Duct Testing in the San Francisco Bay Area

As a HERS rater I travel all over the San Francisco Bay Area and test HVAC systems for code compliance.

What I so often see is systems that just barely scrape past the code requirements or are over and need more work to get them to pass the duct test. Recently I learned about a club of HVAC contractors who actually pass the test so well that the test equipment can’t even read how much air is leaking from their systems. That is because there is almost no air leaking from their ducts, fittings and air handler units. How do they get these contractors get their systems to be so air-tight?

To begin, there are only eight HVAC  contractors in California who are building HVAC duct systems so tight as to earn their way to the “4 Ring Club”. Ring 4 refers to the Energy Conservatory duct leakage test system’s #4 ring which is the smallest. It is the one used on the smallest and most leak-free systems. These installers build ducts that even Ring 4 can’t register. These elite contractors can be found at http://ring4club.com/. They are all Home Performance contractors, a title that discerns them from standard HVAC contractors. They install high performance comfort systems. They are the hot rodders of the HVAC world.

What do they do differently? One, they see the house as a system and create larger work scopes than standard HVAC contractors. They start at the shell of the building and do a home energy retrofit rather than just  “changing out the box” or replacing an old furnace or air conditioner with a new, usually same sized unit. These techs do it by the book. They do a manual J heat load calculation, manual D duct design and a Manual T register design to dial in performance to every part of their HVAC system.

When it comes to installations, what they do differently is to actually commission their work. This means that after the work is done, and even during installation, they test every performance aspect of their work.

Regarding ducts, they paint every piece of metal duct connections and any part of metal to metal with a thick application of air duct mastic. Secondly, they properly clamp the flex ducts onto the sheet metal. Here, properly means that instead of hand tightening the zip-ties over the connection, they use a tensioning tool such as http://www.homedepot.com/p/Malco-Manual-Cut-Off-Tensioning-Tool-with-Grips-TY4GTS/100161814.  A recent Home Energy Magazine article notes that the difference between hand tensioning and using a tensioning tool is significant air loss. Lessen: use a tensioner for tight ducts.

HERS RATINGS, DUCT TESTS AND PERFORMANCE DESIGN: ACHIEVING COMFORTABLE, LOW ENERGY USE HOMES AND ACTUAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY

As a HERS Rater who tests duct systems all over the San Francisco bay area and the Silicon Valley, I confront system failure all too often. Every day I see brand new heating and air conditioning systems that are woefully sub-optimized and fail to comply with California’s 2013 energy code. When those systems finally do pass they are usually skating just under the legal limit of duct leakage and air flow for air conditioning.

Yesterday I attended a PG&E sponsored energy efficiency class, Optimizing Residential HVAC System Performance. The class reminded me just how much that we, as an industry, know about HVAC systems, their optimization and have the ability to build, if we care enough to do so. The presentation showed a group of HVAC contractors who build their duct systems so air-tight that the lowest setting on their test equipment shows  “error”.  These contractors take delight in the fact that almost no other contractors can match their specs when it comes to air tightness. At this performance level, there is almost no competition.

Other highlights of the class, the instructor showing how he took an 18,000/40,000 btu per hour furnace and disconnected the high end.  The reason he could do that was because he actually did the load calculations and knew just how much heating and cooling the house needed and provided just that. He actually designed the return system so that it did not constrict airflow and complied with the 2013 California code. He made the duct system as short and low resistance as he could and then built air registers that were designed to throw the air at the far walls with engineered grills. After completion, he commissioned the system and did a room by room airflow test and balanced the system.  Wow!  

It was such a change from what I usually encounter that it seemed like a different industry. In the field I see contractors struggle to get 350 cfm per ton of air conditioning. In the class, the instructor noted that California’s dry climate allows us to shoot for much higher airflows per ton such as 500, 600 or more cfm per ton. To do this one must learn how to hot rod the air handler. It is do-able, and it provides more energy efficiency and comfort per energy dollar spent. The longer run times provide better filtration and heat the house more evenly than an oversized system.

One class technique was really interesting in terms of comfort provided. The instructor noted that he designed his heating system to blow air around 82 degrees F rather than 120 F. This, and the longer run times provides room air temperatures that are within a few degrees from floor to ceiling. Hot air stratifies in a room, warm air, not so much.  Again, this gives him a market edge, he can guarantee that there is only a 2 degree difference from floor to ceiling; market advantage. His competitors can’t match this.

