Colorado Green Building Post

The US Department of Energy’s Building America program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, is helping Greensburg, Kansas learn building science as the town rebuilds in the wake of devastating tornado two years ago. Building Science experts, including Joseph Lstiburek will teach state of the art building techniques during a five-part training series for builders and homeowners involved in rebuilding Greensburg as a healthy, energy efficient and affordable town.

Each seminar will include a 1/2-day tour of current re-construction projects in Greensburg where participants will learn about and examine best practice construction methods. The field visit will be followed by a 1/2-day in-class training session lead by residential construction experts from Building America project teams.

The seminars kick-off Sept 8 with House Design and Foundation Systems taught by Joe Lstiburek and Alex Lukachko of Building Science Corporation, Westford, Mass. Future sessions will cover Framing, Mechanical Systems and Airtightness, Enclosure, Finishes, Testing and Commissioning. On-site training and demonstrations will feature walk-throughs at Greenburg at building sites volunteered by builders participating in the training seminar program.

US Weatherizing delivers home energy efficiency, efficiently. USWX upgrades energy efficiency of homes with an optimized delivery system that includes an energy audit and instant energy improvements, including air sealing, high efficiency lighting and scope of work documents for insulation and air sealing for under $800. We have partnered with Xcel Energy’s Home Performance with Energy Star program.

Low Cost Home Energy Efficiency Through Optimized Delivery of Retrofits

US Weatherizing proposes ARRA funds for Home Energy Efficiency Marketing and 1,000 Free Combustion Appliance Zone tests for metro Denver homes, to be delivered at the time of a paid energy audit and energy efficiency upgrades including Air Sealing, Efficient Lighting, Duct Sealing, Low Flow Shower Heads and Programmable Thermostat

A Combustion Appliance Zone test verifies that household combustion appliances like water heaters, furnaces and stoves do not reate a carbon monoxide hazard before air sealing work is done to a home.

This strategy delivers high-return efficiency retrofits to homeowners for under $800, leverages ARRA funds 8:1 and sets the stage for significant energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements with incentives from existing rebates, tax credits and utility demand side management programs.

Fast implementation of energy retrofit work will result in immediate energy efficiency, instant greenhouse gas reduction, improved indoor air quality, increased demand for home energy efficiency improvements and build a critical segment of Colorado’s New Energy Economy.

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) published a jobs calculator for estimating the employment impacts of energy efficiency projects funded through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“What we have here is a jobs calculator that a variety of parties can use to estimate the economic impacts on net job creation, including well-paying manufacturing and industrial jobs,” stated Dr. Neal Elliott, Director of ACEEE’s Industrial Program.

The calculator along with its user’s guide can be found on the Federal Economic Stimulus Legislation section of ACEEE’s National Energy Efficiency Policy Webpage at http://www.aceee.org/energy/national/recovery.htm.

Reaching 90% compliance with the current IECC code is a requirement of ARRA funding for State Energy Programs. Key areas of focus in the ARRA include:

A  residential building energy code (or codes) that meets or exceeds the most recent International Energy Conservation Code, or achieves equivalent or greater energy savings.
A commercial building energy code (or codes) throughout the State that meets or exceeds the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007, or achieves equivalent or greater energy savings.
A plan to achieve 90 percent compliance with the above energy codes within eight years. This plan will include active training and enforcement programs and annual measurement of the rate of compliance.

Gov. Bill Ritter has given his assurance to do what he can to achieve this goal: http://www.energy.gov/media/3152RitterColorado.pdf 

Colorado is a home rule state so no statewide energy code exists and energy codes are not enforced at the state level. Local enforcement agencies in jurisdictions that have adopted building codes are required to enforce the provisions of the residential energy code at the local level, but may adopt their own requirements without state approval.

Voluntary adoption of energy codes is encouraged and efforts through OEMC and DOE grants are directed toward informing local jurisdictions of the benefits of energy efficiency standards and providing materials and training to support code implementation.  In the summer of 2009, the GEO partnered with Colorado’s code jurisdictions to host a series of 2009 International Energy Conservation Code trainings in locations throughout the state. The nationally recognized code training organization, the International Code Council (ICC), delivered the trainings at no cost for local code officials, home builders, developers, architects, engineers and other building industry professionals.

