Why I Hate My Job

Well not much really.  But let’s be honest, would you have even had interest in reading if the title was “Why I Love My Job”?  So this is basically my year in review of working for Conservation Services Group performing home energy audits and to share a little more about my job that I did not get to share during the panel discussion at the AIA Ohio Valley Region convention in Dayton, OH last week.

So let’s stick with the title and what I do not enjoy about my job.  First, 90+ degree days, it makes for very uncomfortable working conditions as the attic is 100+ degrees.  However that is a condition of the job and is only an issue of comfort.  The hardest, as well as worst part of the job is delivering news to customers as I was reminded of today.  First is the customer that already has decent levels of insulation and based upon calculated paybacks and program goals do not qualify for very attractive incentives for energy efficiency improvements through the utility rebate program that we do work for.  I get a lot of eye rolling, but that is easy to handle, just lots of additional table talk which can add a lot of time to an appointment that only allows 4 hours to inspect, test, generate a report and present it to the customer.  However the absolute hardest part about my job is telling a customer, especially an assisted customer that is getting free work done that cannot have any air sealing or insulation work done until combustion safety issues have been resolved such as back drafting water heaters, or high CO levels.  This can really tug on the heart strings when you are in a home that has little to no insulation and you can see they would greatly benefit from lower utility bills and truly cannot afford to make some of the repairs necessary, yet their income level is not low enough to qualify for weatherization assistance that would actually make these repairs.

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Panelist at the 2011 AIA Ohio Valley Region Convention

Over the weekend I had the great pleasure of attending the 2011 AIA Ohio Valley Region Convention in Dayton, Ohio as a panelist for the topic “Alternative Career Paths in Architecture”.  I represented myself as part of the home performance industry, performing home energy audits and quality control/quality assurance inspections. As a part of the panel,  I feel that I was the furthest outside of the box from being in the traditional architectural field.  Other fields or paths related to architecture that were represented were, specifications writing, historic preservation, university planning department, state architects office and web comics.  The panel was moderated by Lee W. Waldrep, Ph.D who wrote the book Becoming an Architect: A Guide to Careers in Design and moderated similar panels at other conventions such as the 2011 AIA National Convention.

 

The overall convention was invigorating.  It not only re-energized my spirits, but helped show me some directions that I can take my career.  I also had the opportunity to network and talk with some colleagues that I have not seen in the past year or so, as well as meet a couple of up and coming celebrities, the creators of the popular web comic Architexts.  Therefore, until next years convention I am looking forward to getting more involved in the architecture profession again, even if it is just participating in AIA events and meetings.

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.

Residential Energy Modeling

Energy modeling is becoming more common place with the design of commercial buildings.  However it is primarily used by the mechanical engineer to design and size their systems.  Very seldom is it used in the early stages of a project as part of the design process for the entire building to maximize the energy efficiency.  In the residential sector of design and construction, energy modeling is rarely used.  It is more common place with Energy Star rated homes, even then it is only used to show compliance with the requirements of Energy Star standards, not a part of the design process.

 

Energy modeling in new home design, construction and renovations can be a very effective tool to weigh the cost effectiveness of any design strategy used to improve energy efficiency in a home.  Actually most energy auditors use some form of energy modeling to show their customers what kind of financial payback they could expect when implementing any of the recommended improvements.  So why is this tool not used more within the design industry?  Energy modeling is a standard service I provide with any home design work that I do, as well as a service that I provide to other design and construction professionals.  I offer this because some jurisdictions do require an energy compliance certificate.  Granted most design professionals and builders use REScheck as their preferred method.  However, REScheck will only demonstrate compliance using the trade-off approach and the prescriptive packages approach as described in the energy conservation codes.

 

More advanced software packages such as REM/Design which I use takes this a step further.  REM/Design and other software packages will not only provide you with a compliance certificate, but it will provide design loads along with estimated energy usage and cost to operate the home.  This can be helpful as a preliminary sizing tool for your heating and cooling systems.  What is also valuable about this feature is it gives you the ability to weigh the cost effectiveness of “upgraded” insulation levels or more efficient systems.  The software will even break up the loads into building components, so you know where most of your energy is being lost in the homes envelope.  For instance a recent project I was consulting on, I was able to determine that the six skylights the homeowner wanted in their passive solar home were more of an energy penalty than an overall gain.  So there was a compromise and the number of skylights was reduced to 3 as a daylighting strategy instead of one for heat gain in the winter time.

 

Component loads

 

In an article posted on the American Institute of Architects website (Sustainable AIA: 2031–Why Energy Models Don’t Predict Actual Energy Use), it discusses the criticisms that energy modeling does not predict the actual energy usage of the building or home.  To some degree that is expected, energy modeling simulates the energy usage of a home to determine design loads based upon your geographical region.  Each software package takes into account occupants; however they cannot take into account occupant behavior which has a huge impact on the performance of any building or home.  Of course each software package has its flaws and performs some calculations better than others.

 

In the coming weeks, Chris Laumer-Giddens with Energy Vanguard in Georgia who is a licensed architect and HVAC designer will tell us the basic differences in some of the more widely used energy modeling tools.

2010 AIA Ohio Convention Presentation

About this time last year I had the pleasure to introduce founder of Architecture 2030, Ed Mazria as one of the 2009 AIA Ohio Valley Regional Convention keynote speakers and observe him and our other jurors judge the final round of the 2009 AIA Ohio Affordable Green Home Design Competition.  I also presented about the competition and handed out the awards at the conventions awards banquet.

Last year the presentation was about the results of almost a year’s worth of planning and preparation with three different Habitat for Humanity affiliates throughout Ohio.  Giving our attendants the background of the competition as well as a more in depth look into some of our entrant’s submissions with incites from one of the participating habitat affiliates on how the competition would help them to move forward.

Again this year I was asked to present at the AIA Ohio Convention that was held these past couple of days in Toledo to provide a follow up to the results, as the intent was that each of the three category winning designs was to get built, and it is my pleasure to state that all 3 designs are getting built.  Two are well under construction, and one is awaiting a permit.  This year I was joined by one of our winning teams and habitat for humanity representative to discuss their experiences during and after the competition.  Because the intent of the competition was to give younger un-registered architect a chance to take hold of a project and work directly for a client and learn more about energy efficient design.  As well as provide habitat for humanity a new set of well designed prototypical homes that is more energy efficient and more aesthetically pleasing.  We had a good turn out with some good information being shared by our design team on how it helped them progress and learn as well as how the competition helped one habitat affiliate bring community members together as well as foster discussion with other habitat affiliates throughout the state.

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