We know what to do. How do we get it done? EEBA closed with an evolution of High Performance Building as learned by Dr. Joe Lstiburek and Dr. John Straube over the past 30 years. They are also shifting focus toward retrofit, especially deep energy retrofit opportunities that are presented when homes need re-siding.
Still, deep energy retrofits are one-off custom projects. While they do improve energy performance by more than 50% on homes built before 1970, can we achieve deep energy retrofit at a scale that matters to global climate?
The alternative approach is simple efficency measures of air sealing and adding insulation for more modest improvement of individual building performance, but on a much larger scale.
Will it be the deep and narrow production of deep energy retrofit of hundreds of thousands of homes or will the wide and shallow strategy of improving millions of homes by 10-15% that delivers results needed to meet carbon reduction goals? That will depend on us, the retrofit community and how successful we are at gaining signicant market penetration for our product.
Stay tuned because much of the stimulus funding coming to energy efficiency in the built environment will be directed to developing production retrofit strategies.
Tuesday educational sessions at the EEBA conference in Denver reflected the expanding opportunity for retrofit work of existing buildings. Two excellent sessions Tuesday explored the opportunities to make homes healthier, energy efficient and durable.
Advanced Ventilations Strategies by Gord Cooke highlighted the low cost opportunity for improving ventilation of homes undergoing air sealing. His message: Don’t let air quality concerns compromise the air sealing effort because safe and effective ventilation is an inexpensive safety and comfort strategy.
he deep energy retrofit seminar by Betsy Pettit used case studies as she recounted the goals and achievements attained when retrofitting occurs in conjunction with roof, siding and window replacement. By focusing on a tight, well insulated shell, mechanical components were then sized to operate as part of a high performance building package.
Energy efficient buildings and renewable energy is “about jobs and jobs and jobs” emphasized Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to an audience of homebuilding professionals in Denver Monday. His keynote to the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) made it clear that while climate action is the goal of sustainable building, his motive as governor is to create lasting jobs in energy efficient building and renewable energy “that creates jobs and moves the energy economy forward”.
The Governor noted that one-fourth of all new homes in Colorado for the first half of 2009 were Energy Star certified. He highlighted other efforts from the Governor’s Energy Office including, E-Star mortgage program that recognizes high performance homes with an interest rate buy-down, assisting counties to implement property tax based financing of energy efficiency improvements as Boulder has done. Working with Colorado Housing Finance Authority to add solar for participants in the Weatherization Assistance Program, where funding has jumped from $2M per year to $80M over the next two years.
Colorado’s Climate Action Plan has a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emission 20% by 2020 will be achieved, he said, the 2050 goal of 80% greenhouse gas reduction is a real challenge that can only be met my making new and existing buildings energy efficient.
The EPA (who brings you Energy Star) and the DOE (who brings you Build America) go beyond energy efficiency to Indoor Air Quality. The EPA workshop covers indoor air quality for single family residences and strategies to manage indoor air pollutants. Session begins at 8 am. DOE Builders Challenge afternoon session focuses on selling the value of high performances homes and will highlight innovative marketing strategies beginning at 1pm.
These are just two of 10 sessions today at the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance 2009 Excellence in Building Conference and Expo at the Marriott Denver Tech Center.
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter will welcome the group at 2:30 pm which will be followed by Green Builder Magazine’s Hot 50 Green Products at 3pm.
View the conference progam: http://www.eeba.org/conference/2009/program.htm
by Amy Westervelt - Sep 10th, 2009 in Building Codes
Retrofitting existing buildings to make them more energy efficient is by far the most effective way to dramatically reduce the CO2 emissions associated with the built environment. Over 90% of buildings in the U.S. are over five years old and inefficient enough that they could not be built under current energy requirements, according to a review of U.S. building stock by Lawrence Berkeley Labs. That’s a huge opportunity for retrofits. In fact, says Gary Lawrence, urban strategies leader for international engineering and planning firm Arup,
More….
See possibilities, be inspired, and learn how create sustainable systems in your own home at the Center for ReSource Conservation’s Boulder County Solar Week. The week starts with the 14th Annual Boulder County Tour of Solar & Green Homes, Saturday, September 26, which is one of the largest solar & green home tours in the country. Registration begins at 9am at the CRC office. Along with 14 homes to tour, Saturday includes 2 Green Products & Services Expos at the CRC in Boulder (2639 Spruce Street) and the Louisville Public Library. The following week will feature the Solar Week Seminar Series, covering topics such as installing a photovoltaic system, green building basics, energy efficiency, and the future of renewable energy technology. Expo and tour admission is $10; $8 for students and seniors; $5 for Louisville homes only. The week concludes with “Ask an Expert,” a One-on-One Consultation Day with members of BGBG.
