The Energy Bill

There is an energy bill before Congress that needs your
attention. We know from the Department Of Energy, along with our
own field verification that the vast majority of homes in the U.S.,
more than 90 percent, suffer gross air leakage. The current dismal
home quality situation is occurring even in most new homes, even
those just finished yesterday, even many of the homes that are LEED
certified (again our own testing). It is not the fault of the
builders, nor the equipment providers. It is primarily a result of
our building tradition and our mostly mild climate.
We have gotten away with building loose and leaky homes for more
than a century because there was little or no perceived
consequence. Lately, we’ve just installed grossly oversized and
inefficient heating and AC systems that will overcome the
inadequate building standards, many still enforced today. Energy
costs, in real dollars, are less than half what they were 50 years
ago. There has been no financial drive to change. Those days are
numbered.
Congress is currently considering a new energy bill, that has
attached to it, economic stimulation language called “Home
Star”. That language will provide stimulus money to home owners who
add energy saving improvements to their homes. The crafting of the
Home Star language is critical, in preventing our nations home
occupants from being put in a dangerous or even deadly breathing
environment, as well as in preventing billions of stimulus dollars,
known as “Cash for Caulkers” from becoming just more carbon green
house gasses, going up chimney flues. 
With the stimulus money we can create an army of highly trained
technicians, drawn from currently unemployed, realtors, maintenance
or construction workers, returning vets, recent grads, kids at
risk, all from local areas. We can train them to do good measurable
work that they can be proud of, confirmed by immediate test
results.   
The materials used to do our work are generally locally
manufactured or at least regionally manufactured. The equipment
fittings and supplies we specify are most often made in America by
Americans. So let’s look at this: Local folks train local folks to
do local work with local materials and regional equipment. From
that simple, work model we reduce energy use, especially for
heating and cooling buildings, by significant margins. Another
delightful consequence we might expect is a drop in the symptoms
from asthma, allergy, and other respiratory ailments, fewer colds
and flu, and other maladies related to pollution or environment. So
we have local people, employed locally, earning and spending money
locally, that resulted from jobs that can’t be exported and will
never be obsolete. Their good fortune will manifest itself in more
jobs for the people who need to inspect their work and those who
supply them services or products. And so it goes to economic
recovery.
Prescribing the most important items be done first, while
postponing doing work that would have to be redone later, as
additional measures are implemented, we can occasionally take a
step by step approach. What we don’t want to do is throw a bunch of
insulation into un-tested, un-sealed attics because the
manufacturer says it’s a good idea or is having a sale.
We are in a position to really make a difference in long term
job development, and the recovery of the overall economy in Sonoma
County along with the rest of the bay area and the state.
Insistence in the strong bill language requiring measured
efficiency improvements in our home stock to receive government
assistance in the cost is critical. With that language, the money
will replicate itself in spending from savings from consumers. We
will need less fossil fuel. Let’s continue to be our nation’s
leader and model, in energy efficiency improvements.
Email your Senator and Representative and urge them to back Home
Star and strengthen its language. It is being considered this
week.
Arthur Beeken is a Building Performance Trainer, Coach &
Mentor based in Healdsburg.