A growing number of states are showing US leadership on clean energy by adopting energy-saving rules for buildings, appliances, and vehicles, according to the 2019 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
A major benchmark is net-zero energy ready performance. This is best achieved by creating a building that is very efficient in conserving energy first.
It is well known that buildings consume more energy than the transportation or industry sectors, accounting for nearly 40 percent of total U.S. energy use.
One baseball backstop supplier notes that it protects fans from stray or foul balls. In the realm of energy code compliance, a building envelope backstop is needed for similar reasons.
Three previous articles in this series addressed the significance of air leakage control, various air barrier materials and methods, and installation and inspection practices. In this fourth and final article, we address blower door air-leakage testing.
Crandell’s presentation provides an excellent primer on the many applications of continuous insulation based on a comprehensive body of building science knowledge resulting in recent building code and energy code advancements.
In this article we’ll present the two methods that work together to achieve compliance with modern energy code air leakage requirements.
Unlike boats, a building’s walls must have some capability to “breathe” instead of being totally impervious to all forms of water.
For a boat hull, it is best to essentially eliminate wetting potential with the use of a highly water- and vapor- resistive hull, or at least outer coating on the hull, right?
In the U.S., our understanding of air leakage through building envelopes has evolved over the course of 100 years or more.