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Marc Rosenbaum

Martha's Vineyard

high performance building geek

Interests: You mean there's stuff besides bikes and buildings?

Recent Activity

COVID-19 and energy use

One of the effects of C-19 on buildings may be increased energy use from higher ventilation rates and in some cases, ultraviolet lamps to inactivate viral particles. Another more personal take is our own energy use in 2020, vs. the previous year. Starting in mid-March we were working from home.... Continue reading

Posted Mar 29, 2021 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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A New Chapter...

It's mid-December 2020, the year from hell for so many. We're about to receive the first messy solid precipitation of the season. Jill and I are doing well in the midst of COVID-19 and managing to work from home (me entirely, she mostly) without annoying each other excessively. I'm about... Continue reading

Posted Dec 16, 2020 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Observations on variations in energy usage

The morning of the first day of each month is when I read the meters and download another month's worth of circuit data from the SiteSage monitor. I have 39 months of data now. There are some items so consistent that I could move the current transformers to other unmonitored... Continue reading

Posted Apr 1, 2017 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Consumption and generation for 2016

This year total usage here at the house is 3,808 kWh. Of that, 1,037 kWh went into the Fujitsu heat pump; 861 kWh went to the refrigerator and chest freezer; 598 kWh were used for water heating in the heat pump water heater; 176 kWh used in the range, and... Continue reading

Posted Jan 2, 2017 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Deep Energy Retrofit Online Course starts Sept 12th!

I'm teaching a 10 week in-depth course for professionals who are serious about transformative energy upgrades to residential and commercial buildings. We'll cover the pertinent building science, techniques for superinsulating foundations, walls, windows, and roofs, appropriate mechanical systems. There will be a weekly in-depth case study as well. Please join... Continue reading

Posted Aug 25, 2016 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Great video on a Deep Energy Retrofit to Net Positive Energy

My friend John Livermore is multi-talented, and enlisted his 17 year old daughter and his stepson as well to produce a tremendously clever and fun 10 minute video on how they transformed their 70s raised ranch from an energy hog to a net energy producer, shrinking their carbon footprint to... Continue reading

Posted Feb 11, 2016 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Deep Energy Retrofits of Historic Buildings

Here is a PDF of my talk today at the RISD Architecture Dept. Tomorrow we look at the retrofit possibilities at their 50,000 ft2, 1848 building, the Bayard Ewing Building. Download Historic Buildings RISD 2016 Continue reading

Posted Feb 1, 2016 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Deep Energy Retrofit Online Course starts Sept 14th!

I'm teaching a 10 week in-depth course for professionals who are serious about transformative energy upgrades to residential and commercial buildings. We'll cover the pertinent building science, techniques for superinsulating foundations, walls, windows, and roofs, appropriate mechanical systems. There will be a weekly in-depth case study as well. Please join... Continue reading

Posted Aug 26, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Retrofits vs. Reductions

I’m excited because I’ve been putting together a new online course on Deep Energy Retrofits (DER). More so than the course I teach on Zero Net Energy Homes, it’s focused on the multiple approaches and techniques for taking the diverse building stock we have and transforming it – not just... Continue reading

Posted Aug 26, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Reflections on Building Energy 2015

For 36 years, my professional community has been the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. This past week we gathered once again in Boston for the Building Energy Conference. It was one of the best ever. I go to Building Energy to get my mind twisted out of my ordinary fixed ideas... Continue reading

Posted Mar 7, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Zero Net Energy Homes Course starts March 9th

3 weeks from now, NESEA and I will once again offer the Zero Net Energy Homes online course. Who do you know whose practice could really benefit from a more rigorous and quantitative understanding of building science, solar energy, superinsulated construction, ventilation, renewable energy, and low energy use mechanical systems?... Continue reading

Posted Feb 17, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Minisplit heat pumps and blizzards

A blizzard (a severe snowstorm and sustained winds of over 35 mph) is a challenging weather condition for a minisplit heat pump. Recall how an air source heat pump works - the outdoor unit has a compressor and a fan that blows air across a coil with refrigerant. In heating... Continue reading

Posted Feb 15, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Building Energy 2015 Approaches!

