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Pearl Home Certification: Leading the Way to High Performance
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

Pearl Home Certification: Leading the Way to High Performance

By Zarkon Group,

A Platinum-level Pearl Certification renovation in Long Island, NY, prioritized both comfort and cost savings. The homeowners installed heat pumps, ENERGY STAR certified windows and doors, advanced cellulose-dense insulation, as well as solar panels. Smart home technology helps them manage energy and monitor savings

Tracking home improvements

The journey towards a more sustainable, comfortable, and valuable home can be long and complex. In his renovations, Woodcock said he primarily takes advantage of Pearl Points, a scoring system designed to help homeowners recognize and track high-performing assets and potential improvements. “The scoring system is sort of addictive,” Patrick says. “By that, I mean it’s like the way you want to reach the next level in a video game.”

Pearl’s multiple certification levels present your home’s overall performance, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Plus, it deep-dives into specific categories of assets:

  • Building Shell, including insulation
  • Heating & Cooling systems
  • Baseload appliance energy use
  • Home Management, like smart thermostats and dashboards
  • Solar, EV & Energy Storage

A home that doesn’t reach Pearl Silver (yet!) can qualify for Pearl Asset Certification, highlighting one or more high-performing features: high-performance windows and doors, heat pumps, ENERGY STAR appliances, etc. Assets that interact more with your local climate will earn more points. For instance, a high-efficiency air conditioner will be worth more points in Phoenix than in the Midwest.

This helps identify the most impactful home upgrades, from temperature and humidity control to reducing energy bills and resilience in the face of climate change, including well-being issues like indoor air quality. These “hidden” systems have no curb appeal but do represent valuable, long-lasting home investments.

The Green Door app will recommend priority tasks and update your plan as you bring assets online, earning Pearl Points toward higher home certification. Maintenance reminders help you ensure your investments continue to save on your energy bill and retain their value. Finally, the app stores the documentation and warranties on upgraded systems.

To achieve Gold-level Pearl Certification, this renovation in Phoenix included solar panels, AeroSealing, an EV charger, and ENERGY STAR certified appliances.

Contractor connection

Jan Green, a realtor and certified eco-broker, transformed her 1979 dilapidated Phoenix home, purchased in 2015, into a net-zero, energy-efficient residence, earning a Pearl Gold Certification. “A lot of people probably don’t know this—I certainly didn’t—but if the contractor who does your energy audit is also a certified contractor, with the capabilities to handle whatever fixes or replacements the audit revealed, it’s fairly standard practice for them to waive the cost of the energy audit as long as you contract with them for services,” said Green.

Homeowners can access Pearl’s network of contractors through the Green Door app. Importantly, any work done by a Pearl Contractor is automatically Pearl Certified upon successful completion. This ensures that the improvements contribute towards the home’s certification and overall value.

Green began with an energy audit, and then step-by-step upgraded her home with efficiency renovations: air sealing, LED lighting, energy-efficient appliances, and solar panels. She was able to offset some costs with a 26% federal tax credit and state incentives. Her approach aligns with the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) incentives for high-performing home improvements. Homeowners can determine which specific funds are available for different upgrades utilizing Pearl’s IRA Rebates Calculator.

Looking to sell?

Pearl hosts a nationwide network of real estate agents who are trained to identify and certify high-performing home features. They can then leverage the marketing materials provided with Pearl Certification to highlight a home’s high-performance qualities and capitalize on their added value.

More and more new homes include high-performing features. And as more cities adopt stricter energy codes, this is where the market is headed. An eco-savvy real estate agent can ensure you get the most value for your efficiency renovations by optimizing the green fields in MLS databases and filling out the Appraisal Institute’s Green and Energy Efficient Addendum. They know how to market individual energy efficiency, home automation, and solar features, as well as connect whole-home performance to value and comfort.

Home certification is a gateway to a higher standard of living and a testament to the value of sustainability investments in our homes. In an evolving real estate market, Pearl Certification recognizes what’s already working and helps unlock the full potential of our homes to create a better, greener future.

Reference

Another Seedbed is an apartment that doubles as a performance space
CategoriesInterior Design

Another Seedbed is an apartment that doubles as a performance space

By Zarkon Group,

In this renovated loft in Brooklyn, the owner both resides and hosts public art performances within a space divided by a variety of inserted volumes.

The loft is located in a late 19th-century cast iron building in Williamsburg that once served as a hat factory, and was renovated by a team of architects.