In a few seconds I can usually get a good idea if an HVAC system is going to be code level air-tight. If I see mastic on all the connections, I can be nearly assured that the system is going to pass without my helping to troubleshoot the leaks in the system. In my experience, people just don’t realize how thin and slippery air is. I’ll ask, “Did you use mastic?.” I’ll often get answers like “What’s that?” or “Oh that stuff… it’s really messy.” Then they go back up into a hot attic and try to and find the leaks. This is rarely a good experience. Doing it right the first time is a better strategy for profitability.

We have a lot of tools at hand to help us build better HVAC systems and would benefit us, as an industry, to use them. The first is the energy code, anything below which, is illegal. The first thing one should do is to read the California 2013 Residential Compliance Manual. Another tool is the ability to do load calculations and duct design software such as Wrightsoft . My field experience shows me that load calcs are all-too-often crude guesses. This fixes that problem.

HVAC optimization is thus, measure a building’s actual need for heating and cooling with load calculations. Specify efficient equipment that matches load calcs. Actually design a compact, low restriction duct system. Install the system so that it does not leak any measurable about of air. Install register grills that puts the right amount of air where it is needs to go at the right speed. Commission the system by measuring and balancing room by room duct air flow, duct leakage and total airflow at the return.  

We have the ability to build highly energy efficiency comfort systems if we use the tool s at hand. Using tools such as utility sponsored trainings, understanding code requirement and using available software design are the way to get there. Doing so can make a contractor more desirable to customers and hence profitable. It can also give one the existential pleasure of doing something well. Building an HVAC installation industry that does its job well can be a powerful tool toward building an energy efficient economy and low carbon future.

George Matthews

Building Energy Compliance Testing

San Francisco/Silicon Valley

www.bect.us

HERS Testing as a means of helping San Francisco Bay Area Youth Stay Lung Safe/Lung Healthy in Low Income housing

Last Friday I got a chance to perform HERS combustion safety testing in low income housing in the East Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is affordable multifamily housing that provides basic living to people of modest means. I tested a sampling of the large complex. Those eight units were instructive as to what exists, the problems and potential to make healthier places for modest income people, often with children, to live in.

HERS testing comes from US federal building science research and development in our National Laboratories in the decades after the oil crises of the 1970s. Miniaturization and development of digital test equipment has allowed HERS raters to bring a powerful array of diagnostic test tools into the home.

Proper ventilation, moisture and pollutant control are keys to healthy lungs and there was much room for cost effective improvement here. This is a public health issue as mold and common interior air pollutants trigger respiratory ailments, especially asthma with is at epidemic proportions in the US and common to low income American children.

I was doing combustion safety testing because the units had old, inexpensive and common gas wall heaters and standard 40 gallon tank gas water heaters. Most all of the units failed some portion of safety test protocol. None of them would pass ASHRAE 62.2, the current standard for how much fresh air airflow a home requires for the respiratory health of the folks living there.

Findings:

The units leaked a lot of air although there was no powered ventilation in half of them. I put my manometer on them all. Some of them showed almost no change at what the Building Performance Institute calls “worst case depressurization” where we turn on all the fans and see how much of a partial vacuum we can measure with precision test equipment. This test is crucial because some homes have so much suction from kitchen fans that they can pull combustion gas (carbon monoxide and other pollutants) from the open-combustion gas appliances.

The units had range hood fans over electric stoves and none had bathroom fans. Almost half of the range hoods I tested were improperly connected to the wall exhaust flue pipe. The maintenance man who showed me around told me that these were “recirculating” fans. The units all had an elegantly simple vent out through the wall of only 4 ¾” which offers little restriction to moving contaminated cooking air outside. The problem was, they weren’t working as designed, they were blocked. The simple fix was to cut out a square of steel in the back of the modest yet functional existing range hood fans so that they could work as intended to get contaminated air outside.

The units had standard 40 gallon tank natural gas water heaters in the small garage. Nearly half of the garages were used as laundry and living areas. The space is just too valuable to put a car inside. The garages became changing rooms, laundry drying racks, offices and storage space. The first four units I tested had natural gas leaks at the water heater. Though fortunately small leaks, gas is unacceptable in people’s living and breathing spaces.

