Bathroom Exhaust Fan Frustrations
It is a frustrating job going into house after house only to find the same issues. The main issues we find are excessive duct leakage (normally 30%), large building leakage, poorly installed insulation, undersized duct systems, oversized heating and cooling equipment, crawlspace moisture issues, and poorly installed ventilation equipment. Instead of talking about all of [...]
Eco Performance Builders Moves
After searching for many months we finally leased and moved to a new facility. It has all of the options that we needed in order to grow our business, meet our employee’s needs and better serve our clients. It is within walking distance to Bart It has a good sized warehouse It is centrally located [...]
Energy Upgrade Contra Costa – $9,000 in rebates
Energy Upgrade Contra Costa has been launched and is offering residents up to $5,000 back on energy efficiency upgrades on top of the $4,000 that the Energy Upgrade California Program is offering. This programs are running in combination giving Contra Costa County residents who qualify a possible combined rebate of $9,000! Eco Performance Builders is [...]
Total Embodied Energy
The total embodied energy of a building material is the amount of commercial energy used to extract raw materials, transport, manufacture, assemble, install, disassemble, deconstruct, and dispose. Basically it is all of the energy that will be used throughout the lifecycle of a product. The less embodied energy a product uses, the better it is for the environment because less energy would have been used to create it. Since less energy is used, less pollution is released into the atmosphere. Products with lower embodied energy also have lower costs because they don’t have to pay for as much in energy costs.
“Green” Building Materials
VOC’s and other harmful chemicals are not just in the building materials, they are in the furniture and equipment as well. Think what the product you are buying is made of before you purchase it.
Residential Smart Meters
Knowing where your money is going in your energy bill is very useful. Once you know how much you can impact something is when you try to make more of an impact than you have already made. Knowing that keeping your TV on all day when you are gone will cost you $5 will make you turn it off when you leave, instead of just thinking that you are wasting some energy and not knowing how much.
Net Zero Energy Buildings
The most amazing thing about this specific building, to me, is that it was built for $259 per square foot. The average for the area it was built in is $167 per square foot. So this means that for only $92 more per square foot they were able to make an ordinary office complex into an extraordinary one. Yes, this is more than the average, but for this building, construction costs were fixed from the beginning.
Energy Upgrade California Changes
Energy Upgrade California has announced major and exciting changes to their rebate program. Homeowners now receive a $1,500 rebate for projects that have a 15% modeled energy reduction. The original program had a minimum requirement of 20% modeled savings. This opens the door for more projects to qualify for the rebates. You receive an additional [...]
Cost Effective Ways of Saving Energy
Most modern duct systems leak on average 30%, old systems 50% or more. We can bring this down to less than 10%. 50% of fiberglass insulation in each home ends up getting installed with flaws. We can fix the insulation in your attic, and add some where it is missing or lacking. Homes leak 2500cfm on average, while 1500cfm is the accepted standard. Air sealing will bring your home closer to the standard for air quality. These are three things that we can easily test for and fix.
New Rules for Federal Energy Efficiency Tax Credit
The tax credits known as 25C are extended through 2011, but at a significantly reduced value and with changes made to some of the qualifying equipment standards. The new tax credits begin on January 1, 2011 and last through December 31, 2011. The main difference is an eligible homeowner can claim 10% of the costs [...]
