Monday, June 30, 2014

Please Pass the Carrots (hold the Policy)

In a world filled with political vitriol and lines drawn in the sand, isn’t it nice to know that some organizations are avoiding the sand box all together?

4CORE is a-political and non-advocacy by policy and works to motivate and educate, instead of regulate.

Staying out of the political sand box is like walking a tight rope. A misstep and you fall. The 4CORE mission is to serve Southwest Colorado as the leading resource for the effective and efficient use of energy to promote and sustain vibrant local communities. As the director of 4CORE I believe that our a-political policy has kept 4CORE in a safe neutral position as a trusted non-profit. Affecting policy, lobbying, or campaigning for specific candidates is a direct path to change, but it is also tends to create opposition. 4CORE works hard to wield the carrot (instead of the stick) to inspire our community to be more energy efficient.

The Mandatory Austin Audit
I just had the pleasure of attending a family wedding in Austin Texas. Austin is a fun city with great swimming holes, and drinking holes that have live music seeping out everywhere. Austin also has a robust transit system with some busses running on compressed natural gas (CNG), B-cycle city bikes for rent at prominent street corners. Austin is also in the land of air conditioning, hot and humid high energy use. 

In 2009, Austin passed an ordinance called the Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure that mandates home sellers to obtain energy audits on their properties and disclose these reports to potential buyers. Many organizations work to change political regulation like energy efficiency building codes and mandating energy audits, such as those that are now law in Austin.

4CORE uses a different strategy by working within any policy that is passed to disseminate information and provide resources for those who will need to comply. This approach takes patience and dedication to using inspirational stories and incentives to create positive, energy-reducing change in our community. 

Some Inspiration: How much money can you save on home energy costs?



Are you inspired? Pick up the phone and call us at 4CORE to schedule a voluntary energy audit of your home or business. We specialize in helping you save energy and money on your energy expenses and inspiring you with Atmos, AmeriGas, Empire Electric (EEA) and San Miguel Power (SMPA) and City of Durango financial incentives.

The average home uses $2,000 in energy per year, and efficiency improvements on average save around 20% or $400 per year at today’s energy prices.

The Take Home
Don't wait for a policy to be passed- get on the energy efficiency path while incentives are here!



About the Author

Born and raised in the Washington D.C. area Gregg Dubit has been in Southwest Colorado for over 20 years. Gregg has a Bachelors degree from The University of New Hampshire, Durham in Forest Resource Management, and from Fort Lewis College, Durango in secondary education. Greggs’ previous experience includes Commercial energy auditing, Residential Services Network training and certification, residential general contracting, residential real estate inspection services, high school math and science teacher, former ski patrol, and aged outward bound instructor. In addition, Gregg is an avid dog musher, proud father of Lydia and Hayden, and happily married to Gretchen.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Solarize La Plata is Beaming

Solarize Installation April 2014
Solarize La Plata, coordinated by (4CORE), has confirmed 99 clients committed to installing solar photovoltaic systems through the program. Participants have confirmed their commitment to install solar by signing contracts with local contractors. 
A total of 387 people signed up for Solarize La Plata, and five solar contractors have distributed 219 solar system proposals. Fifty-one systems have been installed, with the goal of having all systems installed by the end of summer.

“We thought we were shooting for the moon when we set our goal of 100 systems,” said Robert Lea, Solarize La Plata Chairman. “SLP proved effective in removing substantial barriers to going solar for much of our community. Our committee is ecstatic about these program results.”

The group also set a goal of 325 kilowatts (kW) of newly installed system capacity, which has already been met and exceeded. The 99 systems represent a total of 538 kW that will now be provided by solar, a clean, renewable source of energy. This translates to 584 metric tons of carbon pollution prevented each year, or the equivalent of 123 cars removed from the road for one year. In addition, 8 jobs have already been created by the demand for these 99 new solar PV systems, which is generating over $2,000,000 for our local economy in only six months.

“The Solarize La Plata Campaign represents a paradigm shift that is underway in Southwest Colorado,” said Gregg Dubit, 4CORE Executive Director. “We speculate that our community is positively responding to the rising cost of power, 290 days of free sunshine per year, and increased effects of climate change, resulting in the accelerated adoption of distributed solar in La Plata County.” 

Solarize La Plata is supported by grants from the Optony’s American Solar Transformation Initiative (ASTI) through the Department of Energy’s Rooftop Solar Challenge, Ballantine Family Fund, and the City of Durango. The Solarize La Plata Steering Committee will be hosting a party at the end of July to celebrate the hard work and commitment of volunteers, partners, supporters, and clients. Everyone is welcome.