Two of the eight water heater exhaust flues were not moving exhaust outside like they were supposed to. I could not tell if a bird was nesting in the flue or if it had ever worked properly. What I did see was combustion gases escaping into area where people breathe.

My common thought about these homes was that they had poor or no ventilation. I could measure CO and natural gas leaking into the structures. What I could not quantify was the amount of laundry detergents/softeners, cleaning products, stale grease, off-gassing carpets & electronics, cat boxes and waste dust from skin mites. I saw no HEPA vacuum cleaners in any of the test units.

Each unit had an old Williams  gas wall heater. In my time as a HERS rater I have come to know these units as nearly ubiquitous in low income housing. Previous tests of these heaters showed common and serious test failures. I have found some of these units to spike to over 400 parts per million CO. I’ve had my CO tester spike off the chart, leaving it damaged and needing factory repair. What we found was that in units with carpet the dust and fibers from the carpet get inside the heaters and then burns during start up. What about a child living here when the wall furnace clicks on? If not retrofitting the furnaces with heat pumps, make sure they are vacuumed and cleaned a few times a year. The smoke detectors should also be tested semi-annually.

This housing complex was built in 1966 at a time when lead paint and asbestos were standard construction materials. Energy was not an issue. Bathroom fans were not mandatory. Wall to wall carpet was a luxury becoming affordable.

Hopeful Signs.

One positive thing about the tests is that every one of these two story units had a smoke and carbon monoxide detector at the top and bottom of the stairs. If there had been enough CO leaked, the units would eventually go off and warn the residents.  However while there were CO and smoke detectors, there was nothing to signal the family there that micro-particles from cooking, the mites living in the carpet, the leaking gas and mold that were there and getting into children’s lungs.

A few of the units had tile throughout rather than carpet which harbors dust and pollutants.

The maintenance technician cared about the folks who lived there and was working with the management to update the units to a safe and healthier state.

Comments from the Maintenance Man

The folks in these units often fry their food. They often won’t report a water leak until the water has penetrated wood, forcing costly repairs with limited maintenance funds. This wet wood is a major cause of mold and the lung ailments that it triggers.

HERS testing is primarily about energy efficiency but immediately runs square into human respiratory health in the home. The home energy/health connection is important to value. Both health and energy have known and rising costs. Seeing energy and health together, as a synergistic system, yields public health savings.  Using energy more intelligently with well-thought-out building retrofits gets you to a place where people have a home environment that is more conductive to health.

George Matthews

Building Energy Compliance Testing

www.bect.us

Paying for Children’s Respiratory Health with Energy/Air Quality Retrofits

We as Americans have a childhood medical crisis on our hands.  6.8 million, or 9.8% of American kids have asthma.  Each year they make 14.2 million visits to their physician with asthma as the primary diagnosis.  Every year these children make 1.8 million visits to emergency departments with asthma as primary diagnosis. The number of discharges with asthma as first-listed diagnosis is 439,000 with an average length of stay of 3.6 days. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) A key trigger for childhood asthma is mold.  

This is a critical component in a 2012 study from New Zealand.  This study shows how energy improvements in housing, and especially to low income housing, have medical health savings that save as much money as the entire lifetime of project energy savings.  Meaning, that human health is the real economic driver of the project. 

Example: When energy upgrades happen, air leaks get sealed up and continuous fresh air ventilation becomes mandatory. This is often achieved with something as simple as advanced bathroom fans. The air quality and warmth from the additional insulation and ventilation gets rid of the conditions that harbor mold; namely relative humidity above 50%.

For decades we’ve had had proof that energy efficiency in buildings improves worker productivity, lessens eye strain and headaches, improves student learning outcomes and contributes to selling more merchandise in retail. We know that workers in building that have had energy retrofits take fewer sick days off. The beneficial health side effects from the retrofits are freebies.  The investments in energy savings pay for them.

However, there is a new concept in how or who should pay for the energy upgrades; have a medical doctor prescribe it. The health inducing air-quality/comfort upgrade is worth more than the energy measures’s dollar savings. Energy savings become a side benefit of a more important  and valuable job; providing kids the ability to develop disease free lungs, lessening the percentage likelihood of asthma.

