TEDx Matt Grocoff - Shelter: How to Destroy the Planet from the Comfort of Home

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Comment by Patrick Michaelyan on November 22, 2012 at 9:43am

No doubt Ted!

I too am on the mission path to bring lower-energy improvements to the masses.

Performance contracting is my most recent puzzle I'm working on. It works pretty well on the commercial, but is un-tested in the residential weatherization realm.

Any body ever tried to do performance contracting with their residential clients?

Comment by tedkidd on November 21, 2012 at 10:21am

Invest 15 minutes and share with others.

Diane asks for 15 minutes, I'm likely to give it.  For those who want the executive summary first:

Mission Zero - all homes will be renewable powered or net zero by 2030.  A very emotional appeal.  The historic reference is interesting and distressing.  Showing and thinking about his baby daughter's future is compelling.   I like the all-electric argument, and the "more comfortable", and the "Better Lives AFTER kicking fossil fuel addiction".   

But these people have a lot of dough.  They have committed a lot of resources to this project.  Unfortunately taking 130,000 homes to net zero is not scale-able.   7% energy inflation assumption would get me kicked out of most houses.  

What is missing is cost effectiveness for people who don't have dough, or don't have that level of commitment.  What is missing is the ability for people not passionately committed AND financially able to commit significant resources to this to understand there is a place for them too.  

What we really need is for people to understand how much waste can COST EFFECTIVELY be reduced.  How they can take money THEY ARE ALREADY COMMITTED TO SPENDING and reallocate that to increasing value and reducing waste.  

Here's a simple scale:  http://bit.ly/Homescale

For the next step, getting people confident the savings will actually show up, we also need better tools.  We need consumption transparency, so we can see the results others are experiencing and BELIEVE the savings will show up to pay the big loan on weatherization or solar panels.  

Comment by David Connelly Legg on November 21, 2012 at 8:37am

Great delivery of a vital message. Too bad it's not a full DER. With more insulation than his R29 in attic could be more of an energy plus home. That would yield a longer impact and less net carbon because the insulation lasts longer than PV and likely involves less toxins to make.  Did anyone catch or reach out to find out how tight the building is?