ACH: The Home MPG
ACH: AN MPG FOR HOMES
It's quite possible that someday we will be talking about our homes the way we do cars. One way we can judge a homes relative performance is in it's Air Changes per Hour. This tells you how leaky a home or how tight it is. A blower door test is ran to determine the ACH and it tells us how many times per hour the home changes it's volume of air. There's a standard (ASHRAE 62.2) that says we should have an air exchange of about 1/3 of the home's volume of air per hour. A very leaky home can be in excess of 1 air change per hour.
The important thing to remember here is that we want to control the leakiness through mechanical ventilation. The concept that we want to "Build in Leaks" is just nonsense. When it's 10 F above zero and there's a 20 mph wind, we will have far more air changes than if it's 75 F and calm. In the former we will be getting too much (especially when we don't want it) and the latter won't be enough.
And where do we want it to leak from? The garage? Around the windows, through the ceiling where it can melt snow and cause ice damming? None of these are good choices.
You can compare one home to any other home in the world this way. It's more useful than comparing utility bills. Utility bills can vary depending on energy rates, weather extremes, homeowner lifestyle (thermostat settings, shower habits, etc). The volume of air may be different in comparing homes with similar ACH's, but it's air exchange rate will be constant. Homes with a .15 ACH will be performing the same, weather it's a 2000 square foot home in Kalamazoo or a 7500 square foot home in Dubai.
Build it tight, Ventilate it. Test it for leakage. Ask you Realtor or your builder what the ACH is of their homes. Make sure yours is the Porsche of home performance.
It's quite possible that someday we will be talking about our homes the way we do cars. One way we can judge a homes relative performance is in it's Air Changes per Hour. This tells you how leaky a home or how tight it is. A blower door test is ran to determine the ACH and it tells us how many times per hour the home changes it's volume of air. There's a standard (ASHRAE 62.2) that says we should have an air exchange of about 1/3 of the home's volume of air per hour. A very leaky home can be in excess of 1 air change per hour.
The important thing to remember here is that we want to control the leakiness through mechanical ventilation. The concept that we want to "Build in Leaks" is just nonsense. When it's 10 F above zero and there's a 20 mph wind, we will have far more air changes than if it's 75 F and calm. In the former we will be getting too much (especially when we don't want it) and the latter won't be enough.
And where do we want it to leak from? The garage? Around the windows, through the ceiling where it can melt snow and cause ice damming? None of these are good choices.
You can compare one home to any other home in the world this way. It's more useful than comparing utility bills. Utility bills can vary depending on energy rates, weather extremes, homeowner lifestyle (thermostat settings, shower habits, etc). The volume of air may be different in comparing homes with similar ACH's, but it's air exchange rate will be constant. Homes with a .15 ACH will be performing the same, weather it's a 2000 square foot home in Kalamazoo or a 7500 square foot home in Dubai.
Build it tight, Ventilate it. Test it for leakage. Ask you Realtor or your builder what the ACH is of their homes. Make sure yours is the Porsche of home performance.
Posted by COASTLINE BUILDING at 1/12/2009 8:30 PM 
Categories: Energy
Tags: green building green builders kalamazoo energy efficient building air changes hour energy efficiency Energy efficiency building
Categories: Energy
Tags: green building green builders kalamazoo energy efficient building air changes hour energy efficiency Energy efficiency building
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Thanks for interesting article. I will take into consideration.
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Good informative post.MPG certification is necessary for homes to meet the higher standards...
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Nice article.Yes its quite necessary to check the performance to meet the higher standards that will provide MPG...
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Hi,
Good post.....I have not take MPG certification for my home , will take very soon....
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I currently heat my home with oil hot air.Am looking for system for solar hot water that could be used with heat exchanger using blower on furnace. I do have very good southern exposure. South side of home is warmer than north side by many degrees. If anyone can provide info will appreciate. I have neighbors looking into wind generation But I would rather go solar.
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Much of that will depend on where you are located. Which city are you in?
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You got your point here and it's a very good one too. We would all like to have a little Porche home and the good news is that this is actually possible if we pay attention to the right details. Your post was very educative, I liked it!
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We have recently written a report that considers how best to offer an MPG for homes. Basically we found that measuring homes by total energy per year would have many beneficial effects.
You can read the executive summary on our website at www.LivingSpacesDesign.biz/eps_report.html. You will also find links to the full report and its attachments that are found on the Energy Trust of Oregon website. The Recommendation section (in the full report)is where you will find most of the discussion about an MPG for homes.
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Eric,
I read the executive summary and that sounds promising. I'll have to look into the full report. Whatever the standard is, we (as a building industry) have to ensure that it is consistent and make aware how "your mileage may vary" for the public to have confidence in any rating system.
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