Jump Ducts Increase Energy Efficiency
Heating, Cooling and HVAC blog, December 27, 2006
Jump ducts are an increasingly popular method for improving the energy efficiency of homes with forced-air heating and cooling systems. They address the critical issues of equalizing air pressure in various parts of the home and of handling return air. When managing the heating and cooling flow within any building, it is challenging to ensure that air moving into rooms equals the air moving out of rooms and back space-conditioning system. If more air enters than exits the room, the air pressure in the room increases and exceeds the pressure outside it. Without balanced air pressure, energy efficiency decreases as conditioned air escapes through the building envelope... more..

HVAC Integration of the Building Envelope
Whole Building Design Guide, March 1, 2006
Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems account for nearly 40% of the energy used in commercial buildings in the United States. Consequently, almost any business or government agency has the potential to realize significant savings by improving its control of HVAC operations and improving the efficiency of the system it uses. There are also considerable opportunities for significant energy savings through efficient, integrated design, especially at the building envelope. An integrated and efficient building envelope with appropriate window and glazing design can not only reduce the energy and operating costs of a facility, but can also reduce the size and cost of the HVAC system... more..

NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines
National Association of Home Builders, 2005
The exploding market for sustainable, environmentally friendly and recycled building products, along with the greater availability of educational opportunities for builders, has accelerated green building’s acceptance rate. By the end of 2007, more than half of NAHB’s members, who build more than 80 percent of the homes in this country, will be incorporating green practices into the development, design and construction of new homes. NAHB's voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines are designed to be a tool kit for the individual builder looking to engage in green building practices and home builder associations (HBAs) looking to launch their own local green building programs. more..  Download Guidelines (PDF)

In Southeast, It's Easy Being Green
Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News, December 17, 2006
High performance building envelope, composting toilets, vegetated roof, rainwater capture and reuse, pervious pavement, bio-retention ponds and photovoltaic panels. -- This past week, the Southeast region of the United States had two major green building announcements--the groundbreaking of the first green office building in South Florida, and the first platinum LEED-certified building in the Southeast, recently completed in Atlanta....an investment sales broker for Holly told Commercial Property News that the development will cost approximately $392 per square foot, including land acquisition--[only] 2 percent more than if Holly had not chosen to build green... more..

Cost of energy upgrades offset by tax credits, grants
The News Journal, December 16, 2006
For improvements to the building's envelope (windows, doors and insulation), the credit equals 10 percent of the cost of materials (but not the cost of labor for installation). -- Skyrocketing electric bills, up 59 percent in just one year, combined with costs for oil and natural gas escalating to near historically high levels, make this an ideal time for Delaware residents to take advantage of a federal tax credit and a new state grant. These programs are designed to help us save money by adding insulation to our homes or installing energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and appliances.For homeowners, these programs offer something better than a win-win situation -- a genuine win-win-win. Here's how... more..

Clean Air Labs Announces Endotoxin Patent Filing for Mold Detection
EWORLDWIRE, December 14, 2006
Estero, Fla. -- Clean Air Labs today announced the filing of a patent for the Microbe XPS(TM) process. The filterless process rapidly captures and extracts endotoxins and glucans out of the air. It allows air quality managers to rapidly determine with high accuracy whether endotoxins and glucans exist within facilities and at what levels. Developed under the guidance of Dr. Edward Sobek, the Microbe XPS system is a long-awaited replacement to the filter-based endotoxin extraction process, which produces such varied results that very few hygienists choose to use it....The extraction process for glucan, a component of the cell wall of mold or fungi, is similar to that of the endotoxin. Samples collected through the use of the Microbe XPS system can also be analyzed with any commercially available reader for presence of glucans... more..

Contrasting the capabilities of building energy performance simulation programs
Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News, December 12, 2006
Abstract: For the past 50 years, a wide variety of building energy simulation programs have been developed, enhanced and are in use throughout the building energy community. This paper is an overview of a report, which provides up-to-date comparison of the features and capabilities of twenty major building energy simulation programs. The comparison is based on information provided by the program developers in the following categories: general modeling features; zone loads; building envelope and daylighting and solar; infiltration, ventilation and multizone airflow; renewable energy systems; electrical systems... more..

Energy Cost Control: How Uncle Sam Helps Industry
Energy Pathfinder, December 8, 2006
...An income tax deduction is currently available that can be worth up to $1.80 per square foot. This deduction applies companies that make improvements to their lighting, building envelope (such as windows and insulation), and heating ventilation and air conditioning. Admittedly, energy use by industrial buildings can be small relative to the production machinery housed in the buildings. However, building improvements are usually easier to pursue because they typically don’t interfere with production activities. The tax deduction applies to certain improvements made during 2006-07. Note how Paccar Winch in Okmulgee, Oklahoma took advantage of this incentive... more..

DOE Releases Building Best Practices Handbook for Marine Climates
USDOE, December 6, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building America program today announced the release of the fifth volume in its series of regional best practices handbooks for builders, which provides useful tips builders and homebuyers can take to increase efficiency in the marine climate zone. The publication, Builders and Buyers Handbook for Improving New Home Efficiency, Comfort, and Durability in the Marine Climate, specifically outlines steps builders can take to reach 30 percent energy savings in space heating and cooling, and water heating by implementing the Building America process (savings based on the 1993 Model Energy Code standards). more..

ASTM E06 on Performance of Buildings
Aggregate Research, November 16, 2006
The 2006 ASTM International Walter C. Voss Award honors the leadership and service of Thomas A. Schwartz, P.E., to the international building technology industry for more than 30 years. Mr. Schwartz is president/senior principal and head of the Building Technology Group at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. (SGH). Schwartz, an ASTM International member since 1982, received the award for his contributions to knowledge in the building technology fields of building envelope systems, including curtain walls, glazing, roofing, waterproofing, and masonry, as exemplified by his chairmanship of symposia and ASTM's Subcommittee E06.55 on Exterior Building Wall Systems. more..

Building Envelope Testing: Move cursor over photo to view thermographic image.

City continues work to protect hillsides
News-Review, December 5, 2006
Roseburg, OR - The need to manage growth on hillsides without hampering overall growth was hammered at again Monday night by builders, developers and the Roseburg city staff as work continued on a proposed Hillside Development Ordinance. “The goal here is to have something put in place so developers have something specific to look for,” said Planning Vice Chairman Chris Clark, who led Monday’s Planning Commission meeting. The city’s Land Use Development Ordinance currently has only one page governing hillsides and with hillside development being so different from flatland development, the commission has had to tackle a number of problems in the past year. Several developers voiced criticisms of the ordinance, saying it was too restrictive to development, especially a “building envelope” requirement to set a place on the lot that could actually be buildable to city standards. more..

Buildings Energy Efficiency
Center for Building Science
Researchers in building technologies work closely with industry to develop efficient technologies for buildings that increase energy efficiency, and improve the comfort, health and safety of building occupants. Applications: The Applications Team transfers new energy-efficient building technologies from the laboratory to the real world, and stimulates the use of underutilized, high-performance technologies through innovative deployment programs. Cool Roofs & Heat Islands : On warm summer days, a city can be 6 to 8°F warmer than its surrounding areas. This effect is called the urban heat island. Cool roof materials, pavements, and vegetation can reduce the heat island effect, save energy and reduce smog formation. more..