Red-stained plywood volume within apartment
A team of architects renovated the loft, inserted volumes to conceal private areas

Ignacio G Galán, Jesse McCormick, Khoi Nguyen and Julie Tran of Future Projects collaborated to turn the industrial space into a residence that could also serve as a venue for artistic performances and other public events.

Named Another Seedbed, the project recalls the use of lofts in New York City by artists in 1960s to 1980s for developing experimental works.

Red-stained plywood with concertina door
The bedroom is hidden behind red-stained plywood panels and accessed through a concertina door

The owner and activator of this apartment began organising parties, performances and other events in a similarly industrial space in Bushwick.

He then decided to create a dedicated space for himself to live and work, as well as host other artist friends who needed square footage to bring their ideas to life.

Hand-troweled earthen clay plaster wall in front of plywood doors
Hand-troweled earthen clay plaster covers the bathroom volume

“Neither just a private studio nor an art gallery, the space is equipped to welcome gatherings that operate between a dinner party and a public performance,” said the project team.

“Artists appropriate the space and become hosts themselves, expanding the communities which the project brings together.”

Bathroom lined with blue penny-round tiles
Inside, the bathroom is lined with blue penny-round tiles

The apartment is organised as a largely open-plan space, with private areas concealed inside inserted volumes.

Red-stained pine plywood panels hide the bedroom, which is accessed via a concertina door, and also contain storage.

Living room with open-shelf storage and ochre-coloured sofa
Moveable furniture helps to arrange the apartment for performances

The bathroom occupies another volume that’s covered in hand-troweled earthen clay plaster outside and lined entirely is blue penny-round tiles inside.

An open kitchen with grey cabinetry sits below a framework of coloured wood, featuring smokey polycarbonate panels that are lit from behind.

This frame extends into the living area to form a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit, on which books and objects are displayed, and a projector for screening videos onto the opposite wall is housed.

A variety of moving furniture pieces, including an ochre-toned sofa on wheels, help to choreograph the events and arrange the apartment as desired by whoever is using it.

Dark room illuminated by projector and neon lights
The owner and his artist friends are able to transform the space to present their work

“The space will not advertise its performances,” said the team.

“Some neighbors might not know of its existence. Others will hear about an event through friends. Some might find themselves there often and will develop networks of neighbourliness within it.”

Silhouetted figures sweep the ground of the dark room
Performances are open to the public but not advertised

Brooklyn has both a thriving arts scene and a wealth of defunct industrial buildings for hosting exhibitions, performances and events.

Herzog & de Meuron recently completed the transformation of a derelict power plant in the borough into arts centre, while the Public Records creative venue added a bar and lounge on an upper floor of its former warehouse building earlier this year.

Reference

High-voltage electric vehicle batteries for increased range and performance
CategoriesSustainable News

High-voltage electric vehicle batteries for increased range and performance

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Chinese startup Chilye, a developer of high-voltage battery systems for electric vehicles (EVs), has raised RMB 100 million (around €14.8 million) from a group of investors led by Xiaomi, one of the world’s largest smartphone makers.

Most EVs operate at 400 volts, but there is increasing interest in 800-volt systems. For example, in 2020, Porsche released its luxury “Taycan” model — the first EV from a major automaker to use an 800-volt battery.  

There are several potential benefits to higher voltage systems. They offer more range, lighter car weight, and better energy efficiency, and can also be charged more quickly using fast chargers. These potential advantages are persuading leading automakers to explore the technology, and Chilye claims to have secured clients that include ‘multiple mainstream automakers’.

Chilye’s new funding will be used to ramp-up commercial production of its high-voltage battery system. According to Technode, the company claimed earlier this year that it will have the annual production capacity to equip 3 million EVs with its products by mid-2022. 

Xiaomi’s investment in Chilye is part of a broader push by the consumer electronics giant to become a key player in the EV market. The company intends to invest further in domestic Chinese companies in the EV supply chain, and it also has plans to mass-produce its first consumer EV model in the first half of 2024.

Other innovations spotted by Springwise that aim to make EV technology more efficient include AI that helps city planners build EV charging networks, smart charging that reduces the carbon footprints of EVs, and new technology that could revolutionise EV charging infrastructure.  

Written By: Katrina Lane

29th June 2022

Email: info@chilye.com   

Website: chilye.com

Reference

Double Stud Wall Simplified – Low Cost, High Performance
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

Double Stud Wall Simplified – Low Cost, High Performance

By Zarkon Group,

Simplify

The double-stud wall is a well-established method for creating a very economical, durable, and high R-value assembly in new construction – and is one reason it’s included as one of the basic 475 Smart Enclosure System assembly types. We know pushing standard code-minimum construction toward high performance is complicated. So we’re always looking for ways to simplify – to simultaneously reduce cost while optimizing efficiency and occupant comfort. Integrated with Pro Clima air sealing and moisture control components, the double-stud wall provides unmatched economic value, safety from moisture damage, and long-lasting performance.

