HUD Phoenix Energy Workshop September 16-17, 2008

1. Energy Efficient Housing
Homes That Work
Charlie Gohman & Ken Pancost
Arizona Department of Commerce
Energy Office

2. Importance of Energy Use
• Energy use in your operations is going to
grow in importance for one simple reason.
Energy is going to
get even more expensive!

3. How Much Will This Family Impact the
Cost of Energy in the Furture?

4. What Can You Do?
• Supply your own power.
• Reduce the demand for energy.
– Today we will be talking about how you can
maximize the savings you can get with your
limited resources.
Report on DSM program
Cost to save a kWh
Less then $.01

5. Here Is How You Do It!
• Demand the right thing done right.
• Get the right thing done right.
• Verify that the right thing was done right.
– Do not expect performance if you do not
inspect for performance.
How do you determine what
the right thing is?

6. Energy Efficiency Yesterday &
Today
What if you don’t feel right and go see a
doctor.
You walk in his office and the first thing he
says is…

7. Take these pills and call me in the morning

8. What is wrong with that approach
• No diagnostic to determine what is making
you sick so...
– Some pills may help
– Some pills may do nothing
– Some pills may make you worse
– Some pills may combine to kill you
This is how we use to do deal with homes!
(some still are)

9. Old Approach
• Measures are recommended/installed on
homes with no real understanding of impact
on energy or other areas.
– Lists of measures applied to all homes!
• Limited testing to determine problems in
individual homes.
• Limited commissioning/inspection to make
sure measures really work.

10. My First Bit of Advice
• If someone come in and says ”I can solve
all your energy problems” without a
detailed audit/inspection plan, show them
the door.
• They may end up doing the wrong thing
right.
– I will review some of the aspects of what a
detailed audit should include.

11. Today’s Approach
• Gather complete data on existing
characteristics of the home.
– Need information on all the characteristic that
may impact your decision making process.
• Based on data about the house, develop a
scope of work.
• Inspection of work to insure it is competed
per scope.

12. General Specification
If you take one thing away today, this
should be it!
• New construction – EPA Energy Star (+
room pressures)
• Existing - EPA’s Home Performance with
Energy Star Program
– An auditor/contractor should be certified by the
Building Performance Institute.
Work is inspected

13. Home Performance with ENERGY
STAR
A whole-house program with
contractor participation and quality
assurance.
AZ HPwES
(602) 532-2976 ext. 1

14. Building Performance Institute
BPI
• The Building Performance Institute, Inc. (BPI) is a
recognized global leader, supporting the
development of a highly professional building
performance industry through individual and
organizational credentialing and a rigorous quality
assurance program.
• Foundation for Senior Living Home Improvement
is the local affiliate of BPI and trains and certifies
local technicians at the Southwest Building
Science Training Center.

15. Southwest Building Science
Training Center
• Operated by Foundation for Senior Living Home
Improvement.
• Funded through the Department of Commerce
Energy Office and Local Utilities.
• Goal to provide building trades with the
knowledge and skills needed to successfully
perform diagnostic and repairs on Arizona’s
housing stock.
If there is any interest in having your staff
trained, let me know!

16. The Right Thing
• Details on the key “right things” that must
be looked at in each building.

17. Why Do We Build Homes?
• Our housing stock should be:
– Healthy
– Safe
– Durable
– Comfortable
– And Energy Efficient
Making a home more energy efficient
but less safe is the right thing done wrong!

18. Energy is #5
• Energy was number five on the list.
• Never do anything to save energy that will
negatively impact health, safety, durability
or comfort.
• As you take energy out of a house (energy
efficient) it becomes much less tolerant to:
– Heath and safety issues
– Durability issues
– Comfort issues

19. The Good News
• You can achieve all five if you use applied
building science when building or
retrofitting a house.
• Understand how to take energy out without
the increasing the potential for problems.
Again, if someone does not talk about all
of these issues, only talks about all the
energy you will save, they do not know
what they are doing!

