Weatherization and energy efficiency improvement for existing homes

"Providing a proven set of energy efficiency measures and opportunities for saving energy and reducing operating costs for existing homes, this volume presents general tools and procedures for performing home weatherization such as insulation improvements as well as methods to reduce air leakage. The author describes several techniques and technologies that can reduce energy use or operating costs, including methods to retrofit existing homes to be net-zero energy buildings. Each chapter contains simplified calculation methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of various efficiency measures. The final chapter offers a series of case studies including examples of weatherized homes"-- "PREFACE Buildings account for 40% of the total primary energy consumption in the world. The contribution of residential buildings to the national energy use is significantly higher than that of commercial buildings. Indeed, household energy consumption is rising in several countries due to desire of larger homes, expectation of better comfort levels, and use of more appliances. In the last five years, significant investments are being made, especially in the US and Europe, to improve the energy efficiency of existing residential building through weatherization, energy auditing, and retrofitting programs. It is a consensus among all countries, that well trained energy auditors are essential to the success of these building energy efficiency programs. A recent US study has found that most energy audits conducted for weatherization of residential buildings suffer from common deficiencies including inadequate utility data analysis, limited scope of the evaluated energy efficiency measures, and inaccurate methods used for estimating energy savings and cost-effectiveness of the recommended retrofits. It is the purpose of this book to provide a training guide for energy auditing specific to weatherization programs targeting residential buildings. In particular, the book presents systematic and well proven engineering analysis methods and techniques to household reduce energy use and better implement weatherization programs for residential buildings. "--