Services
Programs
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Building Science
By using systems engineering techniques to provide cost and performance trade-offs and innovations, ConSol improves the whole home performance and reduces overall building costs. ConSol incorporates energy and material saving strategies at the design stage and then follows with evaluations and analyzing. It has the experience and partnerships within the industry to help evaluate your product, and work with builders and developers to increase its quality and performance.
Projects
Building Industry Research Alliance (BIRA)
The Building Industry Research Alliance (BIRA) is a diverse coalition of over eighty industry partners committed to improving energy and resource efficiency in residential housing for the Department of Energy's Building America Program (BAP). BIRA, one of fifteen current BAP teams, is led by ConSol. ConSol has led BIRA for the past eight years working with building industry professionals and all levels of government to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy for both new construction and retrofit of existing homes. BIRA partners collaborate to perform systems and technology research along with prototype testing and evaluation. The research results of this collaboration are published and directed at educating the building industry with the ultimate goal of cost-effective, energy-efficient communities.
The goal of BAP is to build marketable, cost-effective Net Zero Energy Homes across the country by 2020. Use 40% to 70% less energy.
- Provide improved comfort and indoor air quality
- Reduce construction time and waste
- Improve labor productivity
- Provide advanced energy systems and products
- Improve marketability for builder
BIRA has assisted its builder partners in the design and construction of over 10,500 highly energy-efficient new homes in the western United States. BIRA has recently transferred its expertise in the analysis and program implementation of green buildings in the new construction market to the existing housing market. BIRA is piloting a Neighborhood Retrofit Program with Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and Anaheim Public Utility (APU). The program is a simple, low-cost, turn-key retrofit program implemented on a community-wide scale. The Neighborhood Retrofit approach follows the same building science principals as whole-house performance programs, but it lowers upfront costs and facilitates the sales decisions for homeowners and it delivers ‘pre-sold’ customers to contractors.
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Contact Information
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