Sustainable (& unsuckable) house now ON-LINE!

Last October we posted about Canberra's Sustainable House after putting it thorough its paces and finding it to have an excellent, airtight and thermally efficient building envelope.

You can now access a fabulous web site about the house to: find out loads of great stuff about its brilliant low energy, low water and productive garden features; book a tour; read about the owners' vision and learn about the sustainability services they provide.

Energy Imaging opens in Tasmania

The Directors of Energy Imaging Tasmania -- Amanda Roberts, Andrew Poole and Jenny Edwards -- were all raised in Hobart and are well aware of the issues homeowners face in heating their homes.

Energy Imaging Tas performed a series of demonstration tests on homes and community buildings in and around Hobart on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March and exhibited at the Sustainable Building and Lifestyle Expo at the Derwent Entertainment Centre on the weekend of the 27th and 28th. Interest in Energy Imaging's unique and innovative services was high and the southern team have plenty to keep them busy as the winter weather sets in!

Contact Andrew Poole and Amanda Roberts (pictured above) on (03) 62451792 or at tas@energy-imaging.com.au

Move over ghost busters!

Check out the cover and feature story here.

Too important to fail

"The Green Loans Scheme is an excellent idea that has turned into an utter debacle through gross mismanagement by Peter Garrett's department," Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne said on the 4th of February. You've probably seen or heard more about the issue in the media (a quick web search will bring up lots of recent print news stories and electronic media transcripts).

Energy Imaging, and many of our colleagues in the energy efficiency sector, have been involved in Green Loans since the beginning. It was an excellent idea. Debacle is now a fair description. Frustrating, infuriating, mindbogggling and unfair are other words that spring to mind. The program still has big potential but it will take a serious overhaul by DEWHA, and the creation of genuinely level playing field for assessors, to make it work effectively and fairly.

The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA), a national not-for-profit association, is the Approved Accrediting Organisation for the Green Loans Program. The program is managed by the Federal Government. Unfortunately due to DEWHA's unresponsiveness, many assessors are venting their frustrations at ABSA. ABSA are working hard to support asssessors and it would be sad to see them used as the scape goat in this mess.

Assessors are finding themselves the target of participating householders' frustrations. Unable to make bookings, yet to receive their reports, and waiting in ridiculously long queues on the DEWHA hotline, members of the public are, understandably, venting their frustrations at assessors. As the public face of the GL program, the reputations of dedicated and ethical assessors are being tarnished and the credibility of Australia's energy efficiency sector damaged.

ABSA are currently collecting ideas on ways to improve the GL Program. All assessors are encouraged to direct their ideas to ideas@absa.net.au by Friday 19 February 2010.

Senator Milne referred the matter to the Auditor General on the 4th of February and asked some important questions at senate estimates last week. Read more here.

Obama says: Sealing Leaks & Insulating is Sexy Stuff!

Barack Obama is clearly passionate about sealing air leaks and insulating:

"Here's what's sexy about it: saving money! Think about it this way, if you haven't upgraded your home yet, it's not just heat or cool air escaping, it's energy and money you're wasting. If you saw $20 bills floating through the window, up into the atmosphere, you'd try to figure out how you're gonna keep that. But that's exactly what's happening because of lack of efficiency in our buildings!"

According to the US Department of Energy: Sealing and insulating the "envelope" or "shell" of your home — its outer walls, ceiling, windows, doors, and floors — is often the most cost effective way to improve energy efficiency and comfort.

See and hear President Obama's passion for energy efficiency here.

Read All About It!

Energy Imaging's 3 page feature story in B2B in Canberra (business and government) magazine is 'live' on the web.

You can view the article at the following address (best viewed in full screen mode - top left corner):

issuu.com/b2bincanberra/docs/december_2009/20

They were distributed to Canberra businesses and government agencies yesterday so keep an eye out for a hard copy if you are in the national capital!

Watch All About It!

Watch an Energy Imaging air leakage and insulation assessment in action. Hands-on Directors, Jenny Edwards and Andrew Cleary, use their fan depressurisation and thermal imaging technologies to find all the concealed areas of energy loss in a home.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=auACO5rTgI8

Spend summer swimming for a sustainable future!

Energy Imaging, and our good friends at Graphic Ark, are proudly supporting Swim for Solar in the Canberra/Queanbeyan region this summer. This great initiative will be launched at 4.30 pm on Friday 27th November at Queanbeyan Pool. Come along and see the Energy Imaging team challenge the politicians, Mike Kelly and Shane Rattenbury, to a swim-off!

