Online Energy Auditor Certification Training Course
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    • BPI WRITTEN EXAM >
      • Section 1 Building Science Fundamentals >
        • 1a. Basic Terms & Definitions >
          • 1. Airflow in Buildings
          • 2. Equipment Efficiencies
          • 3. Power and Energy
          • 4. Effective Leakage Area
          • 5. Area Weighted R-Value
          • 6. Baseload / Seasonal Energy Use
          • 7. Driving Forces (Including Natural and Mechanical)
          • 8. Behavior of Radiation
          • 9. Thermal Resistance / Transmittance: R and U Values
          • 10. Latent / Sensible Heat
          • 11. Total Equivalent Length
          • 12. Dehumidification / Humidification
          • 13. Convert Pressure Units
          • 14. Thermal Bridges
          • 15. Pressure Boundary
          • 16. Stack Effect
          • 17. Exfiltration and Infiltration
          • 18. Natural / Mechanical Ventilation
          • 19. Net Free Area
          • 20. Input & Output Capacity
          • 21. Peak Electrical Demand
          • 22. Permeability and Perm Rating
          • 23. Standby Loss
          • 24. IAQ (indoor air quality): Moisture, CO, Dust
        • 1b. Principals of Energy, Air & Moisture Thermodynamics >
          • 1. Thermodynamics: Conduction, Convection, Radiation, ΔT
          • 2. Factors That Affect Insulation Performance
          • 3. BPI certification online with BPI practice exams and study guides.
          • 4. Heat Gain / Loss
          • 5. Power and Energy
          • 6. Moisture Transport Mechanisms
          • 7. Identify Areas of Highest Relative Humidity
          • 8. Principles of Combustion
        • 1c. Combustion Safety >
          • 1. Combustion Analysis
          • 2. Carbon Monoxide (CO) Testing
          • 3. Combustion Appliance Venting, Draft, Combustion Air & Sizing
          • 4. Understand Combustion Safety Issues
      • Section 2 Buildings and Their Systems >
        • 2a. Building Components >
          • 1. Identify basic duct configurations and components
          • 2. Identify Basic Hydronic Distribution Configurations and Components
          • 3. Identify Basic Structural Components of Residential Construction
          • 4. Thermal Boundaries and Insulation Applications
          • 5. Basic Electrical Components and Safety Considerations
          • 6. Basic Fuel Delivery Systems and Safety Considerations
          • 7. Basic bulk water management components (drainage plumbing gutters sumps etc)
          • 8. Vapor barriers/retarders
          • 9. Radiant Barrier Principles and Installations
          • 10. Understand Fenestration Types and Efficiencies
          • 11. Understand Issues Involved With Basements, Crawlspaces, Slabs, Attics, Attached Garages, Interstitial Cavities, and Bypasses
          • 12. Understand Issues Involved With Ventilation Equipment
          • 13. Understand Basic Heating / Cooling Equipment Components Controls and Operation
          • 14. Understand Basic DHW Equipment Components Controls and Operation
          • 15. Identify Common Mechanical Safety Controls
          • 16. Identify Insulation Types and R-Values
          • 17. Understand Various Mechanical Ventilation Equipment and Strategies: Spot, ERV, HRV
        • 2b. Conservation Strategies >
          • 1. Appropriate Insulation Applications and Installation Based On Existing Conditions
          • 2. Opportunity for ENERGY STAR Lighting and Appliances
          • 3. Identify Duct Sealing Opportunities and Applications
          • 4. Understand Importance of Air Leakage Control and Remediation Procedures
          • 5. Blower Door-Guided Air Sealing Techniques
          • 6. Water Conservation Devices and Strategies
          • 7. Domestic Hot Water (DHW) Conservation Strategies
          • 8. Heating & Cooling Efficiency Applications
          • 9. Proper Use of Modeling to Determine Heating and Cooling Equipment Sizing and Appropriate Energy
          • 10. Understand the Use of Utility History Analysis in Conservation Strategies
          • 11. Appropriate Applications For Sealed Crawlspaces Basements and Attics
          • 12. Identify / Understand High Density Cellulose
          • 13. Appropriate Applications for Fenestration Upgrades Including Modification or Replacement
        • 2c. Comprehensive Building Assessment Process >
          • 1. Determine Areas of Customer Complaints / Concerns in Interview
          • 2. Understand / Recognize Need For Conducting Appropriate Diagnostic Procedures
          • 3. Interaction Between Mechanical Systems, Envelope Systems and Occupant Behavior
