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One of the world’s largest projects built to save energy

Trump’s proposal to eliminate popular money-saving energy efficiency programs, including the EPA’s Energy Star Program and the DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program will be a major loss for consumers, experts have warned — but also for the climate.

A professor at the University of California at Los Angeles were able to analyze data on the energy use of 178,777 commercial buildings from the years 2005 to 2012. Their findings show Energy Star and LEED-certified buildings used 19.31

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) funded study shows Passive House for tall buildings in NY can reduce heating energy consumption by 85%. When compared to the base case targeting LEED Silver, the Passive House design saved 47% in energy use intensity while only increasing construction cost by 2.4%.  Improved air quality and longevity make this a very good investment over time. 

Thank you to NYSERDA  for funding the study to determine how the construction industry can become more energy efficient.

Passive House is the equivalent of the German PassivHaus Standard. 

The study is available

The Washington State Department of Commerce has released, "Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard Version 3.0." Below are notes as related to residential airtightness testing:

Section 5.11: Airchange on rehab gets 3 pts for 7 ACH and 7 pts for 5 ACH.  This could be difficult in some types of houses. Key step, is to find all the attic leaks around plumbing stack vents and chimneys that can be sealed off with foamboard, foam and sheet metal for chimneys. Then wiring penetrations and pot lights that must all be replaced with sealed LED units to save on leakage and  power. This work is most easily done by removing the insulation which will allow the tops of all wals to be sealed between the 2x4 and sheetrock.  All open joist ends must be blocked and sealed. Then look at joist spaces in the basement that should all be foamed. DOE has a Bypass Guide

Leakage to Outdoors and Advanced DucTesting Methods

-When is it required?
-Setup options
-Complex setups
-Additional leakage to the outdoors tests

Congratulations to Craig Senglin, winner of Retrotec’s $2,000 Equipment Giveaway at RESNET!

Retrotec’s $2,000 Equipment Giveaway celebrated the release of rCloud, a cutting-edge testing platform for the blower door and duct testing industries.  The platform geolocates testing locations, performs automatic tests, creates sharable compliance reports, and secures results safely in the cloud.

RESNET participants who completed a contest form & rCloud questionnaire were eligible to win this year’s contest.  Out of approximately 50 contestants, Craig Senglin of Energy IQ came home with the prize. 

About Craig & Energy IQ

Energy IQ is a Trusted Advisor for energy code, energy efficiency, and

Even though blower door and duct testing has been around since the ‘80s, there’s still the occasional question about the necessity of air leakage testing versus just going through with visual inspections. This is sometimes followed with arguments about equipment expense, training time, or that homeowner money could be better spent elsewhere – the “bang for your buck” model.

Let’s explore the reasons why how blower door and duct leakage testing actually saves auditors’ and homeowners’ time and money.

1. Results give customers faith

   If you are selling a job, it makes sense to test the ducts to give the homeowner an appreciation of the performance they are likely to get out of you versus your competitor.

   If you are testing to Code, don’t

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