Making homes more energy efficient

[Rick Rowlands]

You are talking about Radon gas.  My house does not have a radon gas problem as we have PLENTY of holes for it to escape! 

These Green Party people have good ideas but they always seem to take those ideas too far.  This was a great article up until "zero-energy" was uttered, and then I thought "This guy is a kook", and he lost all credibility with me.

If the Green Party would take their ideas out of the realm of impossibility and into the realm of practicality then maybe they would gain some new supporters. Zero energy homes will never happen, just as we will never be able to run our country on solar and wind power and eliminate coal and nuclear.  Set incremental goals that will get our country closer to that point, but by all means keep people such as Rob Sargent away from reporters, spouting off insane comments such as zero-energy homes!

[Towntalk]

"Much work needs to be done to move America toward a future of super-efficient and, better yet, zero-energy buildings," said our chief energy advocate, Rob Sargent. "But this step signifies progress, and we're happy to see it."

How are you going to make a building "zero-energy" free?

I seem to recall that some time ago builders did design homes that were so insulated that even in the coldest day they used less energy than other homes but ran into problems with some sort of radiation that is in the ground that could not escape and made people sick.

Zero-energy implies that absolutely no energy would be used. Even if you use solar panels and thermal energy as opposed to First Energy power your home would not acheve the Zero point. Even if the whole roof was a solar panel, you would require power from an electric utility, and what about winters when the roofs are covered with snow. Are you going to get up there and sweep the snow off the panels?

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a home that fit the description of Zero-energy, but could I afford such a home?

[irishbobcat]

Making homes more energy efficient
In September, state building code officials from across the country approved the largest improvement in building codes in recent history. The move will increase the energy efficiency of new homes by as much as 20 percent.

Environment America called for making building codes 30 percent more efficient—a goal that our research showed was feasible with current technology. To make our case we released a white paper in July titled "Building an Energy-Efficient America." Later that month, Environment Maryland's Brad Heavner testified before a key congressional committee, urging federal support for proposals to improve building efficiency.

"Much work needs to be done to move America toward a future of super-efficient and, better yet, zero-energy buildings," said our chief energy advocate, Rob Sargent. "But this step signifies progress, and we're happy to see it."

The Green Movement will begin with a caulk gun.......

Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Green Party
Ohio Green Party

www.ohiogreens.org

www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/