        • 2d. Design Considerations >
          • 1. Appropriate Insulation Applications Based On Existing Conditions
          • 2. Understand Fire Codes as Necessary to Apply Home Performance in a Code-Approved Manner
          • 3. Understand / Recognize Building Locations Where Opportunities for Retrofit Materials
          • 4. Understand Climate Specific Concerns
          • 5. Understand Indoor Environment Considerations for the Environmentally Sensitive
          • 6. Understand Impact of Building Orientation, Landscape Drainage, and Grading
          • 7. Opportunity Potential Renewable Energy Applications: Geothermal, Photovoltaic, Wind
          • 8. Understand Impact of Shading on Heating / Cooling Loads
          • 9. Awareness for Solar Gain Reduction / Solar Gain Opportunities
          • 10. Understand Need for Modeling Various Options For Efficiency Upgrades
      • Section 3 Measurement & Verification of Building Performance >
        • Section 3a Measurement & Verification of Building Performance >
          • 1. Air Leakage Test Results
          • 2. Understand Building Shell / Envelope Leakage
          • 3. Apply Fundamental Construction Mathematics and Unit Conversions
          • 4. Calculate Building Tightness Levels (Minimum Ventilation Requirements)
          • 5. Calculate Heating Degree Days and Cooling Degree Days
          • 6. Identify Proper Appliance and Combustion Appliance Venting
          • 7. Ventilation calculations and strategies
          • 8. Proper methods for identifying / testing fuel leaks
          • 9. Blower door setup, accurate measurement and interpretation of results
          • 10. Combustion Appliance Zone (CAZ): depressurization, spillage, draft, Carbon Monoxide (ambient and flue)
          • 11. Carbon Monoxide (CO) evaluation: ambient
          • 12. Proper applications and use of temperature measuring devices
          • 13. Pressure pan and room to room pressure diagnostics
          • 14. Recognize contributing factors to comfort problems
          • 15. Inspect for areas containing moisture or bulk water in undesirable locations
          • 16. Understand and inspect for basic electric safety (e.g. frayed wires, open boxes, etc)
      • Section 4 BPI National Standards & Project Specifications >
        • 1. Understand applicability content and intent of BPI National Standards – Do no harm, make buildings more healthy, comfortable, durable and energy efficient
        • 2. Recognize need for a professional local/state/national codes evaluation
        • 3. Be able to specify appropriate materials and processes needed for building performance projects
      • Section 5 Analyzing Buildings Systems >
        • 1. Recognize need for air sealing measures and their impact on other building systems
        • 2. Recognize need for mechanical equipment improvements
        • 3. Understand blower door use for identifying critical air sealing areas
        • 4. Apply blower door test results and Building Tightness Limit (minimum ventilation requirements) in development of improvement strategies
        • 5. Using combustion analysis and safety testing results to develop appropriate recommendations
        • 6. Determine appropriate method for assessing wall insulation levels
        • 7. Equipment control strategies for maximizing occupant comfort and minimizing energy consumption
      • Section 6 Conduct and Communications >
        • 6a. Conservation strategies
        • 6b. Personal Safety & Work Practices >
          • 1. Locations in which to identify indoor air quality issues
          • 2. Material Safety Data Sheets
          • 3. Isolation procedures for household pollutants
          • 4. Practice building science within your limits of professional competency
          • 5. Precautions when working around chemical biological and other potential hazards
          • 6. Understand role and responsibilities of the building analyst professional
    • BPI FIELD EXAM >
      • How To Put The House Under Worst Case & CAZ
      • What's What? Pa, CFM, CFM50, CAZ, Draft, Room Pressure
      • What To Know In The Attic
      • What To Know In The House
    • BLOWER DOOR TEST >
      • Manometer Setup
    • BPI BUILDING ANALYST STANDARDS >
      • BPI Standards Decoded
  • ESSENTIALS
    • HELP, I HATE MATH!
    • AUDITOR TO CREW COMMUNICATION
    • COMMON AUDITOR / CREW MISTAKES
    • RUN LIKE HELL
    • CONTACT
  • AFTER THE EXAM
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    • RESOURCES
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  • BLOG