20. Things are changing
• The introduction of Building Science is changing the
way homes are built & retrofitted.
$.25 per sq. ft. per year

21. Phoenix Home Energy Efficiency
Study
Study sponsored by the EPA, performed by
Advanced Energy Corporation
• Baseline Homes • Performance Guarantee
– R-30 attic – R-30 attic
– R-19 wall – R-19 wall
– 56% low-e – 100% low-e
– 12 SEER – 11.9 SEER
The Performance Guarantee homes out performed the Baseline by
33%.

22. How is it done?

23. Getting The Basics Right
All the right pieces, put together wrong.
Is this safe?

24. A House is a System
• A house is made up individual parts.
• We keep adding more and more parts.
• For it to operate properly, all of the parts
must work together.
– This means you need to understand how any
new parts may impact a building!
– This requires testing!
• If not, lawyers may get involved.

25. Is a dryer a good addition?
• Yes, BUT
– Dryers exhausts about 200CFM to the outside.
– In one hour that is 12,000 cubic feet (total
volume of a 1500 sq. ft. home).
– This air must be replaced by outside air.
• One CFM out = One CFM in
– Where does the air come from?
• The attic, the garage or maybe down a chimney or
vent?
– What is in the air?
• Moisture, heat, cold, car exhaust, combustion by-
products….

27. The dryer has
been pulling the
flame out of the
heater.

28. Carbon monoxide
(CO)
• CO is colorless and odorless.
• It can be produced by a furnace, water
heater, fireplace, oven, car, anything that
burns fuel.
• At elevated levels, carbon monoxide causes
headaches, fatigue, queasiness, and at very
high levels, brain and heart damage and
death.
YES - DEATH

29. CO Testing is Standard Practice in
This Field
• As standard practice, someone who does not
test is open to higher risk.
• Testing is simple!
If you have combustion
appliances, they should be
tested

30. Basic of Heating/Cooling
Driven by Three Mechanisms
• Convection – Air flow into, out of and
within the building (high to low pressure).
• Conduction – Heat, moving through
materials (hot to cold)
• Radiation – Hot surfaces radiate heat to
cooler surfaces.
This is it, it is this simple!

31. Must gain control of these flows
• Appling building science to address the key
issues that impact all buildings.
– Convection (Air flow)
– Conduction (Heat flow)
– Radiation
– HVAC (adding or removing heat from
convection, conduction & radiation)

32. Infrared Camera
White is hotter 93.6°
Dark is cooler 86.6°
The shirt is
insulating his body.

33. Uninsulated attic hatch is hot (white)

34. A Primer on Air Flow
(Convection)
• Air flow is the most important flow!
• For air to flow you need a hole and a pressure.
– No hole, no flow
– No pressure, no flow
We have spent billions of dollars sealing holes with
mixed results, when was the last time
someone talked to you about controlling pressures?

35. What Will Create Pressures
• Natural Forces (can’t control)
– Wind
– Stack (hot air rises, cold air falls)
• Fans (can control)
– Exhaust (range, dryers, bath)
– Air handlers

36. Wind Resources

37. It is not very
windy in Arizona

38. Stack
• What does an AZ home look like to cool air?
• Block or stucco walls, slab. How about your
house?

39. Cool Air Will Pool

40. Wind and Stack
• Natural pressures, wind and stack, just are
not that strong in Arizona’s low desert.
• They do not cause very much pressure and
will not force much air flow into or out of
buildings.
• High country, wind and stack are more of
an issue.

41. Pressures in Buildings
• New studies are finding that on average
pressure created by fans cause 3 to 10 times
the amount of air leakage then wind and
stack.

42. Fans
• Exhaust Fans
– Dryers - 200+ CFM
– Range hoods and other kitchen exhaust are
getting bigger and bigger – 100 to 1000 CFM
– Bathroom fan
• Air handler - 1000’s of CFM.