Find more information on the 4CORE web site at www.fourcore.org, or by calling 970-259-1916.   

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

How Much Fresh Air is Enough and Who Decides?

My assessment of adequate indoor air quality is when you can move from indoors to outdoors, or outdoors to indoors, and air inside feels as fresh as it does outside. My recommendation for assessing your home’s indoor air quality is to NOT do the math and rate to standards, but to take a deep breath inside your home. Before you forget how it feels, walk outdoors and take another deep breath of fresh outdoor air. Does it feel different? Does the outdoor air make you feel better? The air you prefer to breathe is the air you should be breathing.
Why Does Indoor Air Quality Matter?
Familiarize yourself with problems caused by poor indoor air quality. There is a good article by James Hamblin that appeared in “The Atlantic” in March of 2014 titled “The Toxins That Threaten Our Brains.” We also have a lot of great resources at our website.

If there is one idea I would like to be able convey to readers it is that like temperature, fresh air introduction and indoor air quality exists as a range. That range can be from bad to good, and it can be changed to suit the occupants’ preference, comfort, and health needs.

Below are two standards for indoor air quality.One standard strives toward “A High Level of Comfort,” the other to not dissatisfy the majority of occupants. One strives to not cause or aggravate illness, the other recommends reducing the likelihood of health risk.

Standard 1
“Acceptable indoor air quality: air toward which a substantial majority of occupants express no dissatisfaction with respect to odor and sensory irritation and in which there are not likely to be contaminants at concentrations that are known to pose a health risk.”

Standard 1 is part of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard “62.2-2013 Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings”. This is the guiding standard for home indoor air quality in the US and is likely the standard that was used for your home if it was built in the last few years. It states, “While acceptable IAQ is the goal of this standard, it will not necessarily be achieved even if all requirements are met.” This doesn't exude confidence in a standard that is not very demanding to begin with.

ASHRAE has calculations and tables for calculating the ventilation rate for a given residential configuration, but they are not available to the general public (at least not for free). Remember that installed equipment and systems often do not deliver at their intended capacity. For example, it is not unusual for a fan rated to move 100 cubic feet per minute of air to only deliver a small percentage of this volume.

If it were easier to assess health risks from long term exposure to indoor pollution I believe that ASHRAE would have a whole different set of recommendations. Energy savings are pretty easy to assess, while the correlation of health problems to long term exposure to indoor pollutants has so far been impossible to prove.

Standard 2
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) can be defined as: the physical, chemical and biological properties that indoor air must have, in order:

  • not to cause or aggravate illnesses in the building occupants, and
  • to secure a high level of comfort to the building occupants in the performance of the designated activities for which the building has been intended and designed.

Standard 2 is from the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ). It is from the ISIAQ’s, “Performance Criteria of Buildings for Health and Comfort.” I like this standard better because it strives for a healthier environment.

While my recommendation will not likely end up being the new standard for building code, I do have my own ideas on the topic. I like the 0.5 air exchanges per hour that is the standard in a number of European countries. I like this number because I believe it is a good starting place for fresh air introduction. From the 0.5 air exchanges per hour, the homeowner can regulate fresh air introduction to a level that makes sense both in comfort and in utility cost (there is a cost to heating and cooling fresh air).

When I first started working in my present office, the indoor air quality was lousy. My office is now ventilated at the 0.5 air exchanges per hour rate. When I walk out of the building at the end of the day the difference in breathing outdoors is negligible. In case you missed it, my assessment of adequate indoor air quality is when you can move from indoors to outdoors, or outdoors to indoors, and the difference in air quality is negligible.

In my home the difference is negligible during temperate and warmer months, but more noticeable in the middle of the winter. We sacrifice some indoor air quality for lower heating bills during the winter, and boost our fresh air intake as much as possible when it is more affordable.

My recommendation for assessing your home’s indoor air quality is to NOT do the math, and to remember that even if you knew how much fresh air was being introduced into your home, the design amount was to meet building code, which is the minimum. Instead, take a deep breath inside your home. Before you forget how it feels, walk outdoors and take another deep breath of fresh outdoor air. Does it feel different? Does the outdoor air make you feel better? The air you prefer to breathe is the air you should be breathing.

About the author
David Davis is a Certified Energy Manager, and product designer for the Fresh Air Manufacturing Company. Among experience leading to this role was five years as a utility efficiency expert, five years as an HVAC instructor for Boise State University, and a number of earlier years as an Engineering Specialist for Siemens and Honeywell. Learn more about fresh air here.