NET-ZERO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS
Products & People04
According to home energy researchers, good products alone won’t guarantee a net-zero house. But, if you can tame the lifestyle monster, there are plenty of products and materials to take you the rest of the way.
BY DAN MCCUE
> For additional information, visit the Building America website at
www1.eere.energy. gov/buildings/building_america/. The site is a font of information, providing access to, among other things, webinars, a national residential efficiency measures database, and a Building America publications library.
To create this short list of 25 products, our editors scoured completed ZNE home projects, identifying products chosen and used effectively by highly competent green builders. But there’s a caveat: Potential home-owners need to be on board with the concept.
That’s why Ren Anderson, manager for the residential energy research group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), recommends that homeowners and their contractors begin with a hierarchal, rather than all-encompassing, approach to decisions about the “green” and energy-efficient elements that will be incorporated into a project. And that includes lifestyle.
“When people make decisions about their energy usage and ways to live more sustainably, they often do so based on hypotheticals and assumptions that may or may not be born out over time,” says Anderson, whose office serves as technical manager of Building America, the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s effort to re-engineer the American home for energy performance, durability, quality, affordability, and comfort.
“Our goal is to save people money through energy-efficient improvements today, or at the minimum, at least break even,” he explains.
In Anderson’s view, all homeowners approach improving the energy efficiency of their homes with a certain budget and a certain set of goals. It’s up to the builder or other contractor to look at the marginal costs and savings associated with each improvement in energy efficiency, and order those from the low-hanging fruit to the more expensive items. And the owners need to decide what kind of energy-use lifestyle they’re willing to embrace.
“You have to ask the homeowner, ‘Okay, how far do you want to go?’” Anderson says.
Once that choice is made, and you enter the product selection phase, you may want to compare your product recommendations to this list of 25 products that other builders have been using in their ZNE projects:
SHERWIN-WILLIAMS ZERO VOCE PROGREEN 200 PAINT
Identified by the “GreenSure” symbol, Sherwin-Williams’ ProGreen 200 interior latex paint is ideal for painting occupied areas—thereby eliminating scheduling hassles— while its durability and competitive pricing are perfect for commercial construction applications. Low VOC, 50g/l, and low odor, ProGreen 200 is available in primer, flat, eggshell, and semi-gloss.
www.sherwin-williams.com
AMERICAN STANDARD ULTRA-LOW FLOW DUAL-FLUSH TOILET
American Standard’s new dual-flush FloWise toilet provides the homeowner with the flexibility to choose between a standard 1.6 gpf and a mere 0.8 gpf, with the partial flush utilizing 33% less water. FloWise toilets also bear the EPA’s WaterSense label, meaning they perform as well or better than their less efficient counterparts, are 20% more water efficient than average products in their category, and provide measurable water-saving results that have received independent, third-party certification. Unit specs include a rim height of 16-1/2 inches, a 12-inch rough-in, and a chrome-plated top-mounted push-button actuator.
www.americanstandard-us.com
07.2011
39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76