LifeSaving Energy Swims for Solar is a community project to raise funds to install solar panels on community buildings. The project is an initiative of Clean Energy for Eternity (CEFE).

People of all ages and swimming ability can join in the fun. Jump in the pool to stay cool this summer and help capture those rays to reduce your community's carbon footprint!

CEFE is a not-for-profit group which aims to inspire local community action on climate change. CEFE began in Bega in 2006 and each year runs the LifeSaving Energy Big Swims. So far the swims have raised over $60,000 to install solar panels and wind turbines on surf lifesaving clubs, fire brigades and community buildings in NSW.

Check to see if your local pool is involved. If not encourage them to do so. For more info click here

Canberra's sustainable (& unsuckable) house!

Nick Mayo and Sarah Clayton live independently of water and power services in the heart of Canberra. Their home, in Duffy Street Ainslie, is a truly sustainable house with all sorts of clever, and great looking, features. For example, look carefully at the second and fourth window in the picture above and you’ll see a glazed brick wall - a very clever and stylish use of thermal mass.

Our infrared imaging of the building envelope confirmed that this is a house with outstanding thermal performance (the image below shows the internal surface of the glazed wall, pointed out above). Better still, when we conducted an air leakage test and tried to suck air out of the home we found it to be the most tightly constructed property we have ever tested. An airtight and well insulated building envelope is the most important thing for building comfort, energy efficiency and durability: this home experiences very little conductive or convective heat loss/gain and will most certainly stand the test of time. Very impressive!

Grand - Air-Tight - Designs

The episode of Grand Designs that went to air on ABC 1 last night featured a new home "built using the latest avant garde eco technologies." On top of its eco-concrete foundations sit a series of timber frame boxes, heavily insulated with recycled newspaper and clad in English cedar. Large, triple glazed windows to the south help to heat the house using the power of the sun to warm the heavy concrete slab. To conserve heat the whole building was: enveloped in a special membrane to make it super-airtight; tested using the same air leakage assessment technology that Energy Imaging use; and then fitted with a ventilation system to recover heat from the air.

The UK building codes of 2006 introduced mandatory air leakage testing of new houses. Best practice for building air leakage is considered to be between 3 and 7 m3 of air, per hour, per m2 of permeable surafce area at a 50 Pascal (Pa) pressure difference between inside and out. Once a building gets below 3 at 50 Pa, mechanical ventilation is required to maintain indoor air quality. The home featured on Grand Designs achieved an impressive score of just 1.2. To put this into perspective, most houses we test in Canberra are between 15 and 25 at 50 Pa!

Australia is yet to introduce a maximum air leakage standard for new buildings despite it being the most cost effective way to achieve direct energy savings, reduce GHG emissions and improve comfort levels. It is also the simplest and most cost-effective way to retrofit an existing building.

NB: there is a difference between insulation and air leakage. Insulation does not prevent air leakage. Both insulation and air leakage must be addressed to achieve energy efficeincy. Your insulation cannot do its job if your precious heated air can escape directly through holes in the buidling envelope. If you are serious about improving the energy efficiency of your home: 1. seal the air leaks + 2. insulate thoroughly and evenly... 1 + 2 = 3 x more efficient heating in your average Canberra home.

Cool Lights!

50W halogen downlights have been hot stuff in the world of lighting for far too long - see an earlier blog for our thoughts on halogen downlights. Fortunately, there are some cool new alternatives, such as unvented 8W LEDs. See just how hot and just how cool below!

We decided to make a direct comparison and installed a 5W LED in place of one of five 50W halogens in a kitchen. The old halogen globe, light fitting and transformer were quickly and simply removed and the LED was installed directly into the existing hole in the gyprock (sometimes it can be a little trickier depending on the wiring set up).
The result is impressive - the new LED (on the right, above) is very bright and it casts a broader and more even light than the halogens. This kitchen will only need 3-4 LEDs (rather tha 5 halogens) that's a reduction from 250W to 24-32W!
Most impressive was the temperature difference. The lights were switched on at the same time and in less than 5 minutes the halogen was at 98 degrees and the LED was just 16 degrees! The LED is barely visible on the right hand side of the thermal image above. See below for close ups.
The LEDs not only reduce your lighting energy-use and fire risk, but because they are a completely sealed unit they prevent any air leakage (and they can be insulated over because they are so cool), significantly reducing heat loss... and therefore even more energy use!