Shark Tank Thinking For Energy Auditors

10/14/2015

1 Comment

 
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The Shark Tank is a popular TV show where entrepreneurs get one shot to pitch their ideas to 5 sharks, who can choose to invest in the company or take a pass.  I personally love the show and rejoice when a deserving entrepreneur strikes a deal with a shark and even more so when they have to fight their way to a deal and don’t back down.  Even though I’ve only seen a few home service companies and only one HVAC related company on the show, it got me thinking, how much would I ask for and what I would do with an infusion of an extra… let’s say $2,000 per month?  Am I even prepared to receive that kind of capital?  That was several years ago and it put me on a useful path and exercise I often go over with my own home performance company.

The investment of cash fantasy was a good exercise, I spawned other ideas too from watching Shark Tank such how well would I stand up to Mr. Wonderful if I were getting drilled on my financials?  Where would a shark see a reason not to invest in my company and how can I improve on that weakness?  How could I best leverage an extra $2,000 a month?  This is a very useful gut check for home performance contractors that have been in business several years and maybe plateaued to help them improve processes and look at their company more as a CEO and less as an owner-operator. 

As energy auditors we live and die by the motto “if you can’t measure it, it can’t be improved,” so we of all people should start using financial and operational metrics to get a baseline of our companies’ health, formulate a plan of improvement and implement and adjust.  It wasn’t until I saw my reconciled balance sheet that I realized how far off I was in my thinking of our cost per lead, average contract, profit margin, close rates and revenue.  This spawned a three month audit and improvement of my company, which has resulted in a stronger and healthier company since that first audit.

I encourage you to do the same by taking what you think your close rate, average contract, gross and net profit margin, cost per lead and annual revenue numbers and performing a “gut check.”  Take your numbers and compare them to your local Home Performance Program’s numbers and to publically traded companies in the home building, construction or solar industries to get an idea of where you stand.  So for example, if your annual revenue in 2014 was $500,000, and if you multiply your average contract, close rate and number of audits together do you get around $500,000?  If not, start digging into why.  Try running different scenarios like this with your numbers because when you start asking yourself the same question in several different ways, you will begin to uncover a discrepancy that you may not have been aware of before (and that’s where the gold is for improvement).  Let’s use the same scenario as before but add that your profit margin is 40% (insert your actual number).  $500,000 x 40% = $200,000.  If you estimate your marketing costs to be $50,000 a year, $200,000 - $50,000 = $150,000.  Was your income close to $150,000 last year?  If not, maybe your marketing expense is actually more than you thought, is your overhead (which we didn’t account for here) really high because those work vans are turning into money pits, or are you not really doing the number of audits you thought you were because of cancelations or lack of follow up?  Once you shed light on the problem, a focused effort to correct the problem can put an extra $10,000 in your pocket each year from eliminating wasteful or bad practices.

As home performance contractors we are better able to serve our customers and grow into new markets if we run a financially and operationally healthy company and “gut checks” like these are essential to do along the way if you are fighting the good fight alone. 

David Byrnes advises home performance contractors on growth strategies and runs a home performance company in Arizona.  Visit www.NeighborhoodMarketingSystem.com to learn more about the home performance marketing program available.
1 Comment

Stump the Energy Auditor Chump - Energy Auditor Training Practice

10/14/2015

2 Comments

 
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This home already had an energy audit done to it and the homeowner performed a basic energy improvement upgrade of blowing more insulation to R-38, sealing the leaky ductwork and air seal the house to meet Weatherization guidelines.  Your home energy auditting company is called out to see if the other home performance company missed anything and to figure out why their bills did not go down at all in the 4 months since the work was done.
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A 2100 sq ft ranch home in Phoenix,  AZ  built in 1975 has the homeowner complaining of high energy bills of $350 in July.  Your auditor goes out to find the static pressure of 0.6 IWC on the return and 0.2 IWC on the supply with a twist elbow on the roof.  The summer and winter temperatures are kept at 78 degrees and 68 degrees and 2 people live in the house.  Windows are dual pane, low-e with shade screens already installed before the work was done.  What would be the cause of a $350 energy bill in July? 

Highlight this paragraph for the answer:
The work was done correctly, but the high static pressure on the return was not addressed during the initial inspection or retrofit.  The high static should have been fixed by changing the twist elbow to a side by side elbow and installing a new return plenum with a larger return duct into the home.  That would have reduced the static pressure from 0.6 IWC to 0.3 IWC.
2 Comments

    David Byrnes

    Owns and operates Green ID, a residential home energy auditing and contracting company in Phoenix, AZ. He is a BPI Proctor and has trained over 40 energy auditors.

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