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Home Energy Magazine Online July/August 1993
TRENDS IN ENERGY
Trends in Energy is a bulletin of residential energy
conservation issues. It covers items ranging from the latest policy issues to
the newest energy technologies. If you have items that would be of interest,
please send them to: Trends Department, Home Energy, 2124 Kittredge St.,
No. 95, Berkeley, CA 94704.
Spreading Its Wings: Affordable Comfort VII
Now in it's seventh year, the leading residential energy conservation
conference is maturing. Affordable Comfort drew some 900 participants to
Philadelphia again this March. With 60 workshops, 50 preconference sessions,
and about 75 tutorials, the conference has truly evolved into a mega-training
event, giving folks introductory information, yet feeding the appetite of
professionals who are on the cutting edge.
Health and safety topics such as combustion safety dominated the agenda again
this year, as the nation's leading residential energy efficiency experts shared
their expertise. Trainers discussed topics ranging from energy fundamentals to
heat pump repair, duct repair, and demand-side management measurement and
evaluation techniques.
Pressure diagnostics--Michel Blasnik's technique of measuring pressure
differences across various partitions to determine interzonal infiltration--was
again heavily discussed. "Last year (pressure diagnostics) was hot in that
people had not even heard of the concept," says conference founder Linda
Wigington. "This year it was interesting to see how it was actually integrated
into the conference," she says. "Last year it was like discovering it was
possible to fly, but not having any idea how to do it."
As for turnout, there was standing room only in core conference sessions
dealing with leaky duct repair. One of the most heavily attended (and talked
about) sessions was "How Tight Is Right," where a panel sparred over how one
decides when a house is weatherized to a point where it is "tight enough."
Sessions most highly rated by attendees included "Cultural Diversity,"
"Improving Payment Behavior," and "Mad-Air: The Sequel."
"One thing different this year was more new people, and that really added and
continues to add to the challenge of doing the conference because it is not
specifically focused to one or two or three narrow occupations," notes
Wigington. "There are so many perspectives." There was also a bit less
attention to purely technical aspects of energy conservation--and more emphasis
on organizing programs, implementing them, and paying for them.
With fewer people from Pennsylvania compared to earlier years, and with overall
attendance steady, the conference was more geographically diverse. Small
utilities, municipal utilities, and building contractors were also
well-represented. The 1993 conference also marks the first time the event has
taken place under the non-profit organization--Affordable Comfort
Incorporated--formed last year. The new organization institutionalized the
conference to keep it running and organized from year to year.
Thursday's luncheon featured a skit based on the Ten Commandments brought down
from the mountain by Moses. Most of us hadn't heard about the Commandments
brought forth by brothers and sisters involved in the Affordable Comfort
Conference. Having "been to the rooftops, seen the burning furnaces and the
sealed ductwork," Moses (Bruce Davis of North Carolina Alternative Energy
Corporation) heard a voice called out:
I command you to bring the message to all the misguided individuals that
work in retrofit, weatherization, and building science fields. I have rules for
them to help guide them, and for them to live by:
Thou shalt have no strange energy saving products.
Thou shalt not commit outside caulking.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's LIHEAP.
Thou shalt always use quality control.
Honor thy feds and thy state.
Thou shalt not kill new ideas.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's results.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against your results.
Remember Affordable Comfort and keep it multiplying.
Among the prophets who then appeared (in elaborate costumes, of course) to
spread the word of energy efficiency were: "Pressure Pan-Man" Gary Nelson of
the Energy Conservatory; "Dr. of Combustion Safety" Jeff Tiller of The
Southface Institute; "Squire of Cellulose" Jim Fitzgerald of Jim Fitzgerald
Contracting; "King of the Blower Doors" Gary Anderson of the Energy
Conservatory; "Priestess of Quality Control" Vicky Hayes from Syresco; and
"Master of the Smoke Pencil" Tom Downey of Proctor Engineering. The holiest of
prophets ("Dr. Duct John J. Tooley Jr.") was also unholy. He believed in the
right way to do things, but was truly "unholey," because he sealed so many
ducts.
Affordable Comfort Incorporated has already issued its Call for Presenters for
the 1994 Conference. Those interested in presenting next year should contact
Gail Ettinger at (708)864-5651, or Fax: (708)864-7535 for applications which
are due August 10, 1993. Affordable Comfort is also accepting applications for
its Program Committee, and this does involve traveling at one's own expense for
one intensive weekend of meetings. The 1994 conference will be held during the
week of March 20, again at the Adams Mark Hotel in Philadelphia. The core
conference will run from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. Cassette tapes of
1993 conference sessions are also available.
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