The presentation for the 2009 IECC code: http://www.colorado.gov/energy/images/uploads/pdfs/2009_IECC_Fundamentals.pdf 

During the 2007 legislative session, House Bill 1146 (HB 07-1146), was passed in an effort to improve the energy efficiency of Colorado’s new buildings as part of the New Energy Economy. HB 07-1146 calls for all jurisdictions that have a building code to adopt a minimum energy code standard effective July 1, 2008. Adoption of energy codes for buildings by Colorado jurisdictions can contribute to approximately 16% of the needed emissions reductions proposed in Governor Ritter’s 2007 Climate Action Plan. As directed by HB 07-1146, the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) works in close partnership with building departments to provide energy code training, information and other resources to support local adoption and implementation of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).

Jurisdictions that require the 2006 IECC are Adams County, Arapahoe County, Arvada, Aurora, Basalt, Boulder, Castle rock, Collbran, Cortez, Craig, Dacono, DeBeque, Denver, Edgewater, Englewood, Fort Lupton, Fruita, Golden, Grand Junction, Greely, Greenwood Village, Jefferson County, Lakewood, Larimer County, Longmont, Pallisade, Parker, Salida, Superior, Thorton, Timnath, Westminister, Wheat Ridge

Jurisdictions that require the 2003 IECC are Brush, Carbondale, Central City, Colorado, Div. of Housing, Colorado Springs, Colorado State Buildings, Delta, Durango, Eagle, El Paso County, Estes Park, Federal Heights, Fort Morgan, Frisco, Gunnison, Gunnison County, Ignacio, Jamestown, Johnstown, La Plata County, Moffat County, Northglenn, Pikes Peak Reg. Bdg Dept., Pueblo County, San Miguel County, Sheridan

Source: Dept. of Energy, State of Colorado

A fine example of deep energy retrofit designed by Sustainable Spaces, a leader in the energy efficient retrofit business.

Palo Alto has half the heating degree days of  Denver, so making the net zero goal a bit easier to achieve…

Read the San Jose Mercury news has an article.

The central conclusion of a report  by Mckinsey & Company on unlocking energy efficency in the US is that efficiency offers a vast, low cost energy resource only if we can create a comprehensive approach to realize the potential. This will require an investment of$520 billion and yeild savings of $1.2 trillion, reduce consumption by 9.1 quadrillion BTUs, or roughly 23% of projected demand by 2020. Such a commitment could potentially abate 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gases annually.

Read the full report: http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/electricpowernaturalgas/downloads/US_energy_efficiency_full_report.pdf

Last winter, Colorado residents were shocked into awareness of Carbon Monoxide danger when a family of four and a college student died of carbon monoxide poisoning in two separate incidents. The tragedies let to swift action from state lawmakers and Governor Bill Ritter signed a new law, titled the Lofgren and Johnson Families Carbon Monoxide Safety Act, to require all new, resale and rental dwellings occupied by new tenants after July 1, 2009 be equipped with carbon monoxide detector(s).

Carbon monoxide testing is a standard procedure in Weatherizing homes. Professionals accredited by the Building Performance Institute monitor ambient CO and conduct what is know as a Combustion Air Zone Test for the safety of the professional and the resident. This testing is done prior to any energy efficiency improvements to avoid making a CO problem worse.

The combustion air zone is the area around fuel fired cooking and heating appliances, including fireplaces. CO is the byproduct of incomplete combustion and becomes an imminent danger when the appliance is not operating or venting properly. The dynamics of building pressures can create situations where combustion gases containing Carbon Monoxide are drawn into the living space of the home, putting occupants at risk.

We recommend Carbon Monoxide detectors and Combustion Air Zone Testing because CO detectors only alert when deadly levels of CO are present and residents can still suffer serious health consequences from prolonged exposure to low levels of CO.

There is a misconception that building green is costly, but one of the greenest home builders is Habitat for Humanity.

They have a simple strategy, build homes with a tight shell and duct system plus quality insulation job that minimizes thermal bypasses.

If you visit a Habitat job site in Denver, you will notice that one volunteer is equipped with a caulking gun to seal all the joints as the building is framed and sheathed. Duct work is fully sealed with mastic to achieve less than 10% leakage and insulated to R-7.

The insulation strategy focuses on minimizing thermal bypasses with the use of raised heel trusses and continuous rigid insulation board over framing filled with properly installed R-13 batt insulation.

No fancy systems are necessary to build a high efficiency home, just a commitment to building correctly detailed plans and insuring batt insulation is properly installed with no gaps or voids in alignment with the air barrier.

In Colorado poorly installed ductwork is a common problem, leaky and often installed in the unconditioned space of a home, the system can lose 40% of the energy input and cause comfort and durability issues.

An Energy Star summary sheet of specifications for the Denver Habitat home shell is posted at the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership website along with many other case studies. -BB

Home performance advocates looking for a better way to get the message out about energy efficiency might want to give this band a call — Weatherizing 101 by the Double Panes on youtube.com