You can read more about this partiuclar LED here.

Enviro Expo 12-13 June

Story from p20, Canberra City News May 28-June 3.

Energy Imaging and more than 30 other businesses/groups with a sustainability focus will be exhibiting at a free two-day Enviro Expo at the Queanbeyan Conference Centre as Queanbeyan City Council celebrates World Environment Day 2009.

The Expo, to be held on Friday June 12 and Saturday June 13, will showcase ways that the local community can reduce its impact and the environment.

Download a flyer and program of events here.

Alex Sloan decides to suck it and see!

Earlier this week we tested the house of ABC 666's Mornings presenter Alex Sloan. You may have heard an interview, that she recorded during the testing, go to air on Thursday 2nd April.

The original parts of Alex's house are nearly 80 years old and its been extended a couple of times in more recent years. No surprise - we found it to be very leaky. The beautiful old exposed floorboards were particularly sieve-like! The pleasant surprise was how generally well-sealed the windows and surrounding architraves were. Some clear insulation gaps were also spotted.

There is big potential to relatively quickly and inexpensively improve the energy efficiency and comfort level of the home. Having seen (and felt) the extent of the gaps, Alex seems pretty motivated to start plugging them up before Canberra winter hits. Dear old Bessie (the healthy, hot dog with cold nose) will appreciate the reduction in cool drafts too!

Green Loans - Home Sustainability Assessments

Energy Imaging have just become Green Loans Home Sustainability Assessors.

How does it work?

1. Firstly, households need to have a qualified household sustainability assessor investigate their current energy and water use. After participating in a household sustainability assessment the household will be provided with a tailored report on the best water and energy saving changes they can make to their property as well as practical information to help get them started.

2. the program will help households, who choose to undertake actions suggested by the assessment, with a Green Loan subsidy to significantly reduce the cost of loans of up to $10,000. The loans will be made available through partnering financial institutions. Details on the terms of loans will be available later this year.

Green MLA puts home to the test

ACT Greens MLA, Caroline Le Couteur, bravely invited Energy Imaging and The Canberra Times into her home to assess the quality of her insulation and measure the rate (and locate the areas) of air leakage. A story was published in the Canberra Times Earth Hour Supplement on March 18.

Insulation results were good - a thorough and even job with few gaps. This means the insulation can actually work to its quoted R value. Air leakage, however, was at the rate of17.7 air changes per hour at the test pressure of 50 Pa (modern North American and European homes aim for 1.5 - 3.0 at 50 Pa). At normal pressures, this equates to leaving a 35cm square window permanently open, or having the entire volume of air change 3 times per hour. Imagine that in the Canberra winter - whoosh goes your heated air (and money and green house gas emissions) every 20 minutes!

The Helix magazine does the draft test

The February-March issue of the CSIRO's The Helix magazine (www.csiro.au/thehelix) features a story about draft proofing and Energy Imaging, on page 8.

Free insulation for millions of homes!

Today, Kevin Rudd announced that the Australian Government will install free ceiling insulation in around 2.7 million Australian homes (http://www.pm.gov.au/media/Release/2009/media_release_0783.cfm)

This is good news but we are concerned that the Australian Government's focus on insulation:
1. will lead to more low quality installation of insulating materials (greatly reducing its cost effectiveness), and
2. ignores the enormous potential offered by simultaneously targeting air leakage control.

• 5% gaps in insulation reduce effectiveness by 50%
• air leakage can account for 30% of a home’s heating and cooling costs
• insulation does not stop air leakage

Overseas research has proven that air leakage control is the cheapest way to reduce energy loss from homes and—in combination with properly installed insulation—is the highest priority item for reducing energy use in buildings. Energy Imaging's results reveal that Canberra homes lose much of their winter heating and summer cooling via air leakage and improperly installed insulation.

Indoor air quality... easy as 1, 2, 3

Pollutants can be organised into three categories:
1. those originating outside the living space
2. those released by things inside the living space
3. those resulting from human metabolism and activities.

Examples of 1: airborne mould spores and pollen, radon in the soil, vehicle exhaust, garden chemicals, outgassing and particulates from insulation
Solution: Separate - make sure your house is well air sealed. Gaseous and particulate pollutants travel into the living space primarily by moving on air currents through holes and gaps in the structure.

