Comments on: Stockton Project Demonstrates Huge Home Energy Savings

By: Cameron Taylor

Cameron Taylor — Fri, 23 May 2014 07:43:35 +0000

Nate, I have felt the same
Nate, I have felt the same way about "the spectrum" for a long time, now. Typical of Americans we get all googley eyed over passive design, boutique extreme energy efficient dwellings, net zero, etc. but ignore the elephant in the room, which is the vast existing housing stock that with even modest levels of retrofit can perform much better than they currently do, in terms of both energy reduction and comfort.

Allison, thanks for posting this article. This is the kind of stuff I love hearing about, snd learning from. And great job with that teaser photo of the "reference system"...it set off quite a few "hack job" alarms! :)

By: Nate Adams

Nate Adams — Wed, 21 May 2014 07:32:08 +0000

John - Hear, hear! What you
John - Hear, hear! What you are proposing is EXACTLY what I am trying to do here in Cleveland. Design solutions that are well beyond a simple prescriptive attic job, but a good bit short of a deep energy retrofit. $15-30K will do A LOT in most houses. With a 15 year term, that's $100-200/mo to get a lot of comfort, too.

Thank you SO MUCH for doing what you are doing. We need to stop only doing the extremes of the spectrum - not much or going overboard, and do the middle stuff that people can afford.

By: John Proctor

John Proctor — Tue, 20 May 2014 21:35:03 +0000

Allison et al. One of my
Allison et al. One of my continuing frustrations is that with the global temperatures rising people keep looking at exotics rather than figuring our how we can get the vast majority of buildings to perform much better with simple known items. Another frustration is the notion of cost effectiveness that often results in us robbing from future generations. Not everyone has the disposable income to do a deep energy retrofit. What we need as a society (as a species) is to figure out how we can accomplish the energy efficiency upgrades for most of our buildings.

By: John Proctor

John Proctor — Tue, 20 May 2014 20:59:15 +0000

The high temperature in
The high temperature in Stockton last Wednesday was 97 degrees F, Last Thursday the high was 99 degrees F.

By: John Proctor

John Proctor — Tue, 20 May 2014 20:52:15 +0000

The link to the presentation
The link to the presentation at Affordable Comfort is: http://www.proctoreng.com/dnld/CentralValleyResearchHouses2014.pdf 
One of my thoughts about all this is that the simple upgrades (many long known) are sufficient to provide massive reductions in heating and cooling use in US homes. Wall and Ceiling insulation, Attic air sealing, Minimized duct surface area (short runs with smaller ACs and furnaces) Buried ducts in dry climates, High CFM per ton in dry climates, High Sensible EER in dry climates, Good windows if you have really bad ones (after the items listed before)

By: Allison Bailes

Allison Bailes — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:58:21 +0000

David E.:
David E.: Ah, I see. The graph above shows the 24 hour average temperature, so that's where the confusion entered. Even in July, Stockton's average low temperature is 59° F because it's so dry, so the 24 hour average temperature on a design day is going to be in the 70s. You're right about winter, though. They are pretty mild there.

Ryan R.: Two of the houses above did get their walls insulated. The Mayfair had no wall insulation, and the Grange had only foil insulation.

By: Ryan Rutledge

Ryan Rutledge — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:31:50 +0000

It would be interesting to
It would be interesting to see energy usage from a house built before 1920. The wall cavity in those homes creates a great opportunity to see a remarkable difference once the upgrades (wall insulation among others) were made.

By: David Eakin

David Eakin — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:29:23 +0000

Not facetious at all - just
Not facetious at all - just going by the cooling data above (must have been fairly cool during the testing period if the design temp is 97). My cooling seasonal swings (SE PA) are much larger with much more latent humidity to contend with, and imagine our heating season swings are also much more extreme.

My relatives in the Bay area have PG&E; and their payments are a fraction of what I pay. I did not know PG&E;'s electric/gas rate; might be that their microclimate is much more mild than Central Valley or that their specific utility rates are lower. IDK
Still am interested in this specific project's cost/benefit analysis.

By: Allison Bailes

Allison Bailes — Tue, 20 May 2014 18:49:29 +0000

David E.:
David E.: I can't tell if you're being facetious or not, but Stockton is in the Central Valley and is definitely not a mild climate. Their cooling design temperature is 97° F. Nor does it have low electric rates. Currently, PG&E; is charging $0.14 to $0.36 per kWh, depending on consumption.

By: David Eakin

David Eakin — Tue, 20 May 2014 18:15:01 +0000

I would also be interested in
I would also be interested in the cost-benefit analysis – especially in mild climate/low-cost PG&E; territory. [I’d love to have the “problem” of contending with 63-79 degree seasonal temperature swings!] Too bad the experimenters did not have volunteer residents as qualitative comfort improvements would have been as interesting as the quantitative.