Larry Zarker, CEO of the Building Performance Institute, BPI was recently interviewed on Corbett  Lundfords’ Building Performance podcast. Mr. Zarker mentioned how the difference of being able to afford these energy/health upgrades can be life changing. People’s eyes often glaze over when they hear about the details of an energy assessment and subsequent comfort / efficiency upgrade. But, what does it mean to a parent who has a child with a respiratory ailment?

Zarker said, “This is exciting”.  He describes a girl with asthma is able to avoid on overnight stay at a hospital and make her Saturday soccer game with the rest of the team because her asthma is under control. This is because of the house she lives in now has fresh air ventilation, is warm and has no mold.

The bad alternative to this is a trip to the hospital. The medical bill for the overnight stay is $880. Avoiding four of those medical trips pays equals or exceeds the energy /air quality improvement lifetime dollar savings and changes a child’s life for the better. The home upgrade just doubled the value the energy investment that already made financial sense counting just energy.  Lundsford noted that this flips the real funding driver. Economic savings data says that health advocates like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or your local doctor should be the ones prescribing energy/air upgrades. So who should be paying for them? A utility sponsored program with State public benefits money or some form of medical insurance either personal or health insurance incentivized?

Sam Rashkin is the Chief Architect of the US Department of Energy Building Technologies Office. He is author of Retooling the U.S. Housing Industry. Rashkin has been educating American builders how to build Energystar program houses for decades.  These are houses that have offer a higher level of comfort and energy efficiency by way of a long checklist of higher standards, best practice standards of insulation levels, efficient heating, air conditioning and ventilation, air-tightness and high performance windows. The houses are subject to a number of HERS performance tests like duct leakage tests and blower door tests and room-by-room air flow tests. The houses are proven to function well and give the owners a lifetime of low energy bills.

Beyond EnergyStar for Buildings, the EPA has another home program called Indoor AirPLUS. This advanced home program builds upon Energystar 3.0 with checklists and details for moisture control, radon gas control, pest control, higher performing HVAC, control/avoidance of combustion pollution and indoor air pollution.  Like so many above-code construction programs such as LEED, Green Point Ratings, Passive House or the German Healthy house movement, the programs set a higher bar than to “the building code”, the worst house you can legally build.

In an interview, Rashkin was noting some of the people who move into new Indoor airPLUS houses have kids who use inhalers to control their asthma. He said that after a few months, the family often throws out the inhalers. "They just don’t need them anymore." 

George Matthews

Building Energy Compliance Testing

www.bect.us

New, Free Load Calculation Software

Load calculations are the way to dial in the capacity of your heating and cooling systems so that they work at peak efficiency while delivering comfort. They are also required by California’s 2013 Energy Code, Title 24, Part 6.

While software like Right-J from Wrightsoft cost $499, there is a new free option to do load calcs, Cool Calc. The software is web based and uses google maps and other on-line data to capture information about the house. The software won the Gold Award in the 2015 Dealer Design Awards.

Many contractors still use crude and inaccurate rules of thumb to size their systems while putting themselves into potential legal liability. One of our clients was threatened with legal action after he used an old rule of thumb for sizing. The system he designed and installed did not perform to manufacturer specifications. The building owner had some testing done and threatened a lawsuit unless the system was done to specs. That contractor now uses Wrightsoft software and creates state-of-the-art installations.

Opting for free and proven software can be a smart way to go. It is infinitely better than guessing like so many do. The Air Conditioner Contractors of America have been around for over 40 years. You can trust them when it comes to the methodology of sizing air conditioning systems. Now, with the 2013 California Energy code enforced around the state, this is a good time to switch from guessing to calculating air conditioner system sizing. Check out Cool Calc at Next Generation HVAC Sizing and Selection tools | Cool Calc

George Matthews

Building Energy Compliance Testing

San Francisco to Silicon Valley

www.bect.us

common energy mistakes of builders,  home owners and Code Officals

Or, Confessions of a frustrated Home Performance professional

Missing or insufficient insulation.

Most every day I see under-insulated and sometimes completely uninsulated attics. It is so easy and effective to insulate them and the benefits of comfort and energy savings are so great.  Today I did a pre-solar inspection on a house from 1965. The attic had zero insulation. One would think that before the most advanced energy measure, solar electric generation, that one would do the type of energy measure that was done as a code requirement in 1970. However there is no trigger to make this happen.

