Heat Pumps

              For the past few weeks I have been testing homes that are recent participants in TVA's Heat Pump Program. About half of the buildings have been double wide manufactured homes, usually around 2000 square feet with a 2 ton package unit. Installers generally removed the old furnace, disconnected any radiant, pulled the ancient (some were 20 years old!) A/C and stuck in a 15+ SEER Heat Pump. Without exception the duct systems are off the chart leakers, most of it LTO since the systems are primarily panned floor joists. Despite this, homeowners are claiming they are saving money on their utility bills and are comfortable compared to the previous set up. Imagine the savings if the duct systems were sealed up at the same time! In terms of ROI, I cannot fathom how a $6-8000 HVAC mechanical replacement cannot be improved by an additional $5-600 worth of duct sealing. These trailers are reasonably tight with so-so insulation, duct leakage should be up there on the priority list, but they don't address it at all? For several years I have been testing new homes built for the City of Knoxville by various groups that are HUD funded and require Energy Star certificates. These homes' ducts routinely test less than 30 CFM @ 25 Pa. I am seeing 250-300 CFM in these TVA Heat Pump homes. I think it is criminal to let all that potential performance go to waste. Homeowners are reluctant to do retrofits and usually don't until something breaks. If we could improve the retrofit model to include Weatherization, Duct Sealing and Insulation as well as the new Mechanicals the benefit would be double the savings we currently see. Most utility retrofit programs incentivize a more thorough approach. TVA has their Energy Right in Home Evaluation program but they make you wait a year between that and a Heat Pump, either or, but not both at once. From the "Whole House" perspective this doesn't allow for the home to get properly sealed and insulated before the HVAC is installed, the correct order of business. Why can't TVA get this together?

       One of my favorite projects is the New Norris House, a creation of the UT School of Architecture. A small, very tight home that achieved LEED Platinum. They have been playing with the passive ability by periodically turning off the HVAC and monitoring the interior tempurature fluctuations and plotting that against ambient. There is nothing technically unusual about this home, good building science with off the shell components. Interior tempuratures in moderate ambient conditions remain within a tolerable range. Imagine an '06 home without HVAC for three days! This structure was assembled by Clayton Homes and finished by UT students for the most part.
        The point is - this ain't rocket science. The question is - why are we not doing this with all of our homes?
http://www.thenewnorrishouse.com/

              There has been a discussion amongst RESNET members on Linkedin about a falsified rating. The home in question scored HERS 55 and has since been reviewed finding several components less than advertised. Should we be surprised?

Long time no write?

              I have been remiss in my attention to this post. There is much water over the dam since I last found the inspiration to address our business and the market for energy auditors. I still maintain there is a market for Independent Energy Raters, that the big boys don't have all the marbles. Between LEED for Homes and V3.0 Energy Star, I have spent a lot of time and energy staying current with the trade. I confess that, at 65, I have been challenged to keep up on occasion, gaining some solace that I am not alone in my travails. Suffice to say that the V3.0 homes I have shepherded through the process are good products and meet a high standard of quality, efficiency and durability.
              This brings me to an area that is perhaps too philosophical for the techno-rater world but I am concerned about some interpretations of the goals behind the home energy rating business model. While the standards are both challenging and worthwhile, I find that there is a tendency in the rater community to be more punitive than necessary when performing inspections. My view is that a developer/builder and their subcontractors are my partners in the endeavor as opposed to my delinquent students. If this process is to be successful everyone in the game has to be successful. When I worked as a Naval Architect in the 70's for a large production yacht manufacturer the design and engineering department had 13 boats before we relinquished control of the line to production. We expect a home builder to attain V3.0 status on their first try. (Not everyone had the chance to build during the 2.5 transition.) So, if I am to bring along a builder who wants the rating for their product I expect mistakes. My job is to be there for them to GUIDE them through the process with minimum delay and hiccups. I hear some raters are less than collaborative in this regard which I find unnecessarily demeaning. We, as trained and experienced raters should include in our service the time to inform and stay engaged with the builders as they learn the nuances and minutia of our services and products. In short be a Coach not a Cop! Remember if the builders are not making money, if the subs are not successful, neither are we................

The Missing Link?

