then your indoor air quality is suffering. You are also paying too much to heat and cool your home. Vented crawl spaces usually have insulation located in the joist spaces. This insulation gets pulled away from the heated surface by moisture in the space, which opens up air gaps and reduces any insulation value at all. The space usually has high humidity levels promoting mold growth. The heating and cooling vents running in that space usually have minimal insulation allowing for condensation to occur in the ductwork, again impacting indoor air quality and efficiency of the HVAC system.
Instead of a vented crawl space in our mixed humid climate, you should have a conditioned crawl space – like this one. Here is an example of an excellently sealed space.
My community’s wellbeing is our main concern, so give us a call for some great referrals to businesses that you can trust. If you are looking to build your home or business, read this post about how to achieve a healthy building through proper HVAC installation.
Heating and cooling supply vents are almost never installed right which is costing you money. The vent should be sealed off during construction to prevent debris from falling into the opening, but also for job site safety. This will prevent blockages in the duct from various debris to block air flow. It is common to find screws, wood, and drywall in duct work.
The vent should also be tied tight to the subfloor using mastic. This reduces the amount of air that will hit the bottom of the register and flow back down into the room above or below. This allows the air flow to get to the room it is intended to reach. In the average house 30% of the air leaks out of the duct work before it reaches the room it is intended to heat or cool. In a tight well designed duct system only 10% of the air leaks out of ducts.
Using hard duct as opposed to flex duct is another important strategy to getting the air to the room it is intended to heat or cool. If flex duct is required then limiting the bends in the design is important.
When you are using public money to build and maintain public buildings it is imperative to develop environmental performance standards.
Buildings have incredible direct and indirect impacts on the environment and annual budgets. Construction, demolition, occupancy, renovations, user energy usage, building energy usage, waste, emissions, and material consumption all impact the community that the building exists within. To that end, various standards and certifications have been developed from LEED, EarthCraft, Energy Star, to Green Globes to help measure impacts on the community and provide a platform for comparisons.
So why do public buildings need an environmental performance standard? Because public buildings need to last for many generations and use tax payer money wisely. We need to have a long-term view of these buildings that will be there for a long-term. If they are not built to minimize energy usage over the years they are not using tax payer money wisely. If they are not durable, the are not using tax payer money wisely. If they are simply built to code minimum (the worst possible construction allowed by law) we are wasting our future resources. Without establishing an environmental performance standard public buildings will not last the test of time without the need for major renovations and more money. This is not a wise use of our resources and not the legacy that we should want to leave for future generations.
So what is an environmental performance standard? A standard is simply a set of guidelines and criteria against which a product can be judged. For buildings this might take the form of a certification standard or energy use intensity (measure of energy used per square foot). It may even be a goal for zero energy usage. It may be a goal of 25% better than code minimum. It may be a unique standard developed by the community to address resources beyond just energy use. However, without stating a specific goal, the default goal is code minimum and more money needed to operate and maintain the building over the life of the building.
Heating water in the average home accounts for up to 15% of a home’s energy use. So what is the best water heater for efficiency? Should you purchase a conventional water heater with a low up front cost or go to a more efficient unit?
Demand (tankless) water heaters circulate water through a large coil that is heated using gas or electricity. There is no storage tank continuously heating water. There is an endless supply of hot water, but there can be limitations on the number of fixtures that can be used at one time.
Heat Pump Water Heaters transfer energy from the surrounding air to the water in the storage tank. They are most effective in warm climates with long cooling seasons. They will cool a room by 1-2 degrees and dehumidify the space.
Solar Water Heating takes heat from the sun to heat water. Solar systems require a conventional water heater as a backup to ensure heated water at night.
So which is the right option for efficiency? The 13 year cost of a minimum efficiency electric storage water heater is $6,800. Most of the costs are in utilities for this option which can be offset with solar PV.
A on-demand gas unit costs more up front, but the 13 year cost is $5,000 with all of the savings being in energy use.
A solar water system with electric backup eliminates most of the electric costs, but the 13 year cost is $7,000 due to high initial costs.
So based on my research the electric heat pump water heater with a 13 year cost of $4,000 is the winner. This is a $2,800 savings over 13 years and the low energy costs can be offset with solar pv.
The Harmony Square Dairy Queen in now open. Stop in and check out the space. The store offers a great breakfast – I have tried it and it is worth the trip. Of course, my favorite remains the blizzards made by the sun. To top it off, this may be the greenest Dairy Queen in the country. The space features high performance insulation, tube skylights, solar panels, on-demand water heating, and LED lights. Here is a look back at photos from the final days of construction.
Signs Installed
Spoons on the doors.
Interior signage done – Welcome to your Harmony Square Dairy Queen
Furniture put together.
On-demand water heating system for low energy bills.
Stormwater management system to filter first flush pollutants.
Heating water in the average home accounts for up to 15% of a home’s energy use. So what is the best water heater for efficiency? Should you purchase a conventional water heater with a low up front cost or go to a more efficient unit?
So which is the right option for efficiency? The 13 year cost of a minimum efficiency electric storage water heater is $6,800. Most of the costs are in utilities for this option which can be offset with solar PV.