Mid-February can be dreary, but one bright spot on the horizon is always the Building Energy Conference in early March. It’s an annual renewal with old friends and, even better, a way to make new ones. Building Energy is so much more than information – seeing and hearing from so... Continue reading

Posted Feb 13, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Early Bird Deadline is midnight today for Building Energy 2015

Building Energy is the best conference I go to year after year. Design, engineering, construction, renewables, planning, with unusual peer to peer honesty and humor. Hope to see you all there! I'm presenting a 1/2 day workshop on my own Zero Net Energy Deep Energy Retrofit, and I'm sharing a... Continue reading

Posted Feb 6, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Utility meter read 100,691 on the morning of Jan 1st 2014 and 98,990 on the morning of Jan 1st 2015. PV meter read 12,932 on the morning of Jan 1st 2014 and 19,080 on the morning of Jan 1st 2015. We had a net export of 1,701 kWh, used 4,447... Continue reading

Posted Jan 2, 2015 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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A visit with David Velan of Ecodrain: drainwater heat recovery comes of age

Today David Velan of Ecodrain paid us a visit here at South Mountain so my colleague Brice Delhougne and I could see his product firsthand. A few years ago David got interested in capturing the waste heat in shower water and other hot waste water. Others have done that (Powerpipe)... Continue reading

Posted Nov 20, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Energy Positive in First Year

We moved in on November 1st, 2013, and the PV system had been activated on October 20th. The NSTAR net meter read zero when installed, read 99980 (it goes down from zero if the energy is net exported) on Nov 8th 2013, and read 98852 on Nov 10th 2014, for... Continue reading

Posted Nov 20, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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What we started with

This house has an interesting history. The owner of the place had been living on the lot in a structure that began its life as the body of a box truck. It was 8'x16' and had a small attached shed that housed the water pressure tank and the water heater.... Continue reading

Posted Nov 5, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Zero Net Energy Homes Online Course begins Sept 15th 2014

Who do you know whose practice could really benefit from a more rigorous and quantitative understanding of building science, solar energy, superinsulated construction, ventilation, renewable energy, and low energy use mechanical systems? This online course is a packed 10 weeks, and includes a bunch of Excel calculators so folks can... Continue reading

Posted Sep 2, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Free Online Talk on Ground Heat Loss

I'm giving a talk on Thursday September 4th at 1 pm EDT about one of the more confusing topics that I cover in my Zero Net Energy Homes Online Course. It's called Understanding and Calculating Heat Loss to the Ground, and you can sign up here: Here's the description: Building... Continue reading

Posted Sep 2, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Useful aspects of the eMonitor

Tom DeMarco wrote, "you can't control what you don't measure" (widely misattributed to Peter Drucker BTW). Well hell, there's lots you can't control no mater what. A less ambitious implementation of measuring is to aid in understanding how a system operates. The eM is good for this. One useful feature... Continue reading

Posted Mar 30, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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I have a new toy. It's a totally geeky toy - almost everyone else would rather have a large plasma screen TV. It's called eMonitor and it is made by Powerhouse Dynamics. You can buy one from folks at Powerwise Systems or Energy Circle. It's a device that measures energy... Continue reading

Posted Mar 30, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Once we bought the new house in the fall of 2012, we began to work on the new design. We were starting with a one bedroom house of 1,142 sf, on one level with a full basement. There were some framing oddities that were revealed as the gutting process proceeded.... Continue reading

Posted Mar 16, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Some reflections on the project

Before I get all geeky about this Deep Energy Retrofit journey we've been on I have some overall reflections on the past year. I've built two houses for myself over the years, but I always stopped working, and focused completely on the construction process. I was on site whenever anything... Continue reading

Posted Mar 16, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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Ideology trumps economics

One of the interesting twists in the sale of House 5 is that I priced the solar electric system as an option, since it was an income generator, making $1,250/year of electricity. Ultimately the house was purchased by our friend and next door neighbor in the cohousing. He is a... Continue reading

Posted Mar 16, 2014 at Thriving On Low Carbon

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