A Conditioned Crawl Space is one that has one or more heating/ac supply ducts in it. The underlying idea is to keep the crawl space at a slightly positive pressure. This means that the crawl space, which by nature of its position at the bottom of a building or house, in its natural state, is usually under a negative pressure. What does that mean? It means in common terms– it is always sucking in moisture and air. Crawl spaces have been verified to have sucked in moisture from 40′ away. A crawl space under a negative pressure, naturally sucks in outside air and moisture, and this is what we want to prevent, the sucking, along with keeping the temperature of the crawl space somewhat moderate in temperature and relative humidity. Now to do this we put in a one or more HVAC supply vents, to keep the positive pressure and prevent the sucking in of contaminants, etc.
Conditioned Crawl Pre-Floor JoistsConditioned Crawl-Foundation and Rim
Well now some group of highly intelligent people of a nether world have made it code to now include a return duct in this crawl space. So now we are back to the negative pressure crawl space. We put air in, we take it out and we suck more in from outside. This means radon, other contaminants, moisture, is now brought into our duct system purposely.
This is a prime example of Green Stupid. Wait until someone proves that the return, because a leak occurred in a gas furnace, put in a conditioned crawl space, caused death by spreading carbon monoxide gas or bringing excessive radon into a home, there will be hell to pay. Dumb, dumb, and dumber.
It is beginning to dawn on me that I may have started building energy efficient housing and historical renovations 35 years too soon, but better late then never. Somewhere in Valhalla, lucky for me, the Supreme Being ordered up a world I envisioned 40 years ago and said, “Bob, go to it!” I believed that $5 a gallon of gas would have occurred in the late 70’s and by the end of the Century we would have been paying close to $10 per gallon. Many people are, just not in this country.
I believed us American’s would have demanded strict energy efficient laws, designs and practices in the construction of buildings and houses back in the early 80’s. At the very least that cars and trucks would have been required, at a minimum, to get over 30 miles to a gallon of gas. What happened? The great despisers of the establishment(Us Boomers), became the establishment and the most dedicated Capitalist’s and consumers the world has seen. The sons and daughters of the “Greatest Generation,” the group that put their lives on the line for a better world for the future, sold out for luxury, consumerism and short term goals. We gave up going to the moon for going on vacation. We could have done both.
I did my first passive solar house in 1977, my first super-insulated house in 1979, my first solar thermal system in 1980. My reputation and building business was predicated on this belief in energy conservation. Never in my wildest imagination did I believe it would be back-seated for 35 years. Frankly I have never built, renovated or designed a home or older building without paying strict attention to energy, particularly insulation. But I was certainly in the minority.
Now the demand for competent, practical and knowledgeable practitioners of Sustainable, Energy Efficient, High Performance , Green building exceeds the supply. Actual builders and individuals who know how to apply these methods in a cost effective manner are few and far between. This situation will only worsen over the next couple of years as individuals and business entity’s continue to jump on the Green Bandwagon. The real caution here is that many will only have enough knowledge to get them into trouble. In other words their mouth will exceed their ability. There are going to be many horror story’s and litigation issues over the next few years as the industry continues to evolve.
While their are many dedicated Green Building advocates–there are minuscule amounts of individuals who can take classroom blackboard theory to applied, practical reality. There are even fewer who recognize that in order for the “Green” movement to become main-stream, which it struggles to do even now, that practical cost vs. value added decisions have to be made. I mean who is going to put in a building system that has an 80 year payback? It may be the right thing to do, but the reality is not everyone can afford what is right.
Somewhere along the line, we have to accept a new standard for evaluating buildings. We have to leave behind the thought that Initial Cost is the primary consideration of judging a building or home. We have to begin to look at “The initial cost plus the occupancy/operational costs over the course of a buildings life” is the true cost of a building. Investors in multi-family and commercial buildings have long looked at a building in these terms. Let’s all join the party.
Some time ago the “Zits” Daily Comic Strip showed the main character, a teenager, sitting in a chair contemplating equations, calculus, formula’s and other examples of our fixation with complicated solutions to all problems. The last scene is the same teenager asking how to make toast, with the toaster in front of him. It is analogous to the fact that we, the United States has become fixated on arriving at complicated solutions to simple issues.
Zero Energy Apartments
Daily we in the “Green” building business are inundated with messages invoking Green principles. So much so that a normal layman having minimal knowledge of the purpose of “Green” building, or as I call it, Energy Efficient-Sustainable Building, would be hard pressed to understand what this movement or trend is about. Everything all of a sudden is Green. It’s kind of like a pendulum where one day we are minimally aware of Green Building and the next day it has swung 180 degrees to the point of everyone being aware with a proliferation of experts. In this day of Green expertise, you can be a shoe salesman one day and a solar expert the next. The real problem is who do you believe or what do you believe?
One of the greatest sources of confusion is the lack of a recognized, all-encompassing standard to begin with and venture from there.
If you work in the residential field, you have Energy Star for New Homes, Home Performance by Energy Star, Department of Energy’s Build America and Builder’s Challenge, LEED for Homes, the National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program, EarthCraft House, Passive House, along with many other local and regional Green Residential Building programs. This does not even include the new program working its way through Congress–the jobs/energy efficient homes bill called HomeStar.
If you work in the commercial field, the 1000 lb Gorilla in the field is the United States Green Building Council’s(USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design(LEED). Now under LEED, you have LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations, LEED for Core and Shell, LEED for Schools, LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance, LEED for Commercial Interiors, LEED for Retail, and LEED for Healthcare.
Besides LEED in the commercial field you have Standard 189 or 189.1 shortly, GBI America’s National Standard for Commercial Green Buildings and Energy Star’s Commercial Building Design. These are just a few.
To tell you the truth, I am confused–I get overwhelmed. I spend hours daily trying to keep up. Thinking that maybe someone has discovered the missing link, but whoa, it is usually just a spin on what we already know.
I got involved in this energy efficiency business back in the 70’s. To me, it was about improving energy efficiency in buildings. Then I expanded to Solar thinking– this was an alternative path to weaning the US off of foreign oil or oil period, over a period of time, kind of like going to the moon. Then I started thinking about buildings that last without substantial yearly maintenance. Now I look and see a rush for designations by some third-party standard, that costs additional money, but at times adds no overall benefit, just the designation and I lose sight of why I am involved.
To get my bearings and focus back I have to constantly reread an article by the superhero of buildings scientists, my idol, the highly respected, practical, irreverent, tell it like it is, Dr. Joe Lstiburek of Building Science Corporation entitled “Prioritizing Green, It’s the Energy Stupid!” He credits the quote to Edward Mazria, the noted architect. But reading that article by Dr. Joe brings me back to reality and why I am involved. Frankly, we are losing the practically minded people by not focusing on the real issues that started this: Energy Efficiency and Building Buildings that are healthier, operate better and don’t fall apart in a few years.
Renovation, Adaptive-ReUse and Affordable Housing Building Advisers.
