Friday, July 30, 2010

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Green Building & Energy Audits


Green Building

If you are interested in building a new Green home in the greater St. Louis area, there are three types of certified/verified Green home programs that follow a mandated set of rules and regulations:

  • GBI (Green Building Initiative) The most common green-verified home in St. Louis – built in conjunction with the HBA (Home Builders Association) and verified by Laclede Gas.
  • Energy Star The most widely known program with national name recognition; the second most common green home found in St. Louis. It must pass a Thermal Bypass Checklist and be inspected by a certified HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rater.
  • LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Also a national program that follows rules set forth by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). This is a more stringent program, and only a handful can be found in the St. Louis area. This program also requires inspection from a HERS rater and is more common in commercial applications.

At Frank Fischer/Design Aire, we are the leader in the residential green-building market, having installed over half of the HVAC systems for GBI verified homes in St. Louis, several EnergyStar homes, and one LEED  Platinum home.  We are the only  full-service heating and air conditioning  company in the Greater St. Louis area with a certified HERS rater on staff.

Home Energy Audits

“Going green” is quite possibly the most overused (and misused) term of the past few years.  Most heating and air conditioning companies just conduct business as usual and call it green.  But we hold ourselves to a much higher standard – calling something green is not enough.

If you are interested in improving the efficiency of your home or taking advantage of available tax credits, Design Aire is the place to start.  With our knowledge and experience, we can offer Home Energy Audits by a certified and licensed rater. We  perform a Blower Door test to determine the overall “looseness” or “tightness” of your home and the sources of air infiltration.  If needed, a Duct Blaster test can determine how much air is being lost through the duct system. Based on those results, we make educated recommendations for improvements such as insulation, windows, HVAC components and ductwork.  This process ensures that your energy saving dollars are spent wisely.