43. Fans
Where is it coming in and what is in it?
Equals one in
One out (negative
pressure)

44. Impact of Pressure Created by
Fans on Your Health
A negative pressure created
by a fan can: Any fan
Attached or Carbon Monoxide
tuck and other fumes from
under garage a attached garage
Cause back drafting
Flame roll out

45. Fans
Do you have them in your housing?
(Dryers, range hoods, bath fans)
Where is the make up air coming
from?
All homes should be tested for potential
back drafting, flame rollout
and issues with attached garages

46. Duct Leakage
• National studies find an average of 300
CFM of duct leakage (1 ton = 400 CFM).
On a 2000 sq. ft. home, that’s 15% of rated
air flow. (AZ 371 CFM)
• Studies (80’s) from Florida estimate that
10% of Florida’s electrical generation
capacity was duct leakage.
I would say this is the #1 issue in homes
and can easily increase heating and cooling by
100%, 200%....

47. We take duct sealing very seriously
These holes are
under a lot of
pressure

48. How Not To Design Ducts

49. This is more common than you may think.

50. High Tech Duct Test

51. Do your ducts look like this?
If you think this is bad, wait!

52. That is the roof deck!
SO?

53. Roof Deck at 140º
What impact does 140º air have on AC SEER
140°

54. 15% return leak pulling in 115º air
reduces capacity by 50% (ac runs twice as long)
So what happens at 50% leak at 140º

55. Supply Leak Suck
100º outside
140º
Attic
200 CFM supply leak
_
800 CFM 1,000 CFM
supply flow return flow
What will happen with the house pressure?
As you loss air out of the leak, you are pulling
air in through all of the holes in the house.

56. Return Leaks Blow
100º outside
140º
Attic
200 CFM return leak
+
1000 CFM 800 CFM
supply flow return flow
What will happen with the house pressure?
As you pull air in the leak, you are forcing air
out through all of the holes in the house.

57. DO NOT USE A PART
OF THE BUILDING
TO MOVE AIR!
Common example are
platform returns, a wooden
box with the air handler
sitting on it. In most cases
it is located in the hallway.
If you can see studs, you
may have large amounts of
duct leakage.
The air handler will suck
air down these walls from
the attic.

58. This will not leak!

59. Ducts must be sealed with
mastic, not duct tape

61. At least the air you are blowing
through the tape and into the attic is filtered

62. Mastic

63. Mastic
Get the hint
We like mastic!

64. Boot to sheetrock,
easy to get at

65. Boot to sheetrock,
easy to seal

66. Leaks are expensive

67. Mastic is cheap

68. The patented Arizona
High Tech Mastic
Applicator
Five year, five thousand
duct system warrantee
Ducts should be sealed with
a water based mastic –
Not Duct Tape!!!
Of any kind!!!!!

69. Duct leakage in the Arizona
• APS study in early 90’s found 17% duct
leakage.
• Today, new systems are consistently under
5%.
• Systems should be tested!
Standard
New construction – 3 to 6 CFM/100 sq. ft.
Existing – If you can reach a hole, seal it,
If you can’t, depends (need a trained technician)

70. Existing Ducts
• Weatherization program: We routinely get
ducts close to if not beyond the new
construction standard.
• Multi family example: We got the ducts so
tight we could not get an accurate reading
with a duct blaster (no leaks, no flow).
Goal for ducts should be
leak free!

71. Duct Blaster test
New construction, good at verifying
Duct Blaster test
Pressurizes ducts to
that 25 Pascals
ducts meet standard
Measures CFMBlower door or duct blaster
Existing – leakage

72. Doors and Energy Use
• What doors in your home account for the
most heating and cooling costs?
– Front and back doors
– Patio doors
– Doggie doors
– Interior doors
In some homes this can be
as big of an issue as
duct leakage

73. Doors Open
100º outside
140º
Attic
1000 CFM 1000 CFM
supply flow return flow
1000 CFM flow through the house and
is under neutral pressure

74. Doors Closure
Now the home sucks and blows at the same time
140º
Attic
1000 CFM 1000 CFM
supply flow return flow
Supply side will go Return side will go
positive negative.
Close a door and block
the flow back to the
return.