Here's the questions of the month, year maybe. We have the tools, equipment, knowledge and expertize to upgrade every home in our country by 2020. Why is no body interested? And; Where do we find the language to engage home owners in a convincing way to make their homes more efficient? There is the Technical Assistance Program (TAP) at one of the Left Coast labs that is looking for words that might key in a home owner's interest. Mostly- don't use words like "Audit", "Test", "Analysis", "Rater"or "Investigation." Better are words that relate to "Home", "Savings", "Healthy", "Guidance" and "Smart." Still, we have yet to find the communication tools to effectively connect with home owners in a way that promotes willing engagement in the whole house retrofit process. Until we do, this industry will continue to tread water. A recent survey monkey from RESNET looking for rater approval on a tag line is just lame. We need to break away from our common language. We are building scientists looking for a way to sell our products. Using our common language/terminology will only serve to confuse and alienate our customers. I would like to see us invite the CEO's of a couple of top rate PR/Ad companies to our conference in Orlando to explore why the common sense of a well financed whole house retrofit is not on the horizon for every home owner in the US! I think that we are essentially invisible to the average Joe because we have not engaged with first rate quality marketing strategies. Would that we were selling chocolate or trucks, something people want without being told why. Our product is complicated and fairly expensive (though a whole hose retrofit is usually less than a good used minivan), not simple to understand. Most people would rather spend $20K on a 4 year old F150 than improve their energy efficiency. Find me a pickup truck that will save me money, improve my family's health and increase in value over time! We have a great product, good skills and terrific personnel, what we are missing is effective marketing.

Reveille

Reveille, it is time to wake up.

Like him or not Jimmy Carter got one thing right. White House solar panels and cardigan sweaters on cold nights marked good thinking in response to the need for efficiency and conservation. Of course Mr. Reagan put the ca bash on that and we rode three decades of continuing unsustainable growth and excess. Today we are staring the results of peak demand and poor resource management in the eye, or not. It seems there is too little too late policy in place to respond to the issues of resource depletion and reduced air quality. It has been, and continues to be, abundantly clear that we are rapidly reaching the end of the rails in our looming train wreck. So much for the obvious.....

What to do? WAKE UP! A simple look around would help us see that most of the solutions we need to REDUCE, reuse and recycle are on the shelf. We needn't invent anything or look for any miraculous breakthroughs. Lack of awareness is the proverbial gorilla in the room. Issues surrounding home, fuel and energy efficiency are completely understood. There are no mysteries regarding the steps we need to take. We have the science and the processes available in abundance. So why are we continuing to burn at this wasteful and dangerous rate? Because we are, for the most part, asleep about the condition of our planet, locally and globally. We live in a dreamland that we can "produce" our way out of the quagmire we have created. I remember hearing Edward Abby in my college years claiming that if everyone in China got a refrigerator and a car we would destroy the place. Look at what is going on in China. Remember the scenes of bicycle traffic jams in Beijing? Well now they all have cars and the traffic jams last for days, weeks.

So it is time for Reveille - wake up to reality. A process started in Carter's era needs to be restarted. According to Secretary Chue at DOE we have about 2 decades to trend away from consumption towards conservation. We need to turn the corner before the pain gets to great, will we do that before it hurts to much?

RetroFITS

The on again off again state of HomeStar and the questions about government stimulus seem to be at odds with the common sense value of a residential housing retrofit program. ORNL has a deep energy retrofit program underway that will last a year and should provide clean data on what works and what doesn't on ten very different homes in the Knoxville area. KHP has a 35 home retrofit program that is designed to coordinate with the TNLEAP lead abatement process and CAC's weatherization for low income home owners. These efforts will provide an excellent baseline for whatever national program surfaces down the road. Call it HomeStar Rehersal if you like. This opportunity to engage HERS/BPI trained raters and stand up a sagging construction industry would be a shame to miss. The real trick is to see enough early success to convince the general public to want service without stimulus. Part of the ORNL program includes a behaviorlist who will try to determine what motivates the home owners in that program to participate in the first place. I know Secretary Chu is sharp enough to see the gap between our current ability to deliver effective retrofits and the volume of work that exists in our existing housing staock. The trick is to get it all up and running before the DOE $'S run out.