Orlando, FL December 24, 2011 - The Building America Retrofit Alliance (BARA), one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building America teams, today announced their participation in the Cool Energy House (CEH) project. The CEH demonstration project is located in Windermere, Fla., and will highlight the use of Building America vetted technical innovations to achieve peak energy performance, all in the context of a traditional remodeling project.
Working in close collaboration with the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings to design and engineer the CEH to achieve peak energy performance, BARA and their industry partners will demonstrate more than 10 proven, energy-efficiency upgrade measures that together will reduce the energy usage of a 1996-“spec-built” home by over 50%. The CEH’s key energy-saving measures include: air sealing and re-insulation; window, door, appliance, lighting and pool pump replacement; mechanical system replacement and air duct sealing; and cool roofing and novel building envelope additions. The home’s energy-focused makeover illustrates cost/performance trade-offs suggested by recently-developed building-energy optimization software (BEopt), created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Remodels, retrofits, and home-performance upgrades are promising and profitable strategies for forward-thinking builders in a tough market. For existing remodeling companies, offering educated strategies to help customers make the most of their home performance just makes good business sense. The CEH demonstration will serve as an “explainer” to help market leaders learn to incorporate more aggressive energy solutions into their projects. The interactive tour will offer information stations and multimedia materials to effectively communicate some of the research results from the Building America program and help contractors understand how to integrate technical innovations into a high performance retrofit business.
The CEH project is sponsored in part by the DOE’s Building America Program, Johns Manville, Simonton Windows®, Panasonic, Metal Roofing Alliance, and DuPont™ Tyvek® with additional contributions from Therma-Tru, Fypon, GE, Hayward®, Lennox®, Honeywell, Clopay, LiftMaster, Formica, BASF, FischerSIPS, and Structural Insulated Panel Association. In addition to these key partnerships, the CEH project welcomes media partners Qualified Remodeler and Scripps Networks Interactive – HGTVRemodels.com. The launch of the CEH project coincides with the debut of the new HGTVRemodels website. HGTVRemodels.com will be utilizing the CEH project and key events at IBS to educate their professional and consumer audiences on innovations employed in the home.The CEH will be completed in conjunction with the 2012 International Builders Show.
About Building America Retrofit Alliance
BARA is a U.S. Department of Energy Building America team led by Building Media, Inc. BARA combines technical expertise and real-world experience with communications and outreach expertise to bridge the gap between residential energy technology research and the construction market. The BARA team's strength is derived from its highly qualified, multidisciplinary members: Building Media, Inc., the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Steve Easley and Associates, and Confluence Communications. For more information, visit barateam.org.
About Building America
The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America program is engineering the American home for energy performance, durability, quality, affordability, and comfort. Building America is an industry-driven, cost-shared research program working with national laboratories and building science research teams to accelerate the development and adoption of advanced building energy technologies and practices in new and existing homes. The program works closely with industry partners to develop innovative, real-world solutions that achieve significant energy and cost savings for homeowners and builders. For more information, visit buildingamerica.gov.
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