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Autumn 2014

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Volusia
Southeast Volusia Habitat for Humanity
DOE Energy Ready Home in
Edgewater, FL.
Sarasota
Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota
County DOE Energy Ready Home in Nokomis, FL.
energygauge
A fully-functional trial version of
EnergyGauge is available at www.EnergyGauge.com.
Completed return air plenum
Completed repaired return air plenum.
Note mastic at duct board seams.
Current Sponsors -
Funding Buildings Research Projects of $50k or more
-Atlantic Housing Partners
-Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
-Florida Natural Gas Association
-Florida Power & Light Co.
-NREL
-Southern Company
-US Department of Transportation
-USDOE Building America
-USDOE Software Tools
Training
FSEC Affordable Housing Partners Recognized for DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes
zeroSoutheast Volusia Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity of South Sarasota County, affordable housing partners of the Florida Solar Energy Center, were the honored recipients of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home Leading Affordable Builders awards in September. A total of 28 industry leaders (including six affordable builders) were recognized at the 2014 Housing Innovation Award ceremony at EEBA’s Excellence in Building Conference. DOE Housing Innovation Awards acknowledge the outstanding efforts of contractors and builders to design and construct high performance, zero energy ready homes.
More
New LEED® Modeling Software Saves Time, Money for Sustainable Commercial Construction
FSEC released the EnergyGauge® Summit Premier 5.00 software at this year’s Greenbuild conference in New Orleans. This newly updated software offers construction-industry professionals substantial time-savings while completing required energy modeling calculations for LEED® and energy code projects. A free, fully-functional trial version of the software, and a limited-time discount on the full version, is available.
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Training
HVAC Change-outs in Existing Homes
Return air plenums in existing homes are often formed by unsealed building cavities with multiple and large leakage paths. A recent FSEC field study shows that low-cost, simple techniques common in new construction are equally applicable to existing homes at the time of an HVAC change-out with resulting air tightness similar to new high performance homes.
Publication
Training
2015 Continuing Education Dates Now Online! 
FSEC offers a wide range of courses covering renewable energy and building energy technology topics. Most include both classroom instruction and hands-on field experience. Some courses offer CEU credits and are approved for Florida professional license renewals. 
Courses
Combustion Safety Training
As a mandatory requirement to maintain certification, RESNET HERS Raters (a Class 1 Rater in Florida) must comply with the new RESNET Combustion Appliance Safety Testing protocols outlined in Chapter 8 of RESNET Standards. Combustion safety testing is a requirement for homes with gas appliances participating in the ENERGYSTAR ® program. Raters certified prior to 12/31/13 have until 12/31/14 to pass the combustion module.
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