75. DOOR CLOSURE
Rated PG-13

76. Impact of Room Pressure
(Door Closure)
Increased infiltration, hot air coming in the can lights.
Doors open Doors closed 20 minutes
Fixture (light out) 81.4 °. Fixture (light out) 87.9°
Fixture (light out) 87.9°
Ceiling 75.8 °. Ceiling 77.7° °.
Ceiling 77.7
Fixture (light out) 82.3°. Fixture (light out) 85.5°.
Fixture (light out) 85.5°
What about the sheetrock temperature?

77. The following video is a time lapse infrared of a home
under negative 3 Pa pressure for 40 minutes.
Note starting temperatures.
80.7°
82.7°
80.8°
80.0°

79. Temperatures after 40 minutes.
8 to 12 degree increase in surface temperatures.
92.5°
90.9°
88.9°
87.3°

80. Cheap Pressure Relief
Problems with light and sound
Don’t install vents in the door

82. Less issues with light
and sound

83. Bedroom
Hall
link

84. Both APS and TEP include
this standard in their new home
programs. EPA Energy Star
Plus Room Pressures. Also
part of AZ Tax Credit.
Room pressure standard
No pressures greater then + -3 Pascal created by
the air handler (duct leakage or door closure)

85. Closing doors can do this!!!!!

86. What About Holes
• Most of the holes in Arizona’s building are
between the conditioned space and the attic.
– Slab floors
– Stucco/block walls
– Doors and windows do not leak much.
• Each year you are told to seal them, weatherstrip
them…
#1 rule on holes,
seal the big ones

87. .
How big is this hole?
All of the “interior wall” cavities that it is connected
to are really outside and uninsulated.
How big is this hole?

88. This big!

89. A Flag!
Looks good, right

90. Opps, That is one big hole.

93. Pretty basic!

94. Can lights, 1 sq. in. hole per light

95. The air moving from the attic into
the house is at least filtered

97. wrong
right

98. Sealing hole is a good idea but
can we build a home too tight?
NO Here is the standard
(new construction)
•Build as tight as possible
•Pressure balance the home (less than +/-3 Pa)
•Carbon Monoxide detector in homes with
combustion appliances or attached garage.
•Ventilated right
–Continuous fresh air ventilation of (bedroom + 1) X
7.5 CFM + 0.01 CFM per sq. ft.of conditioned space.
–Spot ventilation in kitchen and baths

99. Do You Need Ventilation in a Existing Home?
It not how tight a house is but if additional ventilation is needed.
But no one would seal up (decrease ventilaiton) a house without
testing, right?
• Ventilation requirements depend on:
– How much do you have (fans and leakage)?
– What is in your home that needs to be vented
(pollution sources)?
• Number one pollutant (causes the most problems) in
an average home is…
Moisture

100. Blower Door
measures how leaky
a house is.
If this is not being using (by trained tech),
you are not doing it right!

101. Control of the Air
• Continuous (really tight) air barrier that
keeps the inside air in and the outside air
out.
– Sealed ducts
– Pressure balanced
– Sealed envelope
– Ventilated right

102. Heat Flow
(Insulation Performance)
• The approach to insulation has always been
that more is better. At some point, this is
wrong!
• The key to controlling conduction is not
how much insulation (R-value) is installed,
but how well the envelope slows heat flow.

103. Insulation
Why not just require R-60?

104. Heat Flow/R-Value
Sq. Ft x Delta T x U-value = Heat Flow
• 1000 x 20 x 0.5 (none) = 10,000 Btus per hour
• 1000 x 20 x 0.1 (R-10) = 2,000 Btus per hour
• 1000 x 20 x 0.05 (R-20) = 1,000 Btus per hour
• 1000 x 20 x 0.033 (R-30) = 660 Btus per hour
• 1000 x 20 x 0.025 (R-40) = 500 Btus per hour
Will you ever be able to save
8,000 Btus again?

