|
Starting From Home Challenge
The 11 Challenges
The Starting From Home organizers have selected the following 11 challenges. Although the Challenge has divided up the activities, the teams will be expected to regard all of them as part of the system and consider how they interact. The teams can earn between 100 and 200 points in each challenge for a total of 1475 points. Of the 1475 total points possible, 950 points are awarded based on objective performance measurements or task completion, and 525 points are awarded through subjective evaluations by a variety of appropriately selected experts.
Challenge 1: Engineering (150 points)- To determine the starting point for all the modifications the teams will need to establish the initial carbon load of the home. They will model the home with energy analysis software using the reference program defined by the Challenge organizers. They will be allowed to use different software – either commercially available or developed in-house – but they will have to demonstrate its effectiveness in comparison to the reference software. They will describe their proposed changes and provide life cycle analysis of those changes to demonstrate the long term effectiveness.
Challenge 2: Lighting, Appliances and Plug Load (125 points) – Getting down to the specifics of the electrical devices in the home, this Challenge requires performing an electrical appliance inventory, determining how to get the electrical consumption to zero. There are often small, parasitic loads that are hard to find. With this information the teams will be asked to propose ways to significantly reduce these loads without compromising the comfort of the home’s occupants, and they will get extra points if they can actually imaginatively improve the occupants’ comfort and enjoyment. The teams will be asked to justify those changes in terms of life cycle and impact on the environment beyond the home in question.
Challenge 3: Water (125 points) –The teams will be asked to perform a thorough water use assessment. They will need to evaluate how water is used both inside and outside the home and if there are opportunities to improve on the use, again without compromising the comfort of the occupants. The teams can look for ways to enhance water use through rain water collection or the use of grey water, for example, if local codes allow such things.
Challenge 4: Hot Water (150 points) – The teams will be asked to assess how hot water is generated, delivered, and used throughout the home. They will be asked to find ways of improving on those systems considering the costs and life cycle analysis of engineered plumbing or tankless systems. They will also need to consider how the hot water systems integrate with other systems in the home such as the location of the water heater and its effects on indoor air quality.
Challenge 5: Comfort (150 points) – Teams will be asked to measure the psychometric comfort of the homes before and after changes. They will also need to measure IAQ issues, consider the impact of attached garages, chemical storage, ventilation systems, and sound levels. Teams will also consider issues such as walk-off mats, central vacuums, and other sustainable approaches. And since these are occupied homes, the homeowners are likely to have opinions on how comfortable their homes are before and after changes are made. The teams will need to take those opinions into account in making any changes.
Challenge 6: Feedback and Consumer Education (200 points) – A great deal of energy can be saved simply through consumer awareness and education. Judges will look for teams to provide homeowners with the means to understand how their systems are operating. Immediate feedback can redirect the homeowners’ needs for systems and when and how they use them. This will include not only electrical consumption but will look for ways to inform homeowners on water, gas, and oil usage. Judges will also look for approaches to educating the homeowners on energy efficiency and system maintenance so that the changes will have a long term affect.
Challenge 7: Percent Improvement (100 points) – The Starting From Home Challenge is seeking deep energy savings in the order of 70% to 90%. The organizers recognize the difficulties of achieving those lofty goals, but this Challenge addresses the simple, mathematical improvements compared to the starting point established in Challenge 1: Engineering. Different homes in different locations with different occupants will have very different answers to this Challenge. The judges will be looking at improvements in water, electrical, and other fuel usage.
Challenge 8: Market Viability (150 points) – The Challenge organizers are looking for the widest possible adoption of the ideas generated. The improvements themselves have to have market appeal. This Challenge affects the long and short term comfort of the occupants. It can be measured by the improved market appeal of the home on the real estate market and with banks.
Challenge 9: Efficiency of Delivery (100 points) – Teams will be required to log the amount of energy required to make their proposed changes to the home, a way of considering the embodied energy in their improvements. This Challenge is a means of making the teams aware of efficiency and organization, limiting the “go-fer” mentality of many job sites. Teams will be rewarded for creative approaches for tracking this information.
Challenge 10: Cost (100 points) – One of the goals for the Challenge is to determine the depth of improvements that can be achieved for a limited budget. Therefore the budget for the 2009 SFHC is set at $15,000 in cash and in kind that each team will receive from the Challenge and what they can spend on the home. The judges will be seeking documentation on how that funding is used and creative ways for the team to recoup those funds – selling the carbon credits, for example. The use of the money should be in ways that typical homeowners outside of the Challenge could duplicate. The judges will also be looking for how the team communicates the budget information to the homeowner.
Challenge 11: Durability (125 points) – Unless the improvements to the building are built to last, these efforts will be wasted. This challenge underlines that fact that water is a major component in building durability, and although it is difficult with an existing house to address external water and structural moisture control, there are always creative ways for teams to approach, assess, and address these issues.
|
