Energy Star tax creditsEnergy
About energy benchmarks for energy modeling. There appear to be several separate national energy codes, several California standards, and a growing number of benchmark levels. (ASHRAE/ANSI 90.1, CalGreen, California Title 24, CEC, HERS, Energy Star ratings, etc) The situation is confusing a lot of folks. Blame the engineers AND politics. Politics is in everything these [...]
Misinformation spreads like wildfire among those who do not read or watch more than one source of news. So-called conservative groups, like the Heritage Foundation, are particularly good at confounding this group. The truth : According to Wikipedia’s Cap and trade definition, it is where …an aggregate cap on all sources is established and these [...]
Continue reading about The Correct Definition of Cap and Trade/Read more, please!
A review of Building Commissioning: A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions By Evan Mills, Ph.D. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for: CEC (PIER) July 21, 2009 This white paper contains some compelling arguments in favor of re-commissioning. Money and energy are two items. A building is a kind of organism. We [...]
Stephen Covey’s book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says that getting to where we want to be requires focus on the “wildly” important. Covey said that it is all too easy to get off-focus. Often, we get pulled off-course by a myriad of “urgent” demands in our everyday lives. Covey notices that people who [...]
Continue reading about Distractions divert us from what is important
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is too big price to pay for our dependency on oil. Now we have to re-evaluate our energy plans. FINALLY. The sustainable approach is to stop drilling and spend more money on energy conserving measures and renewables. . . . . . . In this months [...]
This Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report, Building Commissioning: A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions should inform the skeptics about the efficacy of this process for buildings. Regular tuneups for your car are the norm, so the same should be for your building. I quote: “This report responds to a widely held [...]
Continue reading about Report Dispels doubts on Conservation Measures
Let us go back to the tried and proven. The Bush sponsored tax cuts did not do what they were supposed to do. We forgot to take Teddys advice, as quoted below. The tax cuts did not increase our national economic vitality one wit. They should be allowed to expire post-haste. Especially since we need [...]
Continue reading about President Theodore Roosevelt had it right!
The latest numbers are that US buildings consume $320 billion/year in energy. 2/5 of all the energy used in the US. And about 40% of the energy (costing $120 billion/year) is used in buildings for HVAC. Some of the 2009 stats HVAC designs that I have incorporated recently into my office building projects are expected [...]
Continue reading about Better HVAC can save $48 billion/year in the USA
Trends: Read the chart on your buildings energy usage. Monthly charts can usually be found on the monthly utility bills. Usually, your utility company can provide a history of usage. The hourly or daily usage charts can reveal patterns of usage which can be reveal whether your building is running at its best. What does [...]
Continue reading about Getting a View of Energy Consumption in your building
The guys over at Autodesk made this cute animation to drive the point home The Buildings Sector accounts for about 40% of U.S. Energy, 72% of Electricity, and 34% of Natural Gas use. Building energy costs totaled $390 billion in 2006. The Buildings Sector accounts for about 40% of U.S. Energy, 72% of Electricity, and [...]
HVAC DATA model from LBNL
BetterBricks.com
Database of Energy and $ Incentives
From Horsepower to Hearpower, Part 1: The Foundations of Power and Energy
Oil Industry started (Drake's well in PA)
The Energy Collective
Architecture 2030
Jerry Yudelson
