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Hi Darryl,
the R2000 Code wich says beside others :houses constructed using airtight seals and thick
insulation that
keeps heat from leaking away....
is not the very best way of constructing a energie efficient Home,because
those Homes require forced Air Heating/Cooling!
In Northamerica the Magic Formula seemes to be airtigth wrapings outside
and Vaporbarriers inside the House,but the most energie efficient houses are
Homes built with natural Materials who dont reqire Vaporbarriers (Cob- Log-or
Straw houses)
Myself i am trying to get people interestet in my project of building homes
with double Log Walls from Larchwood (very cheep availible) filled with natural
Insulation wich keeps the Wall breeding.The key is not to produce a
thawpoint!
This technique gives a totally natural Klimate in the home,better tha a
handcraftet Loghome!
I got sofare the major equipment together the Place/Workshop,but the
constant Cashflow problem is slowly killing me!
The conclusion therefore is,nowbody is interestet in good workmanship and
good technique,everything is measured on quick return and spend al least to get
the most!And this is the real american way of life!
Fritz
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 11:43
AM
Subject: [Biofuel] R-2000 program gets
mixed reviews
R-2000 is the house construction standard developed in Canada
decades
ago to minimize energy use via insulation, weather-sealing and
other
technologies. Uptake has been minimal. Last I heard,
less than 1/2 of
one percent of new home construction in Canada meets this
standard.
Pity, because study after study shows it reduces life-time
ownership
costs, and would make a huge difference in making Canadians
somewhat
less of energy
pigs.
=====================================
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2006/05/28/pf-1602659.html
May
28, 2006
By DEAN BEEBY
OTTAWA (CP) - One of Canada's oldest
energy-conservation programs - the
R-2000 standard for new homes - is
under threat after an internal
analysis found that very few homebuyers
even care about it.
The 25-year-old insulation standard has become one
of the Kyoto-related
programs that the new Tory government has put on hold
as it conducts a
sweeping review of greenhouse-gas spending.
"With
rare exceptions, home-buying consumers are not interested in GHG
(greenhouse gas) emissions reduction aspects of housing, and are usually
less interested in energy-efficiency than in other features of the
house," says an internal report on R-2000, obtained under the Access to
Information Act.
About 10,000 homes have been built in Canada to
the R-2000 standard
since the program was introduced in 1981. Interest
peaked in 1993, with
1,527 houses constructed using airtight seals and
thick insulation that
keeps heat from leaking away, but in recent years
only about 300 have
been certified each year.
The standard
originated in 1978, in the aftermath of the oil-price
shocks, with a
demonstration house built by the engineering faculty at
the University of
Saskatchewan that used half the energy of typical houses.
But consumers
have been wary of the standard. One federal study a decade
ago found that
energy savings were less than the higher construction and
financing costs
of R-2000, and that better returns were available in the
stock
market.
Since 1995, the share of new housing built to the standard has
fallen to
a fraction of one per cent, even as energy prices rose
substantially.
Ottawa tried to put the program on a new footing after
signing the Kyoto
Protocol in 1997, making R-2000 part of basket of
initiatives intended
to help Canada cut greenhouse-gas
emissions.
But the Kyoto reorientation has also had little appeal for
homebuyers,
says the Jan. 26 internal report.
R-2000 by itself is
doing little to help reduce greenhouse gases by
300,000 tonnes in the new
housing market, an informal target set for
2010 by Natural Resources
Canada.
The program shared a $17-million budget with the popular
Energuide
program over the five years that ended March 31. Energuide has
since
fallen victim to the Tories' revamp of greenhouse gas
strategies.
R-2000, meanwhile remains in limbo along with 94 other
Kyoto programs
that are being re-examined.
"We are still waiting
for confirmation of funding for this year and the
longer term," Ghyslain
Charron, spokesman for Natural Resources, said of
the R-2000
program.
"We need to consider R-2000 in the context of all activities
related to
new housing."
Charron, however, said that the aim of the
program was always to
encourage builders to construct more
energy-efficient housing, even if
they did not actually seek certification
under the standard.
"The objective is to have the industry adopt the
practices embodied in
the R-2000 standard . . . to improve the overall
energy performance of
new houses built in Canada," he said.
"In
this context of leadership, it was never expected that a large
volume of
houses would be certified R-2000."
The internal review argues that the
status quo is no longer an option,
and makes a series of recommendations -
including a form of
privatization, where an independent organization could
carry out
certifications.
A spokesman for the Canadian Home
Builders' Association said the program
should remain the responsibility of
Natural Resources Canada.
R-2000 has been a "powerful
innovation-driver," helping to improve the
overall energy efficiency of
new homes in Canada by 20 per cent since
the 1980s, Don Johnston said in
an interview.
"It's always been kind of leading edge," he said. "It has
been the spark
plug . . . we continue to need this."
Federal
participation is required to support research and technology
development,
as well as to ensure proper training for builders, said
Johnston, director
of technology and policy for the
association.
=====================================
--
Darryl
McMahon
http://www.econogics.com
It's your
planet. If you won't look after it, who
will?
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