New Innovations in Energy showcase at COSI

Last week the Center of Science & Industry (COSI) introduced a new exhibit in their Innovations Showcase, Innovations in Energy.  My family was invited to attend the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for this new showcase as one of my projects is featured in their Green Building touch screen display featuring green buildings in categories such as Homes, Big Buildings & Schools.  The N. Twenty First Street project is currently the only home project featured in the touch screen display letting users know about the green features of each of these buildings.

However the showcase is about more than just buildings.  There are some other great hands on exhibits featuring smart meters and electric distribution, fueling stations giving you hands on alternatives to fueling your car such as Bio-Fuels (E-85), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electricity and hydrogen.  There were even games teaching kids about energy efficiency (Hog Busters Training Camp).  Besides the green building section, my favorite area was the home energy efficiency displays with the infrared camera, showing visitors what is behind our walls.  Of course I had my son go put his hand on the wall to show the sensitivity of the camera.

I look forward to the future expanded exhibit.  In the meantime I encourage families to go and check out the new Innovations in Energy showcase at COSI.

Deep Energy Reduction with the Thousand Home Challenge

Thousand Home Challenge Threshold CalculatorLast week I had the opportunity to attend an introductory webinar of the “Thousand Home Challenge” whose mission is to demonstrate the possibility of reducing our existing home stocks overall energy usage by 70-90%.  Their goal is to achieve these reductions by energy efficiency measures, renewable resources, community solutions, and behavioral changes.  The intent of the challenge is to use these thousand homes as a resource and educational platform for change to help transform our existing building stock.

Thousand Home Challenge Threshold CalculatorThe first step is to determine your energy reduction goal by using their threshold calculator.  You have two options when it comes to determining your reduction goals.  The first option or as they refer to as Option A, which is intended for high energy usage homes, sets a 75% reduction goal based upon a recent years’ verifiable energy usage.  Option B is for low energy users and sets an energy reduction threshold based upon your zip code, finished floor area, number of occupants and a few other simple inputs.

Our home as it was purchased in 2005

Our home as it was purchased in 2005

So to continue the Sym-Home mission of educating others and to show that existing homes can make deep cuts in their energy usage; I will be enrolling my personal residence into the challenge.  Considering my family has made significant energy related improvements to our home to bring down our utility costs, we are at the point of pushing the envelope, looking to make those energy related upgrades that the average homeowner doesn’t even think about.  However we are considered to be a lower energy user, so we will be enrolling into the challenge and attempting to meet the energy usage thresholds of Option B.  As you can see, by our current usage and goals set, we are still looking at a 42% reduction in energy usage to meet the challenge. I will continue the blog series, Kill’n a Hog….an Energy Hog, of tracking our energy improvements and take them to the next level as we go beyond what most consider to be a DIY project.

If you are considering some major energy related improvements to your home, consider enrolling into the Thousand Home Challenge.  The first step to participating in the Thousand Home Challenge is to attend the introductory webinar to learn more about the goals, mission, and determination of one’s threshold allowance.  So if you are interested, the next webinar is currently scheduled for May 31st.  Check out the 1000 Home Challenge website and enroll to make some deep cuts and help our country reach energy independence.

Friday Video – Blower Door Basics & Weatherization Training

So it is no secret that my career path has changed a little over a year ago from design and producing construction documents for projects ranging from home additions/renovations to multi-million dollar commercial and institutional buildings.  These days I am performing home energy audits and have been involved heavily in the weatherization industry, as I feel this is a good fit to keep me sharp and give me great field experience with building science issues that I can take back to the architecture profession if I ever decide to return to a traditional design firm.

During my conversations with customers I am always telling them it was an easy transition into the job because I am already knowledgeable of construction techniques and building science.  I just needed training on the equipment and testing procedures.  So for those that are interested in home energy audits, here is a great video on the basics of blower door testing that was produced by the Montana Weatherization Training Center.  Over the past year, they have produced a whole series of videos on their WXtv site, featuring different aspects of the energy auditing and home weatherization industry.

Check out the Montana Weatherization Training Centers WXtv to view more great videos geared towards training the weatherization industry.

Why do I torture myself?

I am not one who gets very excited about trade shows.  Mainly because most of the time the information the product representative is telling me I already know due to my own research.  So typically I  just walk on through and stop at the booths that have something I have not seen before or new company that I have not heard of.  However, when I leave the trade show I felt as I at least learned a couple of things and found some new and interesting products.

However year after year my wife and I torture ourselves and attend the local home and garden show.  Now if you want to experience high pressure sales and be steered into the cheapest way to do things, you must attend a home and garden show.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good home builders and remodeling contractors out there, but I seriously doubt you will find one at one of these shows.  Because the good ones out there don’t need to attend because they get work through referrals.

With the exception of a new home energy auditing company and few insulation contractors, I couldn’t even tell you the headache I had after I left.  So many of us out there are trying to do good quality work and try and reduce our footprint on this earth.  But I couldn’t believe a conversation that I had with a remodeling contractor.  I asked if they had any experience installing fiber cement siding over 2-4 inches of foam.  Now I will give you a second to think about what his response was…….  They actually remove the foam board insulation.  Can you freaking believe it?!  My wife walked away when she saw my jaw drop.  I mean seriously?  So we hopefully improved the look of the home, but we  just removed at least 20% of the wall insulation and increased the home owners utility bills.  He continued the conversation that if you install the siding over furring strips, the siding will snap.  So I politely took his business card and told my wife, this goes in the do not hire pile.

So where does it start?  Do we continue our efforts and try and educate the home owner or do we need push harder to get people in our industry on board and bring them up to date on today’s building practices?

Online Home Energy Tracking Options

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Americans spend approximately $241 billion dollars on energy to heat and cool their homes on an annual basis.  This is why you are seeing so many utility, state and federal government plans such as the Home Star bill.  These programs are designed to help control energy costs for the American home owner as well as reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

So how many of us actually track our utility usage beyond opening up the envelope and complaining about the cost?  How many people actually know their average month, or yearly usage?  With the increasing cost of energy, I am sure there are more that will start paying attention.  But how do we keep track?  Smart meters are starting to roll out all throughout the country which will allow us to access that information easily.  However it will take some time before everyone has one.  There are devices that we can purchase, such as the TED energy detective that can be hooked up to our meters, some complicated, others not.  However a lot of us do not want to incur that expense.

Besides creating a spreadsheet and tracking our monthly usage, what are our options?  There happens to be a few free online services that will do this for you and will generate relatively easy to read graphs showing your usage and billing history.  Most of them will even give you a score as a way to compete with your neighbors.  Therefore I would like to take the time and briefly review a few of them that I have tried.

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