I recently tested a house on the peninsula. It had just undergone a $700,000 remodel to make it a mansion for a tech executive with a taste for Mediterranean style. It was going for sale for 2 or 3  million dollars.  It was perfect. Except for the attic insulation. It had gaping holes in it and was more of a 1980s job than one fitting the 2013 California Energy Code. There was nothing I could do about it. No trigger.

Leaky hatch to attic.

This is extremely common. What is highly uncommon is to see a properly weatherstripped attic access hatch door that is insulated. This is essentially a 5 square foot energy hole in most every ceiling in California.

No radiant barrier on reroof or addition of ply to roof.

I experience hot attics all the time.  They don’t have to be that way.  When reroofing it is easy to add Kool-Ply rather than old fashioned plywood or OSB. It costs about 10 cents per square foot to upgrade to the radiant barrier covered plywood.

Back in the early 90’s it was common knowledge in energy circles that radiant barriers really worked. Carpenters on the job could tell the difference there under a roof with a radiant barrier from one without. It was pleasant under the radiant barrier and hot under old fashioned plywood.

In some areas a radiant barrier in the attic could be the difference between needing air conditioning or not. Please specify Kool-Ply on your next reroofing job, new house or addition.

No insulation on raised floors in houses with crawlspaces or basements.

You don’t have to have cold feet all winter long and waste energy. You can really feel it. I insulated the floor of an old house. The tenant called me up to thank me. I did not tell him about the insulation, he felt it. I remember being told by PG&E people back in the 80’s that floor insulation was not cost effective. Don’t believe it. 

Insulation is not very expensive, it has no moving parts and will last til it gets infested with rats or gets wet. Rodent proof your crawlspace to keep rodents and their feces out of house. (Some 60% of air inside a house originates from crawlspaces.) Protect the air you and your family breathe. Get your floor properly insulated after you rat proof it. You'll have happier feet and no mice.

A brand-new 1970s era furnace!

Your HVAC installer just sold you a 1970s era furnace in late 2015. This is in the state with the strictest energy code in the nation, the one leading the way in cutting carbon and fighting climate change.

I see this every week.  Even though we’ve been replacing these old units for decades, sometimes with detailed energy savings calculations, contractors still sell people these inefficient units because they have a low first cost. We know that the costs we should be concerned with are the lifetime costs of heating system because that is the larger and more significant cost. Spend a few hundred dollars more for a level of efficiency and safety more 2015 than 1979.

Combustion Safety

I just had to pay $500 more for insurance because I do “BPI” work. BPI is the Building Performance Institute, a non-profit organization that teaches and certifies contractors how to test houses for carbon monoxide, gas leaks and energy efficiency. (They do more really. Check out BPI.org).  That means that I do the tests of houses with old-style open-combustion gas appliances. If the houses that these appliances are in ever get a strong enough negative pressure in them, combustion gasses can escape inside and sicken or kill the people who live there.  This is why we should not sell these units anymore. Buy the cheapest 90% efficiency furnace, one that is sealed-combustion rather than an old-style open combustion unit.

Not getting a furnace or air conditioner tested by a HERS Raters.

The HERS energy testing industry in California speculates that some 85 or 90 percent of comfort systems are not tested by a third party inspector after installation. Nobody really knows the real answer.  If the California Energy Commission does know, they are not letting on about it. However, in California, code requires third party HERS duct leakage and air conditioner testing.

 Do these undocumented systems perform to the manufacturer’s, Federal and state government’s energy code specifications? Does it blow the right amount of air? How much does the duct system leak? Does the air actually go where it is supposed to? Is there a gas leak? Will it help California’s buildings become 50% more energy efficient by 2030 to comply with Senate Bill 350? We’ll never know the answers, because it didn’t get tested.

Oversized air conditioning and heating systems.

Every day I see HVAC contractors install furnaces just as they have been doing their entire careers. They put in a 66,000, 80,000 or 100,000 btu per hour furnace in a house that might need a 40,000 btu per hour unit. The same thing happens with air conditioners which use far more electricity. There are some perverse yet strangely logical reasons why contractors do this. I won’t get into that.

Why are these systems oversized and wrong-sized? Because installers use simple and incorrect “rules of thumb” rather than doing the math like professionals.  Of course, the energy code in California requires that HVAC system be sized according to the ACCA . This means that the HVAC contractor is required to use software such as WrightSoft and input the building plans into the program including volume, windows, wall assemblies, insulation and orientation.

