All Blog Posts Tagged 'Building' (10)

BPI Building Analyst Training & Certification

This course provides the training you need to become certified as a BPI Building Analyst Professional.

You will be able to perform a thorough building analysis and provide work scope recommendations to save energy, improve comfort and increase a home's safety and durability.

Your BPI Building Analyst credentials will qualify your clients for a variety of incentive programs.

Benefits of the…

Whether driven by a genuine desire to reduce their environmental footprint, or simply to insulate themselves against rising costs, energy efficiency is becoming a significant organizational goal for many companies around the country. In order to achieve these goals, businesses are looking for direction on how they can have their buildings’ designed and/or operated to consume as little energy as possible. Many have looked to the LEED Rating System to provide both the guidance for,…

We know energy efficiency can save the world, but can it save a marriage?

Leave it to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to take on that question. The agency is known for its vanguard energy research.  But it is one thing to produce papers on topics like ‘Air Bypass in Vertical Stack Water Source Heat Pumps’ and another to delve into what a cold room can do to a new marriage.

That’s  the premise behind Irreconcilable Temperatures,  a…

Owner Tony Malkin worked with experts from organizations ranging from Johnson Controls to Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to develop a retrofit that would save 38 percent of the building's energy and $4.4 million each year. Oh -- and add about 250 jobs as well.

The building's retrofit was a grand experiment, really. RMI describes Malkin as saying, "We knew that by retrofitting the Empire State Building, we would catch the world's attention. Through this project, we set out to prove or…

MEEA has scheduled a Level I Building Operator Certification (BOC) training in partnership with the City of Aurora, IL to begin in August. The City of Aurora will utilize funding from the federal Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) to cover tuition rebates for operations and maintenance staff who work for a business in Aurora or are current residents of the city. The funding will cover the full tuition cost of $1,250 for program participants who successfully complete all the…

*This post was drafted by Isaac Elnecave and Michael Hairston of the MEEA Policy Team

At the recently concluded ASHRAE Winter Meeting in Montreal, significant changes occurred to the development of the ASHRAE 90.2 standard (ASHRAE 90.2 is the companion standard to ASHRAE 90.1 and applies primarily to residential dwellings). Prior to the…

I am always looking for good information and resources to share with customers about building science.  I really want to engage people to understand building science, and empower them to work on their own homes more.  Sometimes, the task of deconstructing misinformation is bigger than I realize...

Cruizing the internet this afternoon, seeking recources for some customers who intend to take on their own basment remodel.  I have found lots of good DIY guides on the DIY Network,…

My recent visit to Savannah for the USGBC's green product expo charged up my historic preservation bug and got me to thinking about how to apply building science to historic buildings.

Most of us that have ever lived in, owned, or even just visited a historic home…

In 1997, I helped my parents design and build their home. Early in the construction process, I had suggested that the house be built 25 feet back from where we originally had it planned, and that the fireplace be moved to the back side of the living room. We had already put the stakes in the ground and were ready to start digging for…

Over the past couple of years I have attended many seminars mostly on topics relating to green building and the environment. In truth, I was determined to make good use of the construction down time, in this economy, with a goal to learning as much as I could about home performance improvement. One such seminar taught me that the terms sustainable building and green construction have become more than simple buzz words, they have become policies promoted by the government. Policies which at…