Saturday, September 26, Boulder and Louisville: Green Products & Services Expos; Tour of 14 Solar & Green Homes
September 28 - October 1, in Boulder, Louisville & Longmont: Seminars on Green Building, Energy Efficiency & Water Conservation
Saturday, October 3, in Boulder: “Ask An Expert” on Residential Green Building Projects
Register early online to avoid long lines on Saturday! http://www.conservationcenter.org/e_solarweek.htm
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on Sept. 14 announced a new $450 million program designed to catalyze a nationwide energy upgrade that experts estimate could save $100 million annually in utility bills for households and businesses. The Recovery Act’s “Retrofit Ramp-Up” program will pioneer innovative models for rolling out energy efficiency to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in a variety of communities. Much like past roll-outs for cable TV or the Internet, the Department of Energy (DOE) intends to create models that, when undertaken nationally, will save consumers billions of dollars on their utility bills and make the huge savings of energy efficiency available to everyone.
“Energy efficiency isn’t just low-hanging fruit; it’s fruit lying on the ground. We have the tools to reduce energy use at home and at work and to provide huge savings to families and businesses on their energy bills. But use of these technologies has been far too limited because we lack the simple and effective ways for people to access them,” said Chu.
“The ‘Retrofit Ramp-Up’ program will support large-scale models that can open new energy efficiency opportunities to whole neighborhoods, towns, and, eventually, entire states,” continued Chu. “The Recovery Act will allow innovative communities to demonstrate a variety of sustainable business models that can be replicated across the country.”
Full story: http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=237
The 2009 EEBA Excellence in Building Conference & Expo opens next Monday in southeast Denver at the Mariott Denver Tech Center. The Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA)is an excellent source for Green Building Performance Education and this annual conference is a unique opportunity to learn the science behind green and sustainable building practices, get insight on new regulations and legislative measures and to leverage new opportunities in high performance home building.
Sessions include 2011 energy star standards, water efficiency, building codes, utility programs, indoor air quality and deep energy retrofits of existing homes. There are also site visits to exemplary local projects. View the complete program: http://www.eeba.org/conference/2009/program.htm
2009 Excellence in Building Conference & Expo
September 28-30, 2009
Marriott Denver Tech Center, Denver, CO
Registration on site at 7am daily.
Contact the EEBA staff at 952-881-1098
Last weekend, home energy raters from Maine to Hawaii converged in Boulder County, Colorado for a national conference hosted by EnergyLogic near their Berthoud HQ. The 50 attendees were a cross section of the emerging building performance industry.
About half of the participants were involved with residential energy performance long before today’s scramble for green bling like solar and ground source heat pumps. These pros know building performance is about the house as a system, and without a comprehensive retrofit plan for the whole home, individual upgrades may fail to achieve the desired performance improvement.
This fledgling industry has sprung up in Colorado partly because Boulder implemented a climate action plan with specific strategies to improve home energy performance a decade ago. One strategy requires Home Energy Ratings Scores for new homes and additions over 500 square feet. Still, energy efficiency planning has been a one-off process that is relatively expensive and slow. If most of America’s housing needs energy improvements, how will we achieve the volume required to make an impact on global carbon emissions? It’s all about volume.
Energy retrofit work to homes is a labor intensive building profession that offers a vast opportunity to make basic improvements to most of the building stock. This makes Energy Efficiency America’s most promising job opportunity because production scale retrofit work across the suburban landscape would create thousands of jobs, keep winter heating affordable and make a real impact on our climate goals. The Weatherization Assitance Progam is an excellent model for fashioning a system for market retrofit, but the WAP does not generate the volume of retrofits that could be achieved through a systematic retrofit program.
Building codes and energy policy can make energy efficiency retrofits a work-force generator for American jobs that offer good pay and unsurpassed returns to the economy and energy security. Yet, jobs in this sector have not expanded because there is not a systematic approach to implementing the volume of retrofit work required. One promising approach to scaling up retrofit work is by targeting needy building stock on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis, with a scope of work targeted to the lowest hanging fruit - lighing, air sealing, water heater and low flow shower heads.
Right now, energy efficiency analysis and retrofitting is an extremely inefficient process that produces few improvements at a relatively high cost. The production approach to retrofits makes some improvement to nearly all the homes in a geographic area over a short period of time. Such a systematic approach will maximize energy savings, climate impact and job creation in the short term.
Energy efficiency in residential buildings is based on the building science of homes in a given climate. The basic education for Energy Auditors and Energy Raters develops the understanding of a building as a system and how to optimize performance.
Energy Auditors generally look at existing buildings for improvements while Energy Raters verify compliances of new construction with energy codes or programs such as Energy Star. Energy raters use software to model the building and compare its built structure to a reference standard.
Energy Auditors deliver a prioritized list of efficiency improvements by return of investment and counsel home owners in behaviors that operate the building efficiently.
The RESNET — Residential Energy Services Network — was developed as a tool to verify code compliance and home energy performance for the energy efficient mortgage business. BPI - Building Performance Institute developed retrofit standards related to the Weatherization Assistance Program work and includes a Combustion Appliance Test to check Carbon Monoxide levels.
Most certified professionals are either RESNET or BPI certified based on the field choice of new construction or retrofit contracting Many building performance professionals have both certifications and he organizations are currently developing a single standard.
As for the actual job market, Robbie Schwarz, principal at EnergyLogic, is one of the leading trainers for RESNET in the region was asked what the job prospects were for someone going into energy auditing or rating career. He confirmed the absence of job opportunities unless the future energy efficiency professional is also an entrepreneur. He also said many students have difficulty passing the test on the first try.