Category Archives: Mechanical Systems

An HRV System Overview

BY: Ilya Benesch, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner September 11th, 2008, Section A3

Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) systems are a relative newcomer to the cold climate construction scene, yet have become almost indispensible in today’s super-insulated, air tight homes. They are also becoming an increasingly common element in the current weatherization and insulation retrofitting trend. As older homes are undergoing energy facelifts, and becoming tighter and better insulated, they are also facing the same indoor air quality challenges one would see in new construction. In this article I am hoping to provide a basic understanding of how HRV’s work, their applications, and their advantages.
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National Association of Realtors "Green Designation"

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has announced a new program aimed at training realtors to help clients find “green” homes. According to NAR research, 40% of realtors polled said that “green building features are important to their business and their clients.” NAR also reports that 78% of homebuyers say they “would choose one home over another based on its energy efficiency.”

Click here for a brief Wall Street Journal article about the designation (September 5, 2008).

Click here to see the NAR brochure about the program.

Your home's carbon footprint

From the New York Times, August 28, 2008:

One of the main sources of greenhouse gases is the home. “For individuals, about 40 percent of our carbon emissions come from our homes,” said Eric Carlson, the executive director of Carbonfund.org, an environmental group in Silver Spring, Md.

Activities outside the home, like driving or flying, are part of the problem, too. But what happens in the kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and yard is important, from heating to cooking to using products whose manufacture produces emissions that can be harmful.

Click here to read the whole article.

Energy Savings Pays

BY: John Davies, Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner August 21st, 2008, Section A3

Is your head swimming with all the talk about energy costs, weatherization, and energy rebates? Are you looking for a good, comprehensive source of information that explains the basics of energy use in your home and what steps you can take to save energy? If so, I recommend the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings published by New Society Publishers for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Continue reading →

A Sustainable University Campus

About a new New York State campus that is using sustainable building practices. From the New York Times July 27, 2008:

“Stony Brook Southampton will certainly be among a limited number of campuses with this level of commitment to sustainability,” says Judy Walton, acting executive director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. “Sustainability is really a change in the mind-set of how we operate. It’s like seeing the world through a new lens.”

But most significant is how Southampton, a part of Stony Brook University, is writing into its courses the concept of sustainability. Students study it when they study literature, economics, architecture or statistics.

Click here to read the whole article.

New fuel cell technology could make solar energy more affordable for homes

From Reuters, July 31, 2008:

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) – A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night.

A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods.

Click here to read the full article.

Cold climate researchers bring modern building to Anaktuvuk Pass

From the Fairbanks Daily News Miner August 8th, 2008

FAIRBANKS — The last remaining Nunamiut Inupiat Eskimo community settled Anaktuvuk Pass just 60 years ago, trading in nomadic life for village life in a valley tucked 2,200 feet up in the central Brooks Range. In the one-airstrip town with no roads in or out, some 300 residents live crowded into 1970s era wood-frame houses perched on the windswept, arctic mountain pass.

But innovative designers now want to help the villagers build homes following a modern design that is actually inspired by the sod igloos that the Nunamiut first carved from the land.

Click here to read Full Article

As Fairbanks energy woes grow, so does list of home weatherization tips

From the Fairbanks Daily Newminer July 20, 2008

Home-heating fuel costs $4.69 per gallon, two dollars more than September of last year.

With winter creeping closer, building and energy professionals are busy trying to get Fairbanks energy healthy, and some residents are taking matters into their own hands by attacking energy inefficiencies at home.

Click here to read the full article.

Homeowners who use heating oil seek alternatives

From the Associated Press July 14, 2008

PARIS, Maine – Mark Bancroft’s new pellet-burning furnace hasn’t been installed, but he’s already counting how much money he’ll save over his old oil-fired burner.

Instead of paying $5,000 for 1,100 gallons of heating oil in the coming year based on today’s record prices, he’ll spend $2,000 on about 8 tons of wood pellets. Even at a cost of more than $12,000, he thinks the new furnace will pay for itself within five years.

Click here to read the full article.