105. R-value vs. P-value
Designed heat flow vs. real heat flow
100% R30
• .033 (R30) x 1000 x 20 = 660
BTUs
95% R30 - 5% uninsulated
•.033 (R30) x 950 x 20 = 627 BTUs
•.5 (none) x 50 x 20 = 500 BTUs
•Total BTUs (same as a R16) 1127 BTUs
•Small defects can have a large impact, today’s complex
home design is tough on the insulators.

106. R-Value Impact of defects on effective
R-30 R-30 R-values.
#1 concern, quality or
R-20
quantity?
R-16
R-12.5
R-10
R-7.9
R-5.7
0 5% 10% 20% 30% % defect

107. Is there enough insulation?
(insulated to code-R-30)
Does it work?

108. Attic With No Insulation
Stud (R-4)
R-0

109. Why do the last two pictures
look the same?
Insulated Attic - R-30 Batt
Stud R-4
R-30 Batt

110. Why is the
wood (R-4)
cooler than
the R-30
batt?
Wood is
letting less
heat in than
the batt.

111. If it’s insulated, why isn’t it
insulating?
• Defects are allowing hot or cold air to pass
through or around the insulation.
– Air is a fluid (just like water). If water would
pour through a material, air can also pass through
it.
• This will drastically impact the effectiveness
of the insulation.

112. Insulation Problems
• Voids (area with no insulation)
• Gaps (part of an area not insulated)
• Wind intrusion
• Compression (not installed at full thickness)
• Misalignment (must touch the air barrier)
Insulation stops air flow based on its
porosity.

113. Yes, this is a void.

114. Void
Dry wall only (R-0.5)
Stud (R-4)

115. Gap

116. Gap
Will be there for the
life of the building!

117. Wind intrusion, what’s that?

118. Perimeter radiant heating?
No, wind intrusion.

119. High tech solution, cardboard

120. Compression

121. Compression

122. So if the stud is an R-4, what R-value is the
insulation?
R-???
R-4 stud
What is happening? Misalignment

123. Misalignment
• The house must have a continuous air
barrier. (Stops air flow)
• The house must have a continuous thermal
barrier. (Stops heat flow)
• The air barrier and thermal barrier must be
in 100% contact.
• If not, hot/cold air will pass through or
around the insulation.
We have missed this one!

124. Insulation
Air barrier
Misalignment

125. Insulation is placed here
But the heat is getting here

126. Knee-wall insulation attached to the back of the stud.
The Sheetrock, cooled by the
conditioned space will cool the air
between the Sheetrock and insulation.
This cool air will fall and be replaced by
hot attic air. In heating season, just
reverse the arrows.

127. Knee-wall insulation attached to the back of the stud.

128. The Key to Insulation Performance
Stop Air Flow

129. The insulation is suspended over
the soffit and does not touch the
Sheetrock.
No air barrier
Allows air to flow
through the insulation
Now these surfaces are
uninsulated exterior surfaces
(but the air is filtered)

130. Air barrier installed by the framer
Now the insulation is in contact
with an air barrier.
Air barrier
Stops air flow through the insulation
and brings that space “inside”.

131. Installation of
air barrier

132. Continuous air barrier made up of
Thermo-Ply and Sheetrock
Now this space is inside the conditioned space
Thermo-Ply air barrier

133. Air barrier and
No air barrier insulation aligned

134. Home with no air barrier Home with air barrier
Same corner

135. Home with no air barrier Home with air barrier

136. Test, what is this?
A piece of insulation that
is working!

137. Insulation that works
•No gaps
•No voids
•No compression
•No misalignment
•No wind intrusion
Incorporate into specifications
Important even in retrofit

138. New Insulation Standards
• EPA Thermal Bypass Check List
• These insulation standards are new.
• If you housing stock has not been built
under a program that requires these
standards (Energy Star, EFL, TEP
Guarantee, AZ Tax Credit) there is a good
chance you have problems.
• Can’t just look at R-value!

