The article https://www.nachi.org/energyconservation.htm talks about how energy conservation is good on your wallet, the enviroment and personal conforts. It is important to change the high consumption appliances within your home such as changing to a water heater, but equally important is caulking windows, and ensuring that all the little resolutions are done to get the maximum benefits.
This is a blower door, used to test air leakage during a home energy audit. The auditor needs to keep all of the interior doors open during the audit to ensure that the test is accurate. Although this course goes over the BPI Standards of Practice, completion does not give you BPI certification.
Increasing Home Energy Efficiency
Buildings account for over 70-percent of energy consumption in the United States. One of the biggest loses of energy in a home comes from ducts that are not insulated. A house that doesn’t have insulated ducts can lose up to 45 cents for every dollar spent on heating and cooling.
Most homes have storage-type water heaters in which water in a tank is heated by a gas or oil burner, or by electric elements. Traditional storage heaters have been improved with such features as through-the-wall venting for combustion units, and better insulation, making them less expensive to operate. Units designed to give even greater efficiency are now available.
Small, portable space heaters are often used when the main heating system is inadequate, or when it would be too costly to operate or install central heating. They can also be useful to supplement adequate central heating in certain instances, such as heating one room that will be primarily occupied while lowering the thermostat on the central system so that heat is not wasted in unoccupied rooms. In some cases, it is possible to lower total heating costs by up to 10%, as well as reduce CO2 emissions by up to 800 pounds, by using space heaters in this manner.
Learning about home energy can save an onwer alot of money in the long run. There is a company named Energy Star. The company saves enough to light 3 million homes every year. About 600 million a year in energy cost.
Home energy is very essential to a home owner. The number one way a home loses money is threw air leaks. Another name for it is inflitration. The less a home inflitrates the more energy will be perserved. The more energy perserved the more money saved by the home owner.
This photo is of the blower door and fan that is needed to perform a home energy audit. This system helps measure the airtightness of the home. It is also used to measure airflow between areas of the home, to test the airtightness of ductwork, and to help locate air leaks in and around the home.
The article I read was “Conserve Energy and Save Money”. From this article I learned that there are many factors involved in making an existing older home more energy efficient. The start of that process is evaluation of the home through a Home Energy Audit. My goal after reading this article is to become a better inspector by becoming a proficient home energy auditor. I want to learn more about this process and implement my new knowledge into my inspections.
Since I do not have any experience in blower door testing or building performance, I have not accumulated any pictures or information of such tests as performed in this course. The picture you see here is an infrared thermogram of a warm foundation, this was taken at a jobsite where we were installing new windows. I use my IR camera as a first line defence to flesh out any problems, such as cold spots or warm areas within the wall. I then will use such other means as moisture meters, to further evaluate the situation and act accordingly. These temperatures are in Fahrenheit, and it is quite obvious the amount of heat loss being transmitted by the concrete wall. I brought this to the homeowners attention and once we got the windows sorted out we were asked to build pony walls and insulate the lower half of the concrete wall. This ultimately enhance their comfort, along with the new windows.
This was an attic that I inspected where only half of the attic had this much insulation, the rest only had insulation up to the top of the ceiling joists. I recommended more insulation be installed to improve heating throughout the home. I do not have any pictures of a home energy audit.
bed bugs. Reading about those nasty things I did not realize that using bug bombs and other home owner remedies may actually spread the infestation of bed bugs to other parts of the home. That will be something I will keep in mind.
My essay for this course is on Residential Foundation Insulation. The building code here in Alberta requires the builders to supply a 2 x 4 framed wall complete with insulation and vapour retarder around the concrete basement wall. That is good for the homeowner but it severely limits any visual inspections of cracking or leaks. One area that is quite often poorly insulated is the box joist just above the insulated exterior wall in the basement. And, when the basement is finished and drywall is applied to the ceiling, there has been complaints of cold floors upstairs. The box joist, or sometimes called rim joist section, where the floor joists sit on top of the concrete wall is very difficult to insulate and apply any type of functioning vapour retarder. When the ceiling is drywalled in the basement this allows the cold air to flow through this joisted ceiling and cools off the floors above. Whenever I run into this situation I always take a little extra time and effort to insulate this section properly, and tidy up the vapour retarder so it will function as intended. As we all know, in new home construction there are time and cost restraints, and these areas do not receive the attention they require. Thank you.
This is a photo of a crawl space with no floor insulation and no vapor barrier on the ground inside the crawl space. also not shown here the crawl space was not properly sealed and there fore moisture,small animals and pest are able to enter the crawl space.
Flat roof materials deteriorates I believe a lot faster than regular shingles, therefore should require better materials when installing flat roofs.I have inspected a lot of flat roofs that under layment material have weathered away and roof vent flashing is rusted.
As per BPI recommendations i went around the house being inspected with a pencil smoke device and checked for any leakage. I checked the following areas and reported the conditions:
Windows and exterior doors
recessed lighting
Attic hatch
baseboards
furnace
hot water tank
ceiling fixtures
Ceiling Fan inspection:
Unlike air conditioners, fans do not cool the air.
Parts of a ceiling fan: Electric motor, blades, blade irons, safety cable, flywheel, ceiling mount, down rod, motor housing,and lamps.
Common defects: the fan falls, fan wobbles, inadequate floor-to-ceiling blade clearance, blades turning the wrong direction.
An indoor fan should not be used for exterior use.
This basement is considered finished space because it was furnished and there is a wood stove as a heat source for this level. However the floor joists for the first floor are insulated (poorly). This is a contradiction in achieving energy efficiency.
Proper attic insulation and ventilation are crucial to energy efficiency, comfort, and roof life longevity. During heating season the attic is where the most loss occurs. Also, a poorly ventilated attic space will reduce the homes ability to be cooled in the cooling season when heat is trapped in the attic.
