Improving the Efficiency of Your Single-Family Home
Description
Featuring
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</figure>Srikanth Puttagunta
Through his involvement with the Department of Energy’s Building America Research Program, Sri has an extensive background in barriers and challenges that residential builders and multifamily developers face to meet the requirements of codes and higher efficiency programs. He performs design reviews and building forensic investigations, identifies energy saving opportunities, quantifies the associated energy and cost savings, provides technical consulting, and supports measurement and verification of long-term energy savings. In addition, Sri has been involved in several of SWA’s product development efforts and also collaborates with industry partners on enhancements to their mechanical system product offerings.
Buying a home can be overwhelming. There are many factors that need to be considered and decisions that need to be made. For many Americans, aesthetics often outweigh certain characteristics critical to a home’s success, such as health, comfort, and efficiency.
To help us evaluate these critical characteristics, we’ve asked SWA’s COO and Mechanical Engineer, Srikanth Puttagunta, to walk us through his recent home-buying experience. Sri discusses ways to maximize a home’s value by taking advantage of incentives, enhancing existing infrastructure, and making the key decisions that may benefit your family’s health and comfort for years come. Join us as we dive into the essentials of single-family home ownership.
Episode Information & Resources
Learn more about Sri’s home improvement projects in our Party Walls Blog!
Programs and Studies Discussed
- DOE Building America Program
- DOE Building America Solution Center
- Correction to podcast, the range-hood study was from LBNL (not NREL)
Federal Incentives
- Solar: Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit (available through 2021)
- Energy Efficiency: Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit (expired in 2017)
CT Incentives
- Home Energy Solutions (Assessment, Air Sealing, Duct Sealing, etc.)
- Ductless Split Heat Pump
- ENERGY STAR Retail Products
- ENERGY STAR Central AC/Heat Pumps
- ENERGY STAR Heat Pump Water Heaters
- ENERGY STAR Lighting Instant Discounts
- Geothermal Heat Pump
- High Efficiency Furnace, Natural Gas Boiler, & Boiler Circulator
- High Efficiency Water Heater – Natural Gas
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello
Episode Transcript
Kelly: (00:06 )
welcome to buildings and beyond
Robb: (00:09 )
the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment
Kelly: (00:13 )
by focusing on efficiency, accessibility and health.
Robb: (00:18 )
I’m Robb Aldrich
Kelly: (00:19 )
and I’m Kelly Westby
Robb: (00:21 )
and before we get into this week’s episode, we wanted to let you know about a couple of upcoming events. Dylan Martello, who is a passive house consultant here at SWA, and is really instrumental in putting this podcast together, helping to produce the podcast. He’s going to be speaking at both of these conferences and he’ll give you a little bit of Info about them.
Dylan: (00:40 )
Thanks Robb. The first is building energy NYC conference taking place on October 3rd and fourth in New York City. The conference which is presented by Northeast Sustainable Energy Association or NESEA, has become a staple for professionals and practitioners in the field of high performance building energy efficiency and renewable energy. We’ve been to the building energy conferences for many years now and my colleagues and I are looking forward to returning for another great event. Visit NESEA.org for more info.
Robb: (01:09 )
Yeah, I’ve been involved with NESEA for 20 years or so and they’re really good people and I’ve learned tons at NESEA conferences over the years.
Dylan: (01:17 )
Next is the North American Passive House Network Conference and expo taking place at the David l Lauren’s convention center in Pittsburgh, Pa. Join us October 17th through the 21st where we’ll be speaking on a variety of topics related to passive house visit naphnconference.com for more info.
Robb: (01:35 )
Thanks Dylan.
Kelly: (01:37 )
Are you interested in becoming a certified passive house designer or consultant? Checkout North American passive house network’s five day training in various locations across the nation and every other month in New York City. See Their website for an updated schedule.
Kelly: (01:54 )
Welcome everyone. I’m very excited about today. It’s a little bit of an indulgence for me because I am actually working on some planning, some renovations for my own house. And so I have Sri Puttagunta on from Steven winter associates. He’s a mechanical engineer and focuses on residential home consulting.
United States
