How Energy Efficient Is My Home? | GreenBuildingAdvisor.com
Posted on Aug 25 by Lynn Underwood, GBA Advisor
A newly adopted provision in the 2006 edition of the International Residential Code (IRC) requires that a permanent certificate be posted on the electrical distribution panel. This certificate is for the express purpose of identifying the efficiency of various energy components of the home and must include the following:
energy efficiency certificate
The predominate R-value of insulation in ceiling/roof, walls, foundation, crawl space wall, and floor;
U-factors for windows, skylights, etc. (where there is more than one value, the value covering the largest area must be listed);
The solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of windows, skylights, etc. (again, where there is more than one value, the value covering the largest area must be listed);
The types and efficiencies of heating, cooling, and water heating equipment.
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Foam Sill Sealer/Capillary Break
A buildings durability and energy efficiency believe it or not can be greatly affected by some of the smallest and least expensive products out there, and sill sealer is one of these products. As pointed out by James over at Greener Structures, approximately 90% of buildings today do not install a sill sealer or also known as a capillary break.
For a little over $5.00 you can buy a 50′ roll at most hardware stores and even online shops (here). So you may be asking what the big deal is over a sill sealer. Well the product was designed to reduce air infiltration between the top of your foundation wall and sill plate by filling in any gaps or cracks. This product can also be used for slab on grade applications as well where there will be some imperfections in the slab.
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When designing and building a new home or office, both the architects and builders need to pay attention to detail. The architect needs to make sure when they are generating the details on how the structure goes together, that they are making sure that the structure is going to be energy efficient and durable. Therefore architects and contractors really need to pay attention to the details.
The majority of architects that you talk to are passionate about design. It permeates every aspect of our lives. However as I move forward into my career, I am finding I pay more attention to the details. Now I have an appreciation for design, it is just not my strong point. I find it more satisfying to be working on building and wall sections. Taking what the designer has come up with and generating the details to make it reality and really focusing on the details that will help to insure that the building will be durable and energy efficient.
With that said, I plan on starting a new series of posts titled “Attention to detail”. These posts, if you have been following the blog at all, at no surprise will be focusing on energy efficiency and durability. I will be bringing the attention to small details that can make a big difference in the energy efficiency and durability of a building over its lifetime.
In a previous post (here) I talk about the new LEED Credentialing system and how my opinion of the LEED AP designation has changed over the past 5 years since I took the exam. Over at Real Life LEED, the author tries to explain if there are any real benefits to existing LEED AP’s to upgrading to the new LEED AP+ which sparked a good discussion on his comment board.
So please, venture over to Real Life LEED and read his latest post.
So my return to blogging is not starting off on the right foot. I must have a lot of pent up anger that I do not know about. Well anyways it was announced a couple of months ago that the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB) is going to be raising the exam fee beginning October 1st of 2009. They are raising the fee from $170 to $210. Only $40? Those of you not in the profession may be asking why are you bitching about $40. Well multiply that by 7. That brings the grand total of the Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) to $1,470. That is more than the bar exam that lawyers have to take. And in most cases they make much more money than architects. And what make this number even more difficult to swallow is that most architectural firms do not reimburse their employees for taking the exams, let along giving them the time off needed to take the exams that range from 2-6 hours in length.
The attached blog post from the Architectural Record (NCARB Increasing Test Fees), gives some incite into why NCARB is raising their fees. However this is not a good thing for the profession. Already the trend for most architecture graduates is to never obtain their architectural registration that would allow them to legally practice architecture on their own. As long as they are working for an architectural firm they see no need. However this is resulting in less people getting registered every year.
