Deep energy reduction is needed in the vast majority of housing stock. To weatherize homes is to save energy and make homes more comfortable...and that saves money for the homeowner and the utility infrastructure.
Motivations for weatherization -- optimizing energy use in homes stems from rising energy costs and the need to reduce GHG -- greenhouse gas emissions.
Affordable Comfort proposes that it is possible to cut energy use in existing North American homes by 70-90%. The benefits of weatherization, or "deep energy reduction" can deliver benefits over the life of a dwelling -- both cost savings, and comfort of residents with higher indoor air quality and durability.
Such deep energy strategies require more than technology -- they also require behavioral choices and community-based strategies.
An ACI Summit was held in 2007 that resulting in a sharing of strategies to promote "deep energy reductions" by 100 housing, building science and energy efficiency experts.
Building industry assumptions are being redefined based on the confluence of political, social, environmental and technical concerns being raised and examined. Transforming the physical and institutional infrastructure to support rather than threaten community sustainability is seen as necessary...but challenging.
Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Solutions
The solutions lie in how we design, construct, finance, maintain, operate and renovate our homes that have the unrelenting habit of becoming outmoded and inefficient over their useful life spans.
Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Reality Check
We've come to accept several flawed assumptions that have resulted in choices that have been made...such as poorly insulated houses:
Flaw: The supply and cost of energy and water are predictable.
Reality: In many regions energy and potable water supplies are becoming less certain and more costly.
Flaw: Climate and weather events are stable.
Reality: The earth is a volatile, ever moving planet, and increasingly disruptive weather events (severe rain, wind, ice storms and drought) are predicted to worsen with climate change.
Flaw: Energy use is value neutral and our patterns of use and energy sources have no ethical or environmental consequences.
Reality: The costs of geopolitical conquest, conflict, greenhouse gases and the environmental impact of extraction, generation and consumption are not reflected in the price we pay for energy. Subsidies for harmful forms of energy have encouraged waste, abuse and economic impacts far beyond the sectors of the economy that focus on energy.
Flaw: New construction will save the day.
Reality: It's easy to assume that new building codes would exceed former requirements. However, the average energy consumption for household in new housing is greater, and growing, than the average energy use of existing homes.
Flaw: Energy and other resources are not connected.
Reality: The link between water and energy has been overlooked. In the US, one half gallon of water is used to produce each kWh of electricity and 20% of the annual stationary energy consumption is needed to pump, treat, and process potable water and waste water.
"Saving energy saves water AND saving water saves energy." Klein 2008)
Flaw: Energy use can be measures on a per square foot basis.
Reality: Trends in increasing house size, fewer people per household, and increased use of electricity rather than direct use of fuels are neutralizing the significant efficiency gains that have resulted from better codes, appliance standards, and increased use of energy efficient lighting.
Flaw: Buildings don't last forever!
Reality: Buildings represent 85% of the US fixed capital assets with a life expectancy of 50 to 100 years. They hav ethe slowest turnover of any major kind of infrastructure (Lovins 2007). Existing homes represent a huge resource and potential for reduced energy use.
Flaw: Technology will save us!
Reality: To succeed, a critical complex web of perceptual changes are needed. We need many strategies that tap our capacity to envision, think, act, create, and implement solutions. We need strategies that empower the population and industries, informs us as citizens, and provides transparency with feedback processes that make it easy to measure usage and progress against a goal. We also need to ensure accountability of all stakeholders. And we need flexibility to accomodate local and regional variables that result from America's vast array of weather patterns, natural resources, economies of scale...and diversity.
Reference: Linda Wigington, Affordable Comfort, Inc (ACI)
- Energy use in the residential sector accounts for 21% of both the US energy use and carbon emissions, according to the Energy Information Agency.
- There are 124 million dwellings in the US and 13 million dwelings in Canada according to Community Solutions (2007).
- It is estimated that 60% of the homes that will be present in 2050 are in existence today (NREL 2006).
- In 2006, $228 billion was invested in US home improvements.
Motivations for weatherization -- optimizing energy use in homes stems from rising energy costs and the need to reduce GHG -- greenhouse gas emissions.
Affordable Comfort proposes that it is possible to cut energy use in existing North American homes by 70-90%. The benefits of weatherization, or "deep energy reduction" can deliver benefits over the life of a dwelling -- both cost savings, and comfort of residents with higher indoor air quality and durability.
Such deep energy strategies require more than technology -- they also require behavioral choices and community-based strategies.
An ACI Summit was held in 2007 that resulting in a sharing of strategies to promote "deep energy reductions" by 100 housing, building science and energy efficiency experts.
Building industry assumptions are being redefined based on the confluence of political, social, environmental and technical concerns being raised and examined. Transforming the physical and institutional infrastructure to support rather than threaten community sustainability is seen as necessary...but challenging.
Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Solutions
The solutions lie in how we design, construct, finance, maintain, operate and renovate our homes that have the unrelenting habit of becoming outmoded and inefficient over their useful life spans.
Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Reality Check
We've come to accept several flawed assumptions that have resulted in choices that have been made...such as poorly insulated houses:
Flaw: The supply and cost of energy and water are predictable.
Reality: In many regions energy and potable water supplies are becoming less certain and more costly.
Flaw: Climate and weather events are stable.
Reality: The earth is a volatile, ever moving planet, and increasingly disruptive weather events (severe rain, wind, ice storms and drought) are predicted to worsen with climate change.
Flaw: Energy use is value neutral and our patterns of use and energy sources have no ethical or environmental consequences.
Reality: The costs of geopolitical conquest, conflict, greenhouse gases and the environmental impact of extraction, generation and consumption are not reflected in the price we pay for energy. Subsidies for harmful forms of energy have encouraged waste, abuse and economic impacts far beyond the sectors of the economy that focus on energy.
Flaw: New construction will save the day.
Reality: It's easy to assume that new building codes would exceed former requirements. However, the average energy consumption for household in new housing is greater, and growing, than the average energy use of existing homes.
Flaw: Energy and other resources are not connected.
Reality: The link between water and energy has been overlooked. In the US, one half gallon of water is used to produce each kWh of electricity and 20% of the annual stationary energy consumption is needed to pump, treat, and process potable water and waste water.
"Saving energy saves water AND saving water saves energy." Klein 2008)
Flaw: Energy use can be measures on a per square foot basis.
Reality: Trends in increasing house size, fewer people per household, and increased use of electricity rather than direct use of fuels are neutralizing the significant efficiency gains that have resulted from better codes, appliance standards, and increased use of energy efficient lighting.
Flaw: Buildings don't last forever!
Reality: Buildings represent 85% of the US fixed capital assets with a life expectancy of 50 to 100 years. They hav ethe slowest turnover of any major kind of infrastructure (Lovins 2007). Existing homes represent a huge resource and potential for reduced energy use.
Flaw: Technology will save us!
Reality: To succeed, a critical complex web of perceptual changes are needed. We need many strategies that tap our capacity to envision, think, act, create, and implement solutions. We need strategies that empower the population and industries, informs us as citizens, and provides transparency with feedback processes that make it easy to measure usage and progress against a goal. We also need to ensure accountability of all stakeholders. And we need flexibility to accomodate local and regional variables that result from America's vast array of weather patterns, natural resources, economies of scale...and diversity.
Reference: Linda Wigington, Affordable Comfort, Inc (ACI)