Last night I attended the latest meeting of volunteers looking to certify the Built Green Resource Center in town. The Energy & Atmosphere group met early to conduct measurements of the rooms and find more information about the electrical systems in place. Upon inspection we learned a few crucial pieces of information. Mainly, the windows put in during renovation are single-pane with a film placed over them and there is a huge skylight in the gallery. Also, heating and cooling are both run on electricity. I learned last night that this is seen as a negative, especially here in California. Utilities are worried about peak demand and frown upon relying solely on electricity. The PV panels on the roof help, but hopefully the current tenants maintain this educational center for a long time. Otherwise, the next building owner could decide to take them down, increasing the building's demand on the grid.

As many know, single-pane windows will contribute to massive heat loss and will ding us in the certification process. At the moment the Santa Barbara Contractors Association has no plans to replace them, especially considering they were just put in. I don't know the specifics of a step up to double or even triple pane, but I imagine the increase in efficiency to be enormous.

The skylight will also contribute to heat loss and gain, however it has a shade that can be manually controlled. I've always found building automation systems fascinating, and one is in use at this location. The classroom has window shades as well, which can be programmed to operate at certain times. What always happens with these systems however, to quote a fellow volunteer, is that people always want to have control over their surroundings. They don't like being told when the shade will go down or up, and will almost certainly put in a manual override on the system. This is too bad as these systems can contribute greatly to a building's efficiency.

Next time we meet we hope to take more measurements and fill out a take off sheet. With these calculations we can then plug them into Energy Pro and product an energy model. I have no experience with this, but am excited at the opportunity to learn more.

Do you have experience with the LEED EBOM rating system? I would love to hear your thoughts and advice regarding certification.