Each year, K-12 schools spend around $8 billion on energy nationwide. They use 10% of the energy used by all commercial buildings and are the third biggest energy user of all commercial building types (U.S. EPA, 2011). What if these schools were built to be more energy-efficient and sustainable? What if building and operating high-performance school buildings were a natural part of the school design and construction practice?
Carolyn Sarno Goldthwaite, Senior Program Manager for the Northeast...
Read More
High performance building
A note from Sam Rashkin: It’s the Window Stupid…
Written by Sam Rashkin, DOE
I have personally delivered over 25 zero energy ready home (ZERH) training classes across the country. Consistently, one of the biggest “ah-hah” moments in the four-hour course is the huge impact windows have on overall wall assembly performance. Even with just a 15% window-to-floor-area ratio, windows represent a giant thermal hole that disproportionately upsets all the good work you do on the insulated wall assemblies. Who knew? Below is a table I develo...
Read More
Taking Aim At Barriers To Innovations From Codes And Standards
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America Program is taking aim at barriers to innovations from codes and standards. Building America will release Code Compliance Briefs to facilitate the conversation between builders, installers, and code officials when an innovative product or technique is used in the field. The new content will reside under the Compliance Tab in the Building America Solution Center labeled Code Compliance Brief.
The intent of the Building America Code Compliance Bri...
Read More
Health, Safety, And Welfare Also Includes Building Performance
Hanley Wood Sustainability Council members Steven Winter and Maureen Guttman discuss the role of incentives and regulations in moving high-performance building into mainstream practice.
By Katie Weeks
This article also appeared in EcoBuilding Pulse.
What’s more successful in moving an industry forward: Carrots or sticks? Or is a specific combination of the two?
Since 2012, Hanley Wood has consulted building and architecture experts under its Vision 2020 program to discuss the role of s...
Read More
High-R Wall Construction Strategies: Reducing Costs And Risk While Increasing Energy Performance
by Seul Rhee
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America research program has been a source of innovations in residential building energy performance, durability, quality, affordability and comfort for nearly 20 years. This world-class research program partners with industry (including many of the top U.S. homebuilders) to bring cutting-edge innovations and resources to market.
The NAHB Research Center Building America industry team’s high-R wall system research focuses primaril...
Read More
Engaging More Architects To Meet The Compliance Goal
by Seul Rhee
While many states have worked hard to adopt the 2009 or 2012 International Energy Conservation Code, implementation and compliance are sometimes overlooked. But that is changing. National, regional, and local focus is shifting to address meeting the 90 percent compliance goal set by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Working with numerous state energy offices (22 states and counting) to investigate and assess a state’s existing energy code infrastructure, one ...
Read More