June 17th, 2013 — Energy Savings, Green Construction
Recent studies that have been sponsored on the behalf of NYSERDA, insulated vinyl siding has demonstrated that it contributes to energy consumption savings as well as savings in CO2 emissions and energy costs, which means that insulated vinyl siding is capable of outperforming fiber cement when these environmental measures and energy measures are compared between the two materials. These studies were recently conducted by a group called Newport Ventures as a part of the High Performance Residential Development Challenge on the behalf of NYSERDA. The studies included the analysis of homes that were in Saratoga Springs and Burnt Hills in New York.
In the Burnt Hills area, researchers performed a field test of the two products side by side, comparing fiber cement and insulated vinyl siding to one another. The test was conducted in the winter time on a two story colonial home that was built by a company called Stewart Construction. According to a thermal imaging comparison, there was clearly far less heat loss when it came to the insulated vinyl siding in comparison to the heat loss experienced by the fiber cement.
In addition to this side by side field test, researchers used a whole building energy simulation tool known as REM/Rate to evaluate the relative performance for each product. This analysis ended up finding that on average, the specification of the insulated vinyl siding compared to fiber cement would be able to provide an expected savings every year of $56 dollars just in electric utility and natural gas costs, as well as savings of 3.2 million Btu an 448 pounds worth of CO2 in a single year.
In the Saratoga Springs area, a single story home built by the Belmonte Builders company received the insulated vinyl siding. This home was the first Gold Rating home in the capital region of New York, with the Gold Rating coming from the LEED certification, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification offered by the United States Green Building Conference. By installing insulated vinyl siding, a home can achieve as many as three points under LEED, and as many as 205 points for the Green Building Standard, National ICC 700-2008.
The single story Saratoga Springs home also managed to confirm that both curb appeal and environmental performance are capable of going hand in hand. During an open house, 68 percent of visitors participating in a survey reported that they felt that the insulated vinyl siding was very attractive. 95 percent of those surveyed agreed that the visual appeal of the insulated vinyl siding was better than the average.
NYSERDA is the Energy Research and Development Authority for New York State. This is a public benefit group that focuses on the research and development of projects relating to environmental effects of the consumption of energy, the development of resources that are renewable and the advancement of technologies that are innovative.
Photo Credits: Alside
Originally posted 2009-06-25 16:35:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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June 16th, 2013 — Air/Water, Green Construction, Home
There is a renewed need for mechanical filtration in our homes, as the technology that has become part of the house helps to work more efficiently, leading to a need for maintain air quality in much tighter quarters. This need is very significant, as the American Lung Association has compiled a list of correlations between [...]
Continue reading → Household Ventilation
June 9th, 2013 — Guest Blogger, Home
Buying a dream home in the Rocky Mountains can be fun and exciting. If you are anything like me, you have dreamt on and off your whole life about what your future house will look like and be like. It is an exciting time of life to become a homeowner and each individual should take [...]
Continue reading → Buying a Dream Home in the Rocky Mountains
April 21st, 2013 — DIY, Green Construction, Landscaping, Tools and Equipment
If you’ve ever wanted try raised beds, either to extend your gardening season or because you have limited garden space, now you can do so without having to spend hours building a bed. The M Brace makes it easy for anyone to create a stunning raised bed for gardening. You can use this device to [...]
Continue reading → M Brace Raised Bed Gardening
April 7th, 2013 — Green Construction, Tools and Equipment
A concrete stamp gives poured concrete the appearance of almost any type of surface you can imagine will from cobblestone to brick to wood, depending on the design of the stamp. A sidewalk, patio or driveway can be poured and made to look like something else with a concrete stamp. Concrete stamps are small and [...]
Continue reading → What’s the Purpose of a Concrete Stamp
April 6th, 2013 — Green Construction, Tools and Equipment
Crawlers can be any type of heavy-duty, outdoor equipment fitted with tracks instead of wheels. The term is most often used to refer to a heavy-duty tractor fitted with tracks but is also used to refer to anything from skid loaders to massive excavators that use a track system instead of four wheels. It’s rarely [...]
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April 5th, 2013 — Green Construction, Tools and Equipment
Dozers and crawler tractors have many things in common. In fact, crawler tractors with blades designed for pushing on the front are often called bulldozers. But dozers are usually larger and are designed just for earth and material moving, while many crawler tractors can be used for a variety of purposes by changing the blade [...]
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April 4th, 2013 — Green Construction, Tools and Equipment
Excavators range from mini-excavators that are used for light-duty digging to mammoth pieces of equipment that weigh over 1,000,000 pounds and have over horsepower behind them. These are serious pieces of earth moving equipment typically found only at construction sites, river dredgings, forest clearing, mining and other major excavations. Mini-excavators are used for smaller jobs [...]
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April 3rd, 2013 — Green Construction, Tools and Equipment
A floor sander is a piece of electrical equipment used to refinish or repair a hardwood floor. From the huge, heavy drum sanders down to a handheld edge sander, these are pieces of equipment that are necessary to give your floor a professional and smooth finish. There can be problems using a heavy piece of [...]
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April 2nd, 2013 — Green Construction, Tools and Equipment
A pipe bender is a handy piece of equipment if you find the need to bend pipe for either functional or aesthetic reasons. You need to choose a pipe bender according to the size of the pipe you want to bend and the radius of the bends that you want. It’s important to use a [...]
Continue reading → Choose the Right Pipe Bender