Examples of 2: outgassing or particulates released from home furnishings or building materials directly exposed to the interior living space (paints, wall paneling, cabinetry, etc.), evaporation from cleaning and home-maintenance products, mould spores from colonies growing within the house, pollen from house plants
Solution: Eliminate - use less polluting alternatives. Choose low-outgassing paints and finishes, furniture without long-term formaldehyde emissions, less-noxious cleaning products. Find sources of moisture and fix them.

Examples of 3: carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, water vapor
Solution: Ventilate - that means controlled air change.. NOT relying on air change through permanent gaps and cracks in the building envelope! Local ventilation (exhaust fans) should be used intermittently to reduce humidity levels in kitchens and bathrooms quickly, while general ventilation should be ongoing in order to change the air in the entire house. Controlled ventilation can be passive ie. by opening windows, doors or vents. Mechanical ventilation is required in very air tight houses in cold climates.

Find out more in the article 'Improving Indoor Air Quality - What Works' published by the Healthy House Institute. Or check out the terrific 'Is Your House Killing You?' web site.

The low down on downlights

"Down, down, down with halogen down lights!" is my new mantra. "Don't do it!" I yell passionately in my energy auditing nightmares.

Quite simpy, halogen downlights are a disaster when it comes to energy efficiency, for the following reasons:
1. they are energy guzzlers
2. they create gaps in your insulation, reducing thermal efficiency dramatically
3. they get hot and so make their own little convection current which sucks the warm air, that rises to the ceiling, up into the roof space... making the pressure difference (or stack effect) in the room greater and drawing more cold air in from the cracks and gaps near your floor. Goodbye heated air, goodbye comfort and ooroo money!

When we run an air leakage assessment, standing beneath a downlight is like standing beneath a small ceiling fan, as air rushes in from the roof space. The thermal image above is of a downlight (not switched on) while we are depressurising the house - the rays of yellow are caused by the warm air from the roof space being drawn in around the edges of the unsealed and uninsulated, hot, energy guzzling downlight! Imagine the opposite happening in winter as you spend your precious pennies trying to keep your house warm... because that is exactly what happens :-(

A couple of other good reasons to avoid downlights:
a. they make gaps in the ceiling through which insulation fibres, dust, dirt and pollutants can drift into the house
b. they are a fire hazard

Read a more thorough analysis by Four Corners' reporter Jonathan Holmes and check out the options for making the best of a bad bunch if you're stuck in a house with lots of standard halogen downlights. There are several places online where you can check out more energy efficient downlight options and downlight covers that reduce the gaps in your insulation and the risk of fire.

Passive solar & sustainable... but how leaky?

Ric Butt, of Strine Environments, designs unique, passive solar sustainable houses that are typically warm, bright and spacious, with full glazing to the north. The thermal design of Strine homes virtually eliminates the need for heating and cooling throughout the year, even in the Canberra region. They are made from heavily insulated, precast concrete panels with a high quality finish. The panels are made to exacting standards (by Strine Products in Queanbeyan, NSW) to ensure that they fit together perfectly on site, and incorporate all necessary conduits for cables and services.

Yesterday, we put one of Strine's homes to the test with our blower door and thermal camera... and the results were impressive.

Our testing of Canberra homes (new and old) has so far shown the average number of air changes per hour (ACH) at 50 Pascals to be around 20. Modern European homes, built using advanced sealing techniques, aim for 1.5 - 3.0 ACH at 50 Pa (ie. they are very air tight, energy efficient and comfortable) and require mechanical ventilation systems to maintain healthy indoor air quality.

The three bedroom Strine 'Milennium' home, completed in 2006, had just 6.2 ACH at 50 Pa. At normal pressures of ~ 1 - 4 Pa the house was having roughly 1 - 1.5 ACH. For healthy indoor air quality 0.5 - 1.0 ACH are recommended. So the house is very air tight by Australian standards and if efforts were made to tighten it even further the homeowners would need to consider installing a heat exchange, mechanical ventilation system (to ensure good air quality when all the windows, doors and solar chimneys were closed).

The temperature of the precast concrete walls was remarkably even. Comparison of the external and internal temperatures of a section of eastern wall at 11.30 am on a sunny, 25 degree day showed a 20 degree difference (40.8 & 20.6 degrees, respectively).

Strine Environments is a unique partnership between Strine Design, Strine Products and Strine Building and can provide a leading edge, seamless environmental design and construction process.