139. Radiation
Guess what, we get a little bit of sun here

140. Technical Break Through
Direct From Researchers in Arizona
Shade

141. Urban Shade
Neighbors Helping Neighbors

142. Partial Shaded Wall
Shaded - 108
Sun - 148
Heat flow (delta T)
on sun struck wall
is more than
double shaded wall.
Shade reduces the
Delta T
reduces heat flow.

143. Reflective products
• EPA Cool Roofs – Reflective roofing
products. Effectiveness based on product’s
solar reflectance.
Any reflective product (paint)
that claims an R-value is…

144. IR of my attic,
summer at noon (105º)
Roof deck - 150º
Attic air - 120º
Insulation - 140º
Remember HS physics,
Second law of thermo-
dynamics says heat
moves from high to low
temperature.
How is heat flowing
in an my attic at
noon?

145. After reflective roof
coating – 87 degree
ceiling temperature
Before reflective roof
coating - 93 degree Do not coat
ceiling temperature asphalt singles

146. Radiant Barriers
deduce summer attic heat gain
16% to 42%

147. Reflexive Coating/Radiant Barrier
• Saving for these products are directly
related to the effective R-value of
component used on.
– Higher the R-value (that is working), less of an
impact on your bills.

148. Attic Fans
Heat flow in an attic is driven by the roof deck temperature.
Fan will not impact the roof deck (minimal impact on
insulation temperature)!
Fans will pull air out of the house!
Fans consume power!

149. Windows
• New construction – Low -E
• Existing windows - It is very tough to justify
(energy savings) replacing existing single
pane windows with new windows.
• Best approach, shade the windows (low desert).
• If you are replacing windows, go with Low-E.
(EPA Energy Star)

150. HVAC
The 12/7 Rule
• Buy a 12 SEER you may only get a 7 SEER
– Duct leakage (talked about this one)
– Improper air flow
– Over or under charge of a system
– Improper sizing (bigger is not better)
www.advancedenergy.org
SEER Fact Bulletin

151. Air flow
• Low air flow is often caused by:
• Ducts that are too small (big problem for
returns).
• Duct layout that restricts airflow.
• Poorly selected or restricted grilles.
• Mismatch of air handler with the other
equipment.

154. Charge
• How common are improperly charged systems?
• About 7 out of 10 systems have an improper charge.
While most systems are undercharged, some systems
are overcharged by more than 100%.
• Systems with longer line sets tend to be much more
severely undercharged than systems with shorter line
sets.
• Mismeasurement of line set length is a common
cause in precharged systems.

155. Sizing
• Over sizing has a negative effect on energy use,
comfort, equipment life, and system costs:
– Oversized system run for short period and do not reach
steady state efficiency (think of city vs. highway
driving). Impacts both cost and life.
– Short run times means the air does not get mixed,
causing hot spots.
– Short run time will not remove humidity, increasing
comfort problems.
– Over sized equipment cost more to install.
Use Manual J

156. Steady State Efficiency
• Mechanical devises take time to go from
start up to their peak, steady state efficiency.
Some, like AC units will take minutes.
(SEER incorporates this start up time)
Steady State
SEER
Over sized system
Start-up replaces steady state
with start-up, lowering
efficiency.
Time

157. Real Example
• House built right, HVAC contractor want to
install 12 tons total. (peak demand around
10 kW)
• Installed 5 tons, monitors at 110°, used
about 90% of capacity (peak demand about
4.5 kW)
This has a huge impact on the number
of power plants needed on the hottest days.

158. Require ACCA Standards (new and retrofit)

159. Start With a Solid Foundation
• No matter what type of home, what
materials used or where you are located,
you need to use a solid foundation of
building science.
So you don’t get a big…

160. Surprise!
Bill
ity
Ut il