This is what I see in my work. Of course, as noted above, as a HERS Rater I only see the 5 or 10 percent of work by contractors who actually have contractors’ licenses and get their work inspected. What about the other 90 percent? I can only guess that with no one in back of them testing their work, demanding that they do it right, that it is probably less-than-code compliant work. Even those contractors doing everything right mostly just scrape by passing code by a thin margin.

I suspect that if the California Contractors State License Board and City and County Building Departments actually clamped down and forced code compliance, and the requirements that HVAC installers obtain a contractor’s license, get building permits and get their work tested, that energy use would go down and California citizens; energy consumers and carbon emitters, would have systems that work properly and provided more comfort, energy savings and climate mitigation.

Every HVAC system uses natural gas, electricity and creates combustion gasses. Each of these can kill you. It makes sense to follow the building code and energy code and inspect and these systems that are found in every California house.

George Matthews

Building Energy Compliance Testing

www.bect.us

San Francisco to Silicon Valley

How to become energy independent, save money, breath better air, put Americans to work, enjoy better health and mitigate climate change

The way to the above is to use State, Utility sponsored and Federal energy  programs to  reduce your energy use and buy your own renewable energy system. Rebates and tax credits help to incentivize these programs. The programs ensure that only certified and trained contractors participate in the program. They also ensure quality by testing and documenting savings to ensure health, safety, compliance and guard against fraud.

In California, a homeowner can get into a wide variety of City, state, Utility sponsored and Federal  programs to help them become energy independent.

FINANCING: First, financing of energy investments and upgrades is available via PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy loans. These are loans that you pay back through your property taxes as a voluntary long-term assessment. If you own your house, are up-to-date on property taxes and have no liens, you qualify. No credit checks are necessary. These are helpful for those whose credit was ruined by the 2008 economic meltdown and are reestablishing credit.  Check out California First and HERO.

MUNICIPAL PROGRAMS: Cities such as San Francisco, Berkeley, Walnut Creek and Pittsburg have municipal programs. Search for your particular city and see what they want to do to help you do. Walnut Creek has a solar bulk buy program with a list of participating contractors who are trained and insured to City specs (high).

STATE PROGRAMS: The State of California has Energy Upgrade California in which pairs home owners with trained participating contractors who holistically assess a house and come up with a custom menu of items to insulate, air-seal, upgrade furnaces, air conditioners, ducts, windows, walls and improve air quality via better ventilation. There are some big rebates for this. You could potentially get $6,500 if your house is a energy hog getting the full energy efficiency makeover.

FEDERAL TAX CREDITS: As of this writing the Federal tax credit for home solar energy is still a go. It lasts til the end of 2015. In California the electric utilities are pushing the California Public Utility Commission to lessen the now solar-positive rate-structure to one in which will be less of a money saver. So get yourself in contract to purchase solar before the end of 2015.

Multi-Family PROPERTY INCENTIVES: Multi-Family Apartment owners can get a State tax credit when they remodel. In the commercial apartments industry, units are rehabbed about every ten plus years. Wouldn’t you like to do an energy retrofit while you remodel? The PCAC Tax Allocation Committee tax break gives you back tax dollars while you guarantee future apartment dwellers low energy bills and comfort for the next few decades.

Commercial Properties: Have an old commercial building that you’d like to do an energy retrofit on? PG&E’s Retro-Commissioning program provides rebates for equipment retrofits  based on savings and technical assistance to help building systems run at top efficiency.

No cash on hand for the project? Use PG&E’s on-bill financing. You can get a zero percent loan for up to $100,000 for approved energy efficiency installation projects.

Building a new house? The California Advanced Homes Program can get you incentives and technical help to build your house 15 or 30+ percent more energy efficient than the energy code allows.  You’ll want to start early in the planning process with your energy consultant to bring all the players in the design and construction of the house together to act as a team.

SCHOOLS: In charge of a school? Prop 39 money is available for lighting, air conditioners, heating systems and solar roofs. Find a qualified energy auditor who can model the building and it’s energy features for a before and after energy cost analysis. Better lights create better learning. Well lit and comfortable spaces with good air quality allow students the comfort to concentrate on their learning rather than the draft in the room or irritating lights that causes eye strain and headaches. The financing is right here to make our schools great places to learn.

