Issue 3 Volume 5

March 2007

Legislation Introduced in Congress to Extend and Amend Energy Tax Incentives

Legislation to extend and amend the federal tax incentives for energy efficiency has been introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Both bills drew an impressive bipartisan list of co-sponsors. In terms of building energy performance
the House and Senate bill is essentially the same as was contained in last year's Snowe-Feinstein legislation.

It extends the new homes credit through 2010, establishes a performance based credit for existing homes, and amends the commercial buildings incentive.

The Senate introduced S 822. The House introduced the House companion bill, HR 1385. The bill is backed by a dynamic diversity of organizations.

In introducing the legislation, Senator Snowe stated, “The Senators have come together – given where we are as a Nation in terms of reliance on foreign oil … the historically high costs of energy… the state of our environment … and the status of our technological know-how – to introduce realistic, doable legislation that represents one of the best opportunities for developing bipartisan consensus on tax policy to further securing our nation and its future.” House sponsor Congressman McDermott stated, “We’ve got to think in terms of energy efficiency, in addition to clean energy production, and we’ve got to focus our efforts where they can have the greatest impact in the least amount of time. The homes we live in and the offices we work in actually
account for the greatest amount of carbon emissions in the U.S., even bigger than automobiles.”

Steve Baden, Executive Director of RESNET lauded the legislation, stating, “The tax incentives for energy efficiency contained in the 2005 Energy Policy Act provide a critical boost to market transformation of cost-effective energy efficient technologies. This is even more timely with the growing concern over global climate change and our addiction to foreign oil.”

To download information on the new bills proposed in Congress go to:
www.resnet.us/hotnews/2007-03-09.htm

Chase Bank, a leading global financial services firm, has formed a partnership with Demilec USA and Guaranteed Watt Saver Systems, Inc. (GWS) to assist the housing industry in it's efforts to go green.

The program, formed by Demilec USA LLC, enables consumers to own a healthier, more comfortable and energy efficient home. The Seal-Solid™
Energy Efficient Solutions mandates a level of energy efficiency more stringent than those currently in place for the Energy Star Program. This allows homeowners to make an investment in energy smart designs, such as the closed attic assembly using Demilec spray foam insulation, Sealection™ 500 and Heatlok™, for the benefit of future generations with little or no up front costs. Chase Bank has agreed to offer financial incentives on these homes in order to provide an increased awareness to the need for energy efficiency in American culture.

GWS has been selected as the third party verifier to qualify these homes. GWS is a national HERS Rater Provider. The firm's engineers are LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Accredited Professionals and GWS has been honored to serve as one of the few LEED for Homes Pilot Providers in the nation. The firm is also one of three American Lung Association - Health House Providers nationwide.

For more information visit www.sealsolid.com.

Information Bites

An overwhelming majority of consumers – 92 percent – agree that business, government, and consumers have an equal responsibility to reduce energy use - Alliance to Save Energy, 2003 Consumer Market Research.

Eighty percent of American consumers agree that America needs to reduce oil imports - Alliance to Save Energy, 2003 Consumer Market Research.

According to estimates from the Energy Information Administration, in just two decades U.S. energy consumption will increase by almost 40 percent – an amount equivalent to the energy used today in California, Texas, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois --Alliance to Save Energy.

Spray Foam Insulation
by Curtis Maxwell, GWS City Manager-Oklahoma City

Spray foam insulation is usually defined by its density. There are three main types of spray foam that are installed in homes. Three-pound foam is installed on roofs. Occasionally, an inch of two-pound foam is installed in exterior walls, which then gets covered with other insulation products. Half-pound foam is the insulation you'll typically find installed at the underside of roof sheathing and in exterior walls.

The denser the foam the more expensive it is. Think of it this way, one cubic foot of three pound foam has six times more raw material than one cubic foot of half-pound foam. This is one of the principal advantages of half-pound foam; it simply costs less than denser sprayed-in foams. Foam is expensive to begin with, so using lighter density products makes sense.

One of the advantages of the denser foam is that the R-value per inch is greater. Instead of R-values ranging from R-3.6 to R-4.0 per inch for half-pound foam, the denser foams trap a denser gas than air and thus have aged R-values of approximately 6. We install both half-pound and two-pound foam, and in most cases we feel half-pound foam is a much better value because of the economics. Another consideration is that half-pound foam has characteristics that permit the foam and roof assembly to dry in the event of a roof leak. A denser foam will trap moisture between the foam and the roof sheathing, which can create building durability problems. We believe that the greater the drying potential of a building assembly, the greater the building durability and building durability is a key component of our criterion for a high performance home.

There are a variety of manufactures of half-pound foam in the market. The most widely known is Icynene. Icynene is good foam, just like Demilec Foam, Biobased Foam, and North Carolina Foam. These foams are known as semi-open celled and semi-rigid when installed. They are water-blown foams, contain no formaldehyde, and emit no harmful VOC’s or CFCs. As mentioned, half-pound foams have R-values ranging from R-3.6 to R-4.0 per inch.

For more information, please contact GWS @ 1-888-488-0206 or visit our web site www.gwssi.com.

May 3, 2007
Francis Tuttle – Rockwell Campus
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

"Best of Building Science.com" on line training www.bestofbuildingscience.com are lessons learned from the nation's foremost building science professionals and is specifically designed for builders, sub-contractors and design professionals in the residential construction business.

Best of Building Science.com LIVE offers a one day building science training that gives you the opportunity to preview the training sessions "LIVE"

Some of our presenters include:

• Sam Rashkin - Environmental Protection Agency
• Kelly Parker P.E.- President, RESNET & GWS
• Hank Rutkowski P.E.- Author of " Manual J-the document"

Some of the topics will include:

• Hands On Building Science LIVE, EEBA Applied
• HVAC Training for Contractors
• Marketing & Sales of the High Performance Green Home
• Energy Star for New Homes
• State of Global Energy & Green Building
• Federal & State Tax Incentives

For information regarding this event or for sponsorship opportunities click here or please contact Julie Porter at 612-232-7598 or Jenna Anderson at 952-426-5340.

Energy Efficiency Global Forum
and Exposition

November 11-14, 2007 at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center

The Alliance to Save Energy's inaugural conference will serve as the premier gathering and showcase for the energy-efficiency industry. EE Global will attract industry professionals, academics and policy makers from around the world to promote the efficient use of energy through a curriculum aimed at sharing best practices and unifying the public and private sectors. Please visit www.eeglobalforum.com for more information.