Stephanie Barnes-Castro:
Award-Winning Green Architect (cont'd)
an airtight home. While the goal is an infiltration rate of zero percent, new construction that is built without incorporating the thermal bypass checklist can have an infiltration rate as high as "fifteen percent." The best way to use less energy and have a more sustainable home is to keep the heat in during winter and the heat out during summer.
2) Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) - This mechanism is used to promote indoor air quality and energy efficiency especially during the winter months when natural ventilation is less used. A HRV unit is paramount in homes with low infiltration rates. Stephanie Barnes-Castro says HRV is essential to a sustainable structure because she believes that "good health (meaning no indoor air pollution) and good-stewardship go hand in hand." It works by exchanging the stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air. The heat from the indoor air on its way out pre-heats the air from outside before it enters the building. The air is not mixed but funneled into two separate chambers. In this manner, energy does not need to be used to warm up the cool outside air as it enters the building.
3) Windows with a High R-Value - The R-value of a material is its ability to resist the transfer of energy. The higher the R-value, the less energy that is transferred across the material. This is desirable when it comes to windows, as they are the weakest link in maintaining high insulation values in a home. Windows with a high R-value let less heat escape from the building during winter, and keep unwanted heat out during the summer. Triple pane windows are rarely used in our climate