Go Sheathingless

With Pro Clima component integration, we’re taking it one step further. Below we illustrate a sheathingless double-stud wall (that’s right: no structural sheathing) that provides the following characteristics:

  • Minimized material costs
  • Maximized moisture drying potential
  • Removal of formaldehyde, VOC’s and other toxic chemicals commonly found in SPF, rigid foams, OSB, and plywood
  • Easily adjustable wall thickness to meet your design R-value
  • Space between walls for continuous insulation
  • Utilization of dense-pack insulation (Gutex wood THERMOFIBER, cellulose, fiberglass, mineral wool, or Havelock Wool).
  • No special materials or connections needed for the framing components
  • Fits with the typical platform framing method

You can still frame your walls on the deck and raise them into place,  but without all that sheathing they’ll be a lot lighter. With this system, you build a house out of 2x4s, fibrous insulation, SOLITEX MENTO Plus weather-resistive barrier outboard, INTELLO Plus smart vapor retarder inboard, and not much else.

The Framing

The wall consists of an inner load-bearing wall and an outer exterior finishing wall. The floor and roof loads are stacked on top of the inner wall studs. This method can allow the use 24″ o.c. advanced framing assembly if your floor and roof loads meet the design criteria. The inner wall is framed like any other stick-built wall, with the exception that the shear load is carried by 2x lumber nailed, or metal strapping mechanically fastened, diagonally, to the outside face of the inner stud wall – in the insulation cavity.

It’s important to note that each structure will have very different shear and uplift retention requirements due to variables in building height, the number of windows, local codes, shape of building, seismic requirements, etc. The outer wall is connected to the decks as outriggers, there to support the insulation and finished facade elements, and consequently, it requires minimal framing material and opening headers. In taller walls, it’s important to connect the inner and outer studs for additional strength as well as partition the bays every second bay – to make dense-packing of the double stud cavities easier to reach proper density and maintain quality control.

The Integrated Service Cavity

With this approach, the inner wall studs act as the service cavity without the need for additional strapping to support the interior finish – making it an integrated service cavity. This approach takes planning but allows for fewer steps and less material. An excellent example of this approach is demonstrated in our Project Spotlight: Vermont Integrated Architecture. Leicester, VT.

Two Air Barriers Too

To optimize the insulating value of the dense-pack insulation – airtight membranes are placed on both sides of the fibrous insulation, thereby preventing thermal bypass, as well as optimizing the drying reserves of this highly insulated wall. At the interior side is the INTELLO PLUS membrane, airtight with intelligent vapor control, making it vapor open in the summer to facilitate inward drying and vapor retarding in the winter to prevent vapor accumulation into the insulation. The INTELLO Plus is reinforced so that it substitutes for the typical mesh used in a dense-pack installation. At the exterior side is SOLITEX MENTO PLUS: airtight, waterproof, reinforced and vapor open, allowing for maximum drying potential to the outside without being restricted by an exterior sheathing, like plywood or OSB, which are Class II or low Class III vapor retarders.

Windows & Penetrations

The window is installed into a plywood box that ties together the inner and outer walls. We offer a wide selection of window air sealing tapes, but to keep it simple you need only TESCON PROFIL, or the even faster TESCON PROFECT, for the airtight connections at the interior and exterior of the window. (And don’t forget to pre-make your window corners!). At the sill heavy-duty self-sealing waterproofing is provided by EXTOSEAL ENCORS. There are multiple ways to create a thermal bridge free window installation – there are many variables depending on the window type and brand.

The most important thing is to make sure that the window is precisely connected to your interior and exterior airtight and moisture control layers. This will ensure that your installation will not have condensation due to air movement at this thermally weak intersection. Small air leakage at this connection will allow the interior winter humidity to enter the insulated cavity. Making an air-tight connection at all openings is the best way to prevent future structural damage.

Learn More

For more details and variations on this concept, download  475’s free CAD details and ebook for 475 Smart Enclosure Double-Stud Assemblies.

By 475 Building Supply

This guest blog was originally published on the 475 Building Supply blog.

