Buildings and Energy Use
It’s easy to see how a car uses large amounts of energy; it moves fast and showers us with light, noise and fumes in the process. But transportation is not the largest user of energy in the United States. Buildings are. They sit quietly, consuming energy at a shocking rate, day after day and year after year. Buildings are responsible for 48% of the total energy used in the united states each year, which makes them prime targets for energy conservation programs, energy efficiency measures and renewable energy installations.
Building Efficiency
The energy that goes into an existing house doesn’t necessarily stay there. Most of that energy is used to heat or cool the space, but hot and cold areas constantly strive to exchange their thermal energy. The warmth inside a house acts as if it actually wants to get out into the cold winter air. So an efficient house must be carefully constructed (and/or renovated) to minimize the transfer of heat.
The key concepts for stopping unwanted heat transfer are air sealing and insulation. This makes a simple tube of caulk the best penny-for-penny investment for increasing the performance of most existing homes. Adding insulation to ceilings and walls comes in a close second.
Energy Audits
The efficiency of a building can be measured and rated. This is accomplished through an energy audit, or a study of a building’s energy use. An audit may include a blower door test, which measures air leakage in the building. Some auditors use an infrared camera to see hot and cold areas where energy is escaping the building. Energy auditors specialize in identifying these points of energy loss and recommending improvements - and before and after audits can reveal the effects of any improvements that have been made.
Home Size
The average American currently has almost as much space to themselves as an entire family home had back in 1950. Of course, bigger houses require more materials, which is bad news in terms of embodied energy costs - the energy that goes into manufacturing and transporting every building material. And bigger buildings also require much more energy to heat, cool and maintain. The good news is that recent census data shows that home size is now on its way down for the first time since 1960. New home construction is clearly trending toward smaller, smarter, more resource-efficient homes that cost less to operate and last longer. With careful planning and attention to detail, a new building can easily cut it’s lifetime energy use in half.
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