CARS: Described as the ”Holy grail” of green driving, buying an electric car and enough solar panels to power it is now do-able. Solar electric is now cheaper than utility electricity. There are many electric cars to choose from so you need not kick down $75K+ K for a Tesla 65. What better way to say, “Successful 30 year old tech company CTO. I rule” Right now, lesser mortals can buy a 4 year old used Nissan Leaf with 35K miles on it for $10,000. Do it and tell oil companies, “No thanks!”

Doing all these things together? That is how we create an energy efficient economy that lessens our dependent on the Middle East, oil spill disasters, local air pollution and mitigates carbon-induced global climate change.

Ready for the next energy economy? It is just waiting to for you to act. There is plenty of help and financial assistance here now. Go now, do it, make it happen.    

George Matthews

www.bect.us

Building Energy Compliance Testing

San Francisco to Silicon Valley

What homeowners need to know about the new California Energy code before hiring an HVAC contractor

Before buying a new system or contracting for the repair of an existing air conditioner/furnace and ventilation system from a licensed California HVAC contractor, there are a few important questions to ask. Consumer protection agencies usually suggest interviewing at least 3 contractors before making a purchasing decision.  A new HVAC system will effect your energy costs for decades.

First, ask which method the contractor uses to calculate the size of the air conditioner and furnace. There are four code-approved methods. These use volume, insulation levels, glass type and size, air tightness and orientation of the shell of the house to calculate the correct unit size and “room by room” air flow.  If the contractor uses a simplistic square footage “rule of thumb” from the 1970s, ask the next contractor on your list. The ACCA, the Air Conditioner Contractors of America, have published paper calculation forms for a long time, probably since before your contractor was born.

“Please tell me about your duct design process....”  If you are met with a blank stare or surprise, ask the next contractor on your list. These days, software, such as Wrightsoft, is commonly used to guarantee correct system sizing and CFM of air-flow to each room in your home.

Ask them about total airflow. “How many cubic feet of air will this system move?” New California A/C systems are code-required to move 350 cubic feet of air per ton of cooling (12,000 BTUs). Top notch contractors are delivering up to 550 CFM per ton, providing more comfort and efficiency for our dry climate where we don’t need to remove much, if any, humidity.

Ask about the duct leakage rate they will be providing to you. Code requires 6% or less leakage, existing systems must have less than 15% leakage. Experienced contractors routinely hit the 3% level while hot-rod-high-efficiency contractors sometimes beat 1% leakage.

How much will my heating and cooling bills be after you install a new system? “There is no way to tell…” is not the response that you are looking for. More advanced contractors will be able to model your house and new HVAC system in a software program such as EnergyPro and be able to give you a good idea what your future costs will be.

Ask what type of motor will be in the new equipment. Air conditioners depend on the fan motor of the furnace, to move system air. The two types of motors are standard and ECM, electronically commutated motors. Standard motors are either on or off. ECM units are more efficient and often able to vary their speed according to the need for cooling.

One of the required tests performed by California HERS Raters is called Fan/Watt Draw. The test measures how many Watts (power) of electricity it takes to move one (1) cubic foot of air. A system must use less than 0.58 watt per cubic foot of airflow. The difference between passing and failing the test could be an ECM motor and a well-designed duct system.

For extra credit, here is a good question to pose. “This high performance, properly calculated and designed, energy efficient heating and cooling system, guaranteed to pass California’s strict energy code and provide us decades of energy savings... costs more than I have lying around in my checking account at the moment… Is there an affordable financing instrument that requires a ‘less than stellar’ credit rating? Is there be some sort of low interest, government loan for this type of thing?”

Your in-the-know HVAC contractor should be able to point you to a PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy loan provider. PACE loans require no credit check as long as you own your own home with no taxes owed or liens against the property. Our application process took about 5 minutes before approval!

California has at least 10 PACE energy independence loan providers as of this writing. California First in Sacramento is one such provider. The Sonoma County Energy Independence program is the type of service that every California county should proudly aspire to. To learn more about PACE loans check out http://www.pacenow.org/resources/all-programs/

If your contractor can answer the above questions to your satisfaction, your next question might be, “When can you start?”.

www.bect.us

Building Energy Compliance Testing

HERS Duct and A/C testing for Compliance with the 2013 California energy code

San Francisco to Silicon Valley