Reference

The Double Stud Wall Simplified – Low Cost, High Performance
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

The Double Stud Wall Simplified – Low Cost, High Performance

By Zarkon Group,

Simplify

The double-stud wall is a well-established method for creating a very economical, durable, and high R-value assembly in new construction – and is one reason it’s included as one of the basic 475 Smart Enclosure System assembly types. We know pushing standard code-minimum construction toward high performance is complicated. So we’re always looking for ways to simplify – to simultaneously reduce cost while optimizing efficiency and occupant comfort. Integrated with Pro Clima air sealing and moisture control components, the double-stud wall provides unmatched economic value, safety from moisture damage, and long-lasting performance.

Go Sheathingless

With Pro Clima component integration, we’re taking it one step further. Below we illustrate a sheathingless double-stud wall (that’s right: no structural sheathing) that provides the following characteristics:

  • Minimized material costs
  • Maximized moisture drying potential
  • Removal of formaldehyde, VOC’s and other toxic chemicals commonly found in SPF, rigid foams, OSB, and plywood
  • Easily adjustable wall thickness to meet your design R-value
  • Space between walls for continuous insulation
  • Utilization of dense-pack insulation (Gutex wood THERMOFIBER, cellulose, fiberglass, mineral wool, or Havelock Wool).
  • No special materials or connections needed for the framing components
  • Fits with the typical platform framing method

You can still frame your walls on the deck and raise them into place,  but without all that sheathing they’ll be a lot lighter. With this system, you build a house out of 2x4s, fibrous insulation, SOLITEX MENTO Plus weather-resistive barrier outboard, INTELLO Plus smart vapor retarder inboard, and not much else.

The Framing

The wall consists of an inner load-bearing wall and an outer exterior finishing wall. The floor and roof loads are stacked on top of the inner wall studs. This method can allow the use 24″ o.c. advanced framing assembly if your floor and roof loads meet the design criteria. The inner wall is framed like any other stick-built wall, with the exception that the shear load is carried by 2x lumber nailed, or metal strapping mechanically fastened, diagonally, to the outside face of the inner stud wall – in the insulation cavity.

It’s important to note that each structure will have very different shear and uplift retention requirements due to variables in building height, the number of windows, local codes, shape of building, seismic requirements, etc. The outer wall is connected to the decks as outriggers, there to support the insulation and finished facade elements, and consequently, it requires minimal framing material and opening headers. In taller walls, it’s important to connect the inner and outer studs for additional strength as well as partition the bays every second bay – to make dense-packing of the double stud cavities easier to reach proper density and maintain quality control.

The Integrated Service Cavity

With this approach, the inner wall studs act as the service cavity without the need for additional strapping to support the interior finish – making it an integrated service cavity. This approach takes planning but allows for fewer steps and less material. An excellent example of this approach is demonstrated in our Project Spotlight: Vermont Integrated Architecture. Leicester, VT.

Two Air Barriers Too

To optimize the insulating value of the dense-pack insulation – airtight membranes are placed on both sides of the fibrous insulation, thereby preventing thermal bypass, as well as optimizing the drying reserves of this highly insulated wall. At the interior side is the INTELLO PLUS membrane, airtight with intelligent vapor control, making it vapor open in the summer to facilitate inward drying and vapor retarding in the winter to prevent vapor accumulation into the insulation. The INTELLO Plus is reinforced so that it substitutes for the typical mesh used in a dense-pack installation. At the exterior side is SOLITEX MENTO PLUS: airtight, waterproof, reinforced and vapor open, allowing for maximum drying potential to the outside without being restricted by an exterior sheathing, like plywood or OSB, which are Class II or low Class III vapor retarders.

Windows & Penetrations

The window is installed into a plywood box that ties together the inner and outer walls. We offer a wide selection of window air sealing tapes, but to keep it simple you need only TESCON PROFIL, or the even faster TESCON PROFECT, for the airtight connections at the interior and exterior of the window. (And don’t forget to pre-make your window corners!). At the sill heavy-duty self-sealing waterproofing is provided by EXTOSEAL ENCORS. There are multiple ways to create a thermal bridge free window installation – there are many variables depending on the window type and brand.

The most important thing is to make sure that the window is precisely connected to your interior and exterior airtight and moisture control layers. This will ensure that your installation will not have condensation due to air movement at this thermally weak intersection. Small air leakage at this connection will allow the interior winter humidity to enter the insulated cavity. Making an air-tight connection at all openings is the best way to prevent future structural damage.

Learn More

For more details and variations on this concept, download  475’s free CAD details and ebook for 475 Smart Enclosure Double-Stud Assemblies.

By 475 Building Supply

This guest blog was originally published on the 475 Building Supply blog.

Reference