Improving the Energy Performance of Homes and Households
7:00 PM
November 15, 2007
First Presbyterian Church
Wooster, OHPresenters: Allen Zimmerman, Professor, The Ohio State University, Wooster Campus, ATI and students enrolled in the Construction Management Program.
Energy consumption is the most important criteria in green home design and performance. Limiting energy use outranks such factors as material selection and energy source considerations in determining the “greenness” of a house. Energy conservation can be achieved in two different ways: reducing the amount of primary energy consumed to supply the useful energy requirement (energy efficiency) and reducing the end point use of nonessential energy.
Energy efficiency in homes can be increased by such measures as improving the thermal performance of the building and installation of high efficiency heating and cooling equipment, lighting, and appliances. Likewise, the consumption of nonessential energy can be reduced when occupants adopt such practices as adjusting thermostats lower in the winter and higher in the summer, turning off lamps in unoccupied rooms, lowering the temperature setting of the water heater, turning off electrical equipment completely when not in use, and only space conditioning occupied rooms.
This informal and interactive session will present straightforward, sensible, practical, and affordable ways to improve the energy performance of homes and households with emphasis on new home design, retrofitting existing homes, and occupant behavior. Two simple and easily calculated indicators which homeowners and others can use to measure, compare, and evaluate the actual real-world energy performance of home/occupant combinations (analogous to the miles per gallon fuel utilization indicator used for passenger vehicle/driver combinations) will also be discussed. Active audience participation is welcomed and encouraged.
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