New Home Weatherization Standards from NREL

Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades: a conversation with NREL’s Dr. Richard Knaub

by Jane Pulaski Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades
Known as standard work specifications, or SWS, the simple, written descriptions explain how to perform specific tasks safely, efficiently, and of the highest quality.  Standard work specifications, when correctly used by the workforce, help eliminate inefficiencies and waste, nurture continued improvement, and assure the consumer of a quality product or service.  And now, thanks to the work of NREL and DOE, guidelines for the energy efficiency workforce using SWS are almost ready for prime time.

Knaub, a Project Leader in Weatherization & Workforce Development, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has been actively participating in the Weatherization training and standards development both at the state and national levels for the last several years.  NREL has been leading the development of the Guidelines (no small task).  In fact, according to Knaub, some 300 stakeholders have been involved in the process.  Technicians, trainers, home performance contractors, labor, healthy homes professionals, building scientists and other experts in the building trades and retrofit industry have been at the table for this project.
Because it’s such a big deal (and voluminous–620 pages), I wanted to know more—how this got started in the first place, and when we might see the final product.  Richard was kind enough to answer some questions about SMS for us. Here’s that conversation:

How to define SUSTAINABLITY

When people talk about "Sustainability" they often have very different concepts in mind. This is what I mean by SUSTAINABLE Architecture. The Living Bridges of Megalaya, in India, span rivers in monsoon season and live 500 years. They take many lifetimes to complete, but easily outlast all other brides, in this land that some years gets 25m of rain.Now that is sustainable.

MIT Entrepreneur moves business to China!

Listen to this report from PRI's Here and Now

About an foreign student and entrepreneur at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Power founder, Dr. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, who developed a new form of Lithium Ion Battery for automobiles that actually works, and decided to move her new 'gleaming' factory and jobs to China! She really is focused upon the money she wanted from the U.S. Department of Energy, then in the same breath claims she is saving the Earth. She will not personally move to China, but Christina is very excited to be at the table, and sell out for just $125-Million.

GREENSMART TECHNICAL COLLEGE COMING TO SAN DIEGO—ALONG WITH ELECTRIC CAR ENGINE MANUFACTURING PLANT

Amptran is developing an electric engine with capacity to travel 400 miles between charges using lithium air technology. The break-through could revolutionize the car industry --and eliminate U.S. dependence on OPEC Mideast oil

In an exclusive interview with ECM, Heartland Coalition executive director Mark Hanson unveiled plans to bring Amptran Motor Corporation to San Diego and to open a new Greensmart Technical College facility in Otay Mesa, where certified electric vehicle technicians will be trained for good-paying local jobs through Heartland’s Project Greensmart, starting in spring 2012.

Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum

The Appraisal Institute recently released a three-page form called the Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum to collect information about energy efficient and green features, such as insulation values, efficiencies of heating and air equipment, high peformance windows, geothermal heat pumps, ENERGY STAR qualification or a HERS Rating, etc.  The form is meant to be used by appraisers, lenders, home energy raters and builders.  The Appraisal Institute is encouraging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use the form and even request it from appraisers.  This form should be extremely helpful by somewhat formalizing the process, and also by educating all of the stakeholders.

more about how this affects the Home Performance industry

more about the real-estate Appraisal Institute

Shame on Weatherization Contractors

I always blame the Carbon-Energy Corporations and the Investor Owned Utilities for the failure of the American Energy Efficiency Industry, but apparently they are not the only ones to blame. There are a number of dirty government contractors who are so incompetent that they helped destroy their own business.

Justin Hall-Tipping: Freeing energy from the grid | Video on TED.com

Justin Hall-Tipping: Freeing energy from the grid | Video on TED.com
What would happen if we could generate power from our windowpanes? In this moving talk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping shows the materials that could make that possible, and how questioning our notion of 'normal' can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs.


If we can turn infrared wave-length photons into electrons, then we can reverse entropy locally. Carbon nano-tubes and a battery. Then clean water for free.