Some companies install shades. Others install temperature sensors and take infrared readings over a three-week period to determine the R-values resulting in an optimal, energy-efficient shade.
Count Steven Winters Associates Inc. in that latter crowd ”“ and count the U.S. Department of Energy taking a key interest in the company”™s efforts to shed light on emerging techniques for improving the energy efficiency of homes.
Led by Steven Winters Associates Inc., the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings is one of 15 partnerships to divvy up $30 million recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, under a program designed to address barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within reach for all Americans, both for newly built homes and retrofits of existing homes.
Other CARB members include:
Ӣ Magrann Associates in Moorestown, N.J.;
Ӣ the Alliance to Save Energy in Washington, D.C.;
Ӣ Pratt Center for Community Development in New York City;
Ӣ the University of Florida;
Ӣ GreenBuilder Media in Cincinnati;
Ӣ Jay Hall & Associates in Annapolis, Md.; and
Ӣ Masco Corp. in Taylor, Mich.
The Department of Energy received nearly 50 applications; grant winners also included the Advanced Residential Integrated Energy Solutions (ARIES) led by Levy Partnership in New York City.
Steven Winters said his company traces its involvement with DOE grants back through the Building America program. CARB is only one of a wide range of projects getting funding today under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ”“ in the past month, DOE has also promoted a “cool roofs” initiative to save energy through the use of light- and heat-reflecting materials on rooftops.
“Everyone comes in our office wanting green roofs and photovoltaics so they can point it out to their neighbors,” Winters said. “But it is less (cost-effective) than just really well-designed stuff ”¦ like ductwork.”
The size of new U.S. single-family homes completed in 2009 declined, dropping to a nationwide average of under 2,500 square feet and reversing trend of the past three decades, according to a National Association of Home Builders. One reason for the drop, NAHB noted, was homeowners”™ desire to keep energy costs in check, a trend the association said was likely to continue.
Despite the tendency toward a smaller footprint, overall energy usage has been growing, with air conditioning the likely culprit. In the Northeast today, three in four homes have air conditioning, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Home energy efficiency is one of the easiest, most immediate and most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon pollution and save money on energy bills, while creating new jobs,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, in a prepared statement. “By developing and using tools to reduce residential energy use, we will spur economic growth here in America and help homeowners make cost-cutting improvements in their homes.”
Teams will receive as much as $2.5 million depending on how they perform under the program. A total of up to $20 million per year will also be made available for the partnerships for three potential one-year extensions.
For his own house in Danbury? Winters says his next big-ticket item will likely be a solar array, saying he has already accomplished most of the other checkboxes on his own list of home improvements.
“I think people (in Connecticut) are ”˜getting it”™ more, but the sponsorship and incentives are much greater in New York state and New Jersey,” Winters said. “There are huge carrots and sticks ”¦ those really drive the information and the market.”
