All Blog Posts Tagged 'audit' (14)

Two years ago Software Advice predicted that electricians would be one of the best-suited construction trades to capitalize on the growth of green construction. It appears that prediction is coming true. Since 2005, the green construction industry has grown from close to three billion dollar industry to one worth roughly $48 billion.…

Continue

"Ma'am, we've just tested your house and found your infiltration rate to be 16.7 ACH50, your R-values to be only 26% of the IECC…

Continue

Whether you are a “do-it-yourself” home energy auditor or a seasoned professional, learning about a home from an initial visual inspection is an important tool during an energy audit of home which can highlight energy saving opportunities. The visual inspection is the first indication…

Continue

Energy Audit: Now Recommendations for Energy Saving Up-dates

by Don Ames,   www.detectenergy.com

Now that we have the hot tub and the hole-in-the-wall under control, it is time to go ahead…

Continue

Why is there a heating register 4 feet up on the wall?

by Don Ames,   www.detectenergy.com

In my last article, I spoke about a home energy audit and the hot tub on the back deck. Remember, it was a manufactured home with a great deck overlooking a roaring hillside stream. Next door, the neighbors were the countryside recyclers, at least I suppose that's what they might call themselves.

Personally, I think I would call them by a…

Continue

Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (IHP) is currently sponsoring a building science training series. The most recent training took place in Normal, Illinois at Heartland Community College on Infrared technologies such as infrared cameras and images used to detect problem areas in buildings. Brian Kumer, owner of Thermal Imaging Services, was the instructor for this 8-hour course which consisted of both a classroom portion and a field portion.…

Continue

So the price of gas is hovering near $4.00 a gallon again.  Have you noticed a change in your driving habits?  More people are choosing to stay home over driving long distances for vacation.  They’re also combining trips to multiple locations to get more things done all at once and if they forget to stop at one,…

Continue

John and Jane Doe's report is basically written. I have a template that I use that has been slowly built and improved over the past projects. It's a fine start but still requires a fair amount of custom writing, since each house has enough unique issues that need to be addressed.  There's report software out there such as Recurve's, EAI, or BizEE, but none have that personal touch that comes from a written report.  So here's some items from the report:





Target Infiltration: 0.25… Continue

OK, I'm back from getting the dimensions of Doe's house, enter all the information into EnergyPro, and do an initial calculation. It looks like the house as it is has a HERS of 147, which means that the model predicts that it will use about one and a half times as much energy as a 'reference home', which is this exact same home if it was built to today's energy code requirements and has by definition a HERS of 100. 147 is not too bad but way above what we want. Let's see if we can get it below… Continue

My company, Building Efficiency Resources  (www.TheBER.com) is--among other things--a HERS providership.  We see a tremendous opportunity now and into the future for Raters on the retrofit side, and we are devoting considerable effort to exploring and developing ways for our Raters to seize that opportunity.  We bring to that task a clear understanding that not all Certified Raters are highly knowledgeable about existing homes, and that the farther back we…

Continue

Note: the following is not a comprehensive listing of all the details involved in a full audit.  It's meant to be a general description of the process so please don't think that you can read this and do one yourself.  Your and the homeowners' safety requires a full Building Performance training, at a minimum.

 



John and Jane are delightful. Pretty… Continue

I caught up with John Doe while he was on the way to work this morning, apologized for not getting back to him last night, and checked in about Tuesday of next week, April 12th, for his test-in Audit.  The weather forecast is for a perfect day: cool and clear, which should allow distinctive IR photos of air infiltration pathways during the blower door test.



I stopped in at Harmony Farms, my favorite farm & garden store, on Hwy 116 this afternoon to talk to Ali Ghorbani, who is… Continue

This very question was recently posed in the BPI Group.  Is there a conflict of interest when an energy auditor also offers contracting or weatherization services to their clients?  At first glance, many would say that the easy answer is "yes". The common reasoning is that people will steer their clients towards the products they sell in order to make as much money as possible.  After all, that's what we are all in business for, isn't it?  The other answer was "it's just human…

Continue

Continue