Conservation
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 by Doug Marsh VP, CR, CAPS, GBP | 0 Comments
5/20/09 Conservation
Energy conservation is such a great plan for our country. We have so many Clients that talk to us about solar for their existing residences when their windows and attics are not energy efficient. At least we can now easily advise them that the biggest bang for their buck would be upgrading what they have now. I am at a large Doctor’s office which is a typical multi story (3 story) office building with large insulated glass windows although I am not sure of the energy ratings on that glass. The main thing I am thinking about with this building is the lighting. There are so many lights that are on full time. I can’t help but wonder what the cost is of having all of these unused lights on full time. There must be an easy retrofit for a motion activated switch for lights in a hall or at least in a bathroom. There are thousands of lights on right now pulling power for no reason and the cost of that, not just in dollars, but in power generation, distribution, storage, must be huge. It is exciting to think about how huge a dent could be made on this demand for power by mandating motion sensing switching. There are infrared and ultrasonic sensors available now that can control lighting. These can be used to control ambient lighting in a room or task lighting for under cabinet lights. An ultrasonic sensors detect sound while heat and motion are detected by an infrared sensor. These controls could make a huge difference in many applications. However many of these controls are not designed to work with fluorescent lighting which of course is the main choice for commercial buildings. I believe that the need for conservation will drive innovation in the market place to develop controls that could save us all a bundle.
Conservation
Posted on Oct 14th, 2009 by Doug Marsh VP, CR, CAPS, GBP | 0 Comments
I am pretty excited about the prospect of my industry, home building and renovating, making a huge difference in our country's reliance on oil. A lot of Clients I visit with have many inefficient systems or components right now in their houses and ultimately these elements mean more electricity and/or natural gas usage. Now that "going green" has tipped in this country many people are interested in upgrading their homes and often in an initial meeting we have a discussion about installing solar equipment. As I sit in a house with poor insulation, windows, and leaky inefficient AC the idea of wanting a solar installation is grand but, meanwhile, the current condition of the building is so inefficient that the electricity and fuel usage is wasteful and adding 3 KV of solar is like parking your Prius next to your large SUV.
The amount of housing stock in our country that is in this state is immense. The current Federal tax credit for upgrades to a home is set at $ 1500 which, I feel, is not enough. It gets a homeowner down the road a little. Wouldn't it be great if it could be calculated how much energy could be saved (less oil imported) by upgrading HVAC equipment, windows, door weatherstripping and insulation in our housing stock and then feed that savings back to our population is the form of increased incentives and/or credits to upgrade everybody's favorite thing: their home. Talk about economic stimulus! Home building and renovating is a huge and important industry and it can massively impact the economy and it can substantially knock back our energy usage thereby reducing importing oil and staying on this energy treadmill.
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