David Gulyas

Revised Blower Door Results!

Mark Jansen, of Energy Efficient Homes Midwest EEHM, who rated our Bloomington, IN LEED Platinum home about two years ago, originally gave us a 200cfm / 50 Pa for air infiltration.  Mark was convinced that the measurement was even tighter, but he didn't have a smaller reducer ring for the blower door.  He showed up today, with blower door and more rings!  Guess what?  Our house tested at ~155 cfm / 50 Pa!  A nice bit of news validating the conscientious construction of our SIPs panels house!  The meter shows 155 cfm / 49.6 Pa.  Close enough to 155...that's really TIGHT!

Big thanks to Marko Spiegel of Conservation Technologies International, CTI, for his detailed design, guidance, and creativity.  His mastery of advanced energy conservation techniques used in our design allowed us to get to a pretty spectacular level!

 

Life Cycle Assessment

The Interior Design profession is just beginning to put its toe in the water in regard to Life Cycle Assessment.  It's really the fundamental foundation of thinking about material choices and how they affect the environment. 

I've developed an online course on Life Cycle Assessment and (drum roll) you can get a 30% discount on it by enrolling at EcoAchievers and entering the promotional code LCA09.  The class covers the basic principles of Life Cycle Assessment, how it affects design choices, and the three main Life Cycle Assessment methodologies.  It should take about an hour to take the course online.