regrets" legislation in the "Right if you are wrong, Right if you are right" concept.

Homes are Rockets?

Rocket science or building science? While I am in love with the lab guys and all the great stuff that comes from our dollars and their hard work it seems like we are missing the point throwing science dollars at existing homes. The majority of our residential housing stock is suffering from a lack of common sense. Leaky envelopes, missing and trampled insulation, duct leakage, wrong sized HVAC are the issue. It is a problem best solved by the application of readily available existing technology and some elbow grease. While I am thoroughlyamazed by the potentials of phase change insulation, smart meters and smart appliances, the simpler, basic construction practices that we are so guilty of not applying are the real root of our energy consumption dilemma. Had we done the work carefully and correctly the first time our existing homes wouldn't be so inefficient today. But we didn't do the work right, homes hog energy and we need more than anything to go back in and fix the mistakes. Air sealing, upgrading insulation, duct sealing are a common thread in all my CSG reports over the last 3 months. I have not yet seen 100 homes, more like 70 for KUB, but nearly every home suffers from these basic problems. I think we need to repair these faults before we go on to applying any new tech to our homes.

Code? What Code?

So, when (not if) we get to the point where all of our favorite best practices become code, what happens to all the current energy programs that now survive on voluntary clients? Energy Star / LEED / EarthCraft, etc. are all proscriptive processes that a builder/homeowner pays to participate in. Code is the law. There is not a choice, big ol' building inspectors show up and you either pass or fail. By 2014 I hear that typical Energy Star standards will be in the building code and inspected. Where does that leave Energy Star and it's battalion of HERS raters and QA / Providers?

The current bottleneck caused by the lack of qualified home energy raters is a community college gold rush, much like the wave of home inspectors created by the state mandated inspections a couple of years back. Of course they are all sitting on their hands at the moment because no body is building much of anything right now. Just ask the permit guys how busy they are. So what will happen to all these soon to be newly minted HERS raters? It is still great training but are we destined to become the code inspectors of the future? Certainly the new construction will go that way. One big question is how to put a fair efficiency rating number on existing homes? What kind of point-of-sale rating will appear on MLS? Seems like more and more real estate agents are waking up to the idea that home buyers are looking at energy efficiency ahead of the beloved granite counter top and fresh daisies in the window box. I hope that there will be a mandate to rate and upgrade existing homes to some energy standard at point of sale. How about a cash for clunkers program for the existing home inventory?