COMPREHENSIVE Green Building Course: Table of Contents

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

This is not a fluff course just because it's free. You've never seen anything like this.

This is a pass/fail test designed to qualify inspectors to provide neutral third party verification of green features in residential and light commercial buildings.
It's written for inspectors. It's purpose is to help you make money, improve your inspection skills and to give you objective information about important issues while providing you with continuing education credits.

It includes detailed photos and instructions for looking at PV, solar thermal, hydronic heating and much more. It will teach the basics about what you can inspect safely with limited liability and what you should disclaim, and it will provide links to sites or organizations which will give you more detailed information.

Please take a look...

1. INTRODUCTION
   
2. ENERGY
   1. Report on Energy Status
   2. Non-renewable Energy
   3. Renewable Energy
      
3. CLIMATE CHANGE
   1. Climate Change
   2. Natural Climate Change
   3. Possible Results of Climate change
      
4. WATER
   1. Groundwater Depletion
   2. Water Quality
   3. Home Water Treatment
   4. Indoor Water Conservation
   5. Outdoor Water Conservation
      
5. LOT DEVELOPMENT
   1. Erosion
   2. Landscaping and Grading
      
6. BUILDING METHODS
   1. Engineered Lumber
   2. Value Engineering
   3. Enhanced-efficiency Building Methods
   4. Strawbale Homes
      
7. BUILDING ENVELOPE
   1. Climate Zones
   2. Insulation
   3. Conduction, Convection and Radiation
   4. Air Movement in Buildings
   5. Attic Ventilation
   6. Moisture Control
   7. Mold
      
8. PASSIVE SOLAR HOMES
   1. Passive Solar Home Design
   2. Energy-efficient Windows
      
9. PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) SYSTEMS
   
10. SOLAR THERMAL (solar water heating)
    
11. LIGHTING
    1. Lighting: Bulb and Fixture Types
    2. Daylighting and Controls
       
12. PLUMBING
    1. Plumbing Pipes
    2. Hydronic Heating
    3. Hot Water Recirculation Systems
       
13. HVAC
    1. Furnaces
    2. Air-conditioners
    3. Air ducts
    4. Evaporative Coolers
    5. Humidifiers
    6. Heat Pumps
       
14. WOOD-BURNING APPLIANCES
    1. Wood Stoves
       
15. ROOF
    1. Roof Defects
    2. Green Roofs
       
16. INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
    1. Radon
    2. Asbestos
       
17. SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES and MATERIALS
    1. Sustainability
    2. Standards and Certification
       
18. ENERGY PROGRAMS AND LEGISLATION
    1. Incentives: Renewable-energy/Energy-efficiency
    2. Home Energy Audits
    3. Home Energy Ratings
    4. Energy Codes
    5. Green Building Standards
    6. Energy (Labeling) Program Comparisons
    7. Green Mortgages

TAKE THE COURSE

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Kenton;

I would like to be the first one to acknowledge the excellent job you have done to organize and establish a package like this together for all of the Members of InterNACHI to enjoy and learn while taking this course.

Remarkably put together and the effort needed to compile all the information and orchestrate it's functionality in layout was extremely well executed.

I will myself take the course for my own benefit and hope that many will follow and take advantage of this learning information to help keep up with what is eventually going to be our future.

Congratulations on your work, very well done.

Marcel
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[John McKenna]

Good work.

[Nick Gromicko]

Kick **** course!

[Nick Gromicko]

Kenton, check out the sponsor of your course... underneath the screen http://www.nachi.tv/episode12

[relliott]

Fantastic job , with lots of effort.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Kenton, check out the sponsor of your course... underneath the screen http://www.nachi.tv/episode12

Most of us (most of us still in business) paid to take courses when we decided to become home inspectors.

NACHI TV produces episodes which cover a wide range of subjects, all inspection-related, all with professionals, all in an effort to give inspectors an education they can’t get anywhere else, and they do it for free!

Check out what it costs to take courses from Inspection schools. Then check out what it costs to develop everything related to creating a TV studio including hiring qualified staff and equipping them with state-of-the-art equipment, building a studio, finding and arranging sites, professionals and actors. Except for one thing…

Everyone appearing on NACHI TV is what they appear to be. No one is an actor (you probably couldn’t tell). Those you see interviewed on NACHI TV are there because they have something interesting or important to share with you. NACHI TV is a great resource!

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by relliott

Fantastic job , with lots of effort.

Thanks Marcel, John and Robert!

[William J. Decker]

One point. In the climate change section, that CO2 graph has been proven to be false.

Regardless of what some want, CO2 is not a pollutant.

Hope this helps;

[Nick Gromicko]

Because it isn't DIRECTLY dangerous?

[Michael Larson]

Because CO2 is plant food.

[William J. Decker]

I know that Green is the new green and everyone wants to jump on the latest fad bandwagon.

And I mean no disrespect to Kenton (darned good and comprihensive job on this course!!) but a great deal of this "green" thing is so much crap.

Is the Earth warming up from what it was recently? Yes. The peak was reached in 1998. The earth warms and cools in regular cycles (remember about 1000 years ago when Greenland was actually green?).

Is mankind contributing to this warming? Yes, but very little. The amount of CO2 that is man created is negligable.

Should we do a better job with conservation and efficiency? Yes.

But the "green roof" fad that is so hyped around here is just a joke. When people come to realize (as they are starting to) the extra costs involved with replacing the roof, all cost benefits are lost.

Mr. Gore has put together a nice piece of fiction. It is amazing that he won the Nobel prize, along with the U.N. group, when the two reports differed so much.

When you ask actual climate scientists (as opposed to scientists from other fields, political activists, hangers on and lawyers representing fringe groups) the situation is not nearly as grave as it is popularly believed.

Remember global cooling, from the 70s?

This is a good course, no doubt, and I enjot it and learn alot. But I would be careful in my research and in the political preaching which have very little to do with the facts of home inspection and building science.

Please read "the politically incorrect guide to global warming". Very well researched and documented, with sources taken from actual scientificly valid sources.

Remember the whole "electromagnetic radiation" scare thing from a few years ago. That was real popular and some people did testing. It to was based more on fads than on actual science.

Sorry if this puts a damper on thic course. Not my intention. Just want to make it better and leave the pseudo science out.

[Michael Larson]

Will, have you been reading the kneed to know thread again?

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Will, have you been reading the kneed to know thread again?

Nope. Just some journals and the U.N. IPCC report. If you look at the UN report, you will see that most of the confrence members were not scientists, but politicians and other various hangers on.

Excuse me, as someone who has done science and research and is published, these reports are more government fiat than scientific studies.

[Michael Larson]

Will go check that thread out if you haven't already. I've been posting much of what you said for over a year now.
It's on a Canadian thread because Charley asked a humorous question one day and it has snowballed from there.
It's predominantly my